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Today's article is about a man in Great Britain who, after realizing he is a slave to name brands, decides to burn everything he owns that is branded and start over. While I don't agree with burning all of your stuff just to get rid of it—there are much more earth friendly or charitable ways to dispose of it—I do appreciate his insight. Being the gullible fool that I am, I believed in the promises that these brands made to me; that I would be more attractive, more successful, more happy for buying their stuff. However, the highs of consumerism have been accompanied by a continual, dull ache, growing slowly as the years have gone by; a melancholy that until recently I could not understand.So why is this a topic of the JobSchmob blog? Because it's got a lot to do with why we work. Some possible responses to this statement could be: "Excuse me, but I work to feed my kids!" or "Speak for yourself, I work just to pay my rent!". But even if you are just getting by, it is extremely rare to find the person who is happy with very little. Even the poorest of people in this country long for the well known brands of items. If a windfall came in, I'd be willing to bet my sweet Adidas that a purchase involving a major brand name would be in the near future. Because it's true. We believe the promises these brands make to us. We believe we will be happier in some way, more successful, more beautiful, more socially accepted or even more envied. And even if we can't afford to grasp those high end brands, we buy the next best thing or the imitations.  And spending cash on these brands sucks us into the vicious circle of having to work hard to pay for them. We go to jobs that we hate just so we can pay for the things that we buy to soothe our souls from working at that job we hate. I have a friend who drives a fancy car, lives in an expensive house and spends money on expensive purses. This same friend despises her job and is under intense stress from it. Yet, when I tell her to quit, she says she cannot afford to and that she has gotten used to the money. A slave to it, is more like it. She would rather sacrifice her life and her health in exchange for goods that will do little more than offer up false hopes and promises. In effect, they only contribute to her overwhelming sense of emptiness and depression because they don't deliver what she expects them to. And she doesn't see it.I realize that you do get what you pay for up to a certain point. And I'm not talking about spending your money wisely and investing in tires that will last a long time or a warm winter coat that will last you years. I'm talking about that little horse embroidered on a shirt, the blue and white checkered symbol on the back of a car, the swoosh on the side of a shoe and the green and white logo on the side of your morning coffee. Visit Link » ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5292860.stm) comments ( 3 ) |  post to digg |  post to del.icio.us |  e-mail it
Aug 28, 2006
The Office WebisodesTags: The Office, Gotta love The Office! In my itch for the show to return, I came across these "webisodes" on The Office website. There are also outtakes, deleted scenes and interviews. For some reason, Michael, Dwight, Pam and Jim aren't in any of the webisodes but they're still worth a watch.The new season begins on September 21st get your Tivos ready! Visit Link » ( http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/) comments ( 0 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 23, 2006
Retirement Not What It Used to BeTags: Retirement, 401Ks, Pensions,Yet more reasons on why we need to cover our own asses. The article linked below goes over a recent episode of Frontline outlining what retirement is today and how we just cannot depend on, or even expect, pensions and other retirement benefits. We all know that thousands of pensions are underfunded. We've heard the tales of people who dedicated their lives to a company only to see it slip into bankruptcy and take all of its retiree benefits with it...bankruptcies are becoming an acceptable way for companies to get out of their pension obligations.According to the Frontline report, here are some of the companies with the biggest pension fund deficits: 
The truth is that the majority of companies don't care about taking care of loyal employees. And I didn't make that up, kids. The evidence is abundant and manifested in things like outsourcing, offshoring, downsizing and bankruptcy filings to avoid pension payouts. It's all pretty depressing. And depressed and oppressed is how we inevitably feel when we realize we've let big corporations control our destiny. We must realize that our fate—financial, educational, familial etc. —lies in our ownhands. And we, as a society of peon employees, have to start putting our energy into treating it that way. Visit Link » ( http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06080113.htm) comments ( 3 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 21, 2006
Casual EverydaysTags: Trends, Dress Code, Casual Fridays, Suits and Ties,Forget casual Fridays. In many workplaces, it's casual everyday as corporate dress codes have gone the way of fedoras and white gloves.  It took awhile for Casual Everydays to kick in at my workplace, but when it did I sang "Hallelujah and Praise the Lord" for a solid month. I agree with most people who, as the articles says, would not consider a job where business dress (suits, ties, skirts, etc) are a requirement. Not only are they expensive to buy, they're expensive to maintain. And unless the salary is substantially more than the job with the casual workdays, I wouldn't consider it. Assuming, of course, guys, that it's not my dream job. But then again my dream job wouldn't require me to wear anything with the word "suit" in it—including jumpsuits, track suits, bathing suits and gorilla suits.The article started to touch upon the corporate dress code but didn't go into any detail about what companies are doing about it. And I was curious to know. Maybe it will become like schools, where some are more strictly enforced than others—perhaps depending on the neighborhood. Can you imagine the corporate work environment where you are not allowed to wear certain colors because they might be associated with gangs? I like to imagine the cubicle conversations going something like this: "Oh my God, did you see Bob came in the other day wearing a yellow Livestrong bracelet?" "Gasp!" "Do you think he's a member of the 17th Street Kings?" "Whoa...I don't know! Just don't look him in the eye when you pass him. I heard he carries an automatic stapler!" Visit Link » ( http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-casual11aug11,0,2604167.story?coll=la-home) comments ( 0 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 16, 2006
An Anthem for Every Company! Just What We Need!Tags: Only in America, Corporate Marketing, Hilarity,This week I came across enthem.com (linked below), a site that will make an anthem, er, enthem, for your company. As the site says, "Our question is: If each and every nation has a national anthem, why shouldn't every business?". Hey, why stop there? If every business has an anthem, why shouldn't every employee? I already know how mine would go! It would be sung to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey" and would go something like this: "From the top to the bottom of this companeeeeee, lives manipulation, lies and thievereeeeeee. I can't take it anyyyyymore, I'd really like to pass. But instead I just sit here and take it up the ass." I never said this was a classy blog. Oh what will they think of to torture us with next? Maybe if they gathered all the employees on a set of bleachers and made us sing it like I had to in high school. Yeah, that would make it worse. So I gave it a chance and listened to the samples on the site. Corny and lame. They recommend playing your company's anthem in the elevators of the company building. Oh my god, if I had to hear the enthem of my company each time I stepped on the elevator, eventually I would snap. One day you would see me get in, and then you'd find me hanging from the ceiling when the doors opened up again. And hopefully they'd open up on the 20th floor where the CEO sits. I've always wanted to go up there... As an aside, this all reminds me of John Ashcroft singing the song he so proudly wrote and sung, "Let the Eagle Soar". Visit Link » ( http://www.enthem.com/) comments ( 2 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 14, 2006
Crappy Managers = Crappy MoraleTags: Managers, Morale, Magazines, Surveys, Human Resources,Poor leadership, not salaries or benefits, is the leading cause of low workplace morale, according to a survey released July 24 by Challenger, Grey and Christmas, a Chicago-based outplace consulting organization.Here's where the kid in me instantly reacts by saying "No duh". But while weall know this and have experienced it first hand, here's the funny part: Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the responding human resources executives put the blame for low morale on leadership problems.BUT Respondents didn't consider morale the most pressing workplace issue, however—35 percent chose "managing change."  Oh yeah, that's right, the ever popular change management. We have all heard this before. What, you have low morale and a decrease in drive to come to work each morning? Well, you've got to learn how to handle change better! Nevermind all the voodoo that management is cooking up and its natural effect on your morale. No, no, it's your ability to adapt to everything we keep springing on you, son!And nevermind that the majority of the employees feel pissed upon and have a morale level that can be measured with a "zerometer". Management will always refuse to believe it has anything to do with them. In other words, they'll say loud and clear, "It's not us, it's you. Take a Change Management course or something to help you deal with it". And that attitude, of course, causes morale to plummet into the negative numbers.  This causes me to wonder: What in the heck happens during the transition when one goes from a peon employee to a management level employee? Is there some sort of hazing ritual during which your ability to think like a normal human being is beaten so badly that its damaged beyond repair? Are you forced to read manager magazines until your mind is mush? Is there a sensitivity chip removed? Or maybe some sort of logical thought process blocker installed?Personally, I'm betting for the second one and last one. They seem about right. Visit Link » ( http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1993750,00.asp) comments ( 8 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 10, 2006
Six-Hour Work Day - The Secret to HappinessTags: Work Ethic, America, Work Day, Career,We're apparently living parallel lives with our friends down under.  "In the quest for money and status, Australians are among the hardest workers in the world. But Sydney University academic Dr Caroline West says while work delivers self-esteem, income and social ties, more than four to six hours a day will bring anxiety, exhaustion and a poor quality of life. 'We've structured our lives so the majority of our waking life is devoted to work, which might bring us more money but doesn't make us more fulfilled,' Dr West said."Most people see their ability to earn more money as a means to move up the corporate ladder and do "better in life". I see the increasingly-long work hours and devotion to a career as an indication that money or a job is taking greater control of their lives, resulting in less and less quality of life. You could argue that there are some careers where you must put in long hours and for which you must sacrifice much of your time for the greater good. Oh yeah, like what? Doctors. Military Men. Homicide Detectives. Nurses. All noble and needed professions, yes. But does one person have to sacrifice so much time out of their life? Who gains from the gift of their time? Society, perhaps. But what about the job holder himself? What about his family? What about the kids whose parent was absent due to the fact that he or she was busting ass at a job? You only get one life. Do you really want to spend it devoted to your career and getting ahead and making more money? Food for thought. In addition to the link to the article, I'll leave you with my favorite cartoon that illustrates what I'm trying to say: http://www.cubiclecartoon.com/cubicle_cartoon.cgi?id=17 Visit Link » ( http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20060290-1702,00.html) comments ( 1 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 08, 2006
Fired For Doing Your JobTags: IT Security, Documentation, CEOs,, Here's a story of a fellow just trying to do his job. In fact, he was going above and beyond his job trying to save the company money in the long term and protect the company's valuable assets.But no! As usual, Mr. Big CEO Man has to pay more attention to the holy coveted shareholders and not listen to the lowly Joe IT Security Guy. Meanwhile thieves come in and clean him out. Who pays the price? The CEO? The Shareholders? Nope. Joe does. Now listen, Mr. Big CEO Men, we realize that you don't really care what us employees think of you, seeing as you have the power to layoff, outsource or fire each and every one of us every time you need to free up more money for the latest model of a BMW. But just know that we employees don't make idle assumptions that CEOs are, um, shall we say, "morally challenged idiots" without having so much evidence to back it up. Read for yourself and decide. Visit Link » ( http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/security/investigator/archives/security-geek-fired-fo) comments ( 0 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
Aug 02, 2006
The Right to Family Time for WorkersTags: Employment Law, Working Parents, Lawsuits,This article from the International Herald Tribune discusses a new label for workplace discrimination that is showing up more and more in courts. It's called "Family Responsibilities Discrimination," or FDR. Labeled such by Mary Still, a faculty fellow at the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. The center recently released a study which deals with a new category of discrimination suit being brought in the U.S.—and being won. The plaintiffs are mostly parents and mostly women, but about 10 percent are men, and some are caring for spouses or parents, not children. All are claiming discrimination at work because they are giving care at home. Like so many evolving subsets in law, family responsibilities discrimination does not exist in any statute. Rather it is an argument being made often enough that it can now be counted and analyzed.Interesting to watch this evolve.  A friend of mine works at company who generously gave paid days off to a man whose wife was diagnosed with stomach cancer and who needed to take extra time off to care for her. Sadly, some of his coworkers made a stink about it because THEY didn't get extra paid time off. Interestingly though, they didn't complain that THEY didn't get to have a spouse with stomach cancer.In our society we are so focused on having it all that in many cases, as a result, we neglect the things in life that are truly important simply because our jobs demand more of us. I see this shift of putting more value on what's going on at home as positive one. Visit Link » ( http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/01/business/workcol02.php) comments ( 0 ) | post to digg | post to del.icio.us | e-mail it
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