Timesuckers...or, "Watch out, these people VOTE!!"

I've discovered something about myself (I really always knew, but work with me here): I have a horribly addictive personality. Couple that with the ability to focus on really meaningless shit, and you have the things I am supposed to be doing getting left by the wayside in favor of timesuckers. I'm sure, knowing that many of the 5 or 6 of you who are reading this are unpublished writers like me, you are aware that writers are notorious for letting shit distract them when the writing isn't going well. And unpublished writers are the worst. If you don't know that, I'm probably talking about you. Don't take offense, I'm talking about me, too.

By the way, if you don't know what a timesucker is, you need to get out more. If you do know what a timesucker is, or you're like me and know ALL TOO WELL what they are, then we REALLY need to get out more, eh?

So anyway, as I'm tooling around the internet (instead of doing what I should be) over the last few days, I found a new one.

Whoa, Nelly, did I find one. I thought it was going to be funny. Instead, it terrified me.

The site is called (The Customer is) Not Always Right. Wow. Just...wow.

Yeah, I know some of it, even most of it maybe, is made up by people with too much time on their hands. But come on. You can't read through the horror stories on that site and not remember incredibly stupid people you've come across. For instance, I can remember being asked by someone (names witheld to protect, and all that), "Okay, so that's how I play the DVD. Once it's over, how do I rewind it?"

And that's nothing compared to the stuff I've heard up and down the halls on a daily basis...

(even on workdays)....

Remember, many of the people on that site, at least the ones that involve Americans, can vote. And you wonder why our government is so monumentally huge and sluggish and inefficient.

I came to one solid conclusion as I read through that site: They should license people to breed.

I know, I know.

Hey listen, I TEACH Orwell's 1984, and all about the Orwellian State. I know the dangers. Hell, I've been paying attention as the last two presidents have grown the government exponentially. I know governmental control is a bad thing, okay? Big Government=Bad.

Thanks. I get it.


I still came to, and stand by, that conclusion. Because the thought of some of those people raising children frightens me (and I'm using the word "raising" in such a broad and expansive and nonspecific way that I may have stretched any real meaning right out of it). Go ahead, peruse the site. It would scare the shit out of Jaws, I'm convinced.

Okay, Jaws would just be like, "drop 'em in the water, I'll take care of it," but you get the idea. Think on that for a minute, whydontcha, and have a good weekend....

Now I'm crying over Manny being Manny

Ugh, I'm bummed. Last night my Carolina Hurricanes won game 3 of the series with Boston, and my LA Dodgers set the modern-day record with a 13-0 record at home to start the season.

And today I found out Manny is gone for 50 games.

F-I-F-T-Y.

Five-Zero.

Look, we have a great team, and we may still win the NL West, if for no other reason than we're playing the equivalent of three AAA clubs and a rookie-ball team. But still, it has to have an effect on the players to lose the guy for 50 freakin' games.

And he isn't even going to appeal, which says a lot.

He was tested and found to have elevated levels of testosterone, which led via paper trail back to a medicine called hCG, which is essentially a fertility drug. Thing is, it is also often used to reactivate the male testosterone-producers after a round of HGH (an illegal steroid that tests can't detect).

Maybe he really needed it for he and his wife, and we're all jumping to the wrong conclusion. Truth is, with Barroid still out there and no one able to indict him and his huge San Francisco melonhead, I don't think it much matters. My team is still going to go a loooooong time without Manny, and I'm now disappointed in a guy I really liked to cheer for. Maybe I'll be a hypocrite when he comes back and still hate Barry but love my guy again. I dunno. But I'm still bummed for the moment.

What does this have to do with writing, you ask? Hell, not much.

Except that somewhere Jeff Shelby, SD madres fan extraordinaire, is bound to be smiling.

Dammit.

Loyalty

Yes this blog is geared primarily toward writing and publishing, but I wanted to address something that is really bothering me in these tough economic times: Undeserved loyalty. I have seen too many people I know, in person or online, have to deal with bean counters and piss-poor executives, and I've about had my fill.

Hypothetical...see if this sounds like a situation someone you know has had to go through:
Person A has been working somewhere for a number of years. New management comes in a few years later, and Person A hits it off with the new supreme commissar...er, the new company manager. Much of the workforce, in fact, feels that the new boss has a great management style. Not a micro manager, she/he claims to trusts employees and to see who really works hard, and who is just cashing a paycheck.

Many of the workers, like Person A, work hard for the new com--I mean, manager. They feel a sense of loyalty to her/him. They follow the new rules (even the ones they disagree with and grouse about a bit) to the letter. They stick up for and defend the manager when others poor mouth her/him behind her/his back. Person A is EXTREMELY diligent, moreso than many of Person A's colleagues, in following every rule to the best of Person A's ability.

Flash forward to now, a couple years later. In these rough economic times, is Person A rewarded, or at least spared the trouble that comes others' way?

Not a chance. Why? Because Comrade Manager never really saw anything.

See, Person A thought she/he was doing something over-and-above to improve the standing of the company. Many of Person A's veteran colleagues felt Person A showed outstanding initiative. Unfortunately, some of the consumers of the company's product didn't approve. Supreme Commissar doesn't like when consumers (even one, as in this hypothetical) are unhappy. Nevermind that Comrade Manager has numerous employees who are terrible at their jobs, but good at hiding their shortcomings from her/him. Do those lazy bas--uh, other workers have to deal with any retribution for their shortcomings?

Nope.

Instead, Comrade Manager and Person A have a misunderstanding. Person A is later made to feel incompetent and disloyal, because no one gets the benefit of the doubt with the Supreme Commissar. Person A now feels the weight of the hanging axe above her/his proverbial neck, and it has been made clear, "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." Perhaps they've even lost their job, like a few people I know of.

This reminds me specifically of people who kick their dogs. Dogs are loyal, period. When an owner kicks a dog, shows malice and cruelty to a creature that did nothing but try as best it could to do everything to make that owner happy, that owner deserves to be doused in gas and set ablaze.

So too with the smug little Napoleons that insulate themselves, even as you read this, while swinging that iron fist from the comfort of an impenetrable office where they know no fear of retribution. Why is it that, especially in tough economic times, the people who deserve most to be praised and sheltered end up getting hurt the most? Does crap really float to the top? Are we just blind to it until it's too late?

I'm sick and tired of seeing people I know and care about, like many of you out there, get stepped on by people who wouldn't know loyalty if it curled up at their feet and gazed adoringly up at them. Those people don't deserve loyalty. They deserve to be dragged in front of their families and humiliated, the way the people they hurt constantly are. Then they deserve to be thrown in the street and shot.

Twice.

Well, I may be nobody (trust me, if you're not one of these managers, they probably see you that way too), but I would at least like to give comfort to those who have had to get raked over the coals or put out of work by these useless empty lying suits. Whoever you are out there, know that I'm praying for you.

And if you know someone who has had to go through this, feel free to send them a good word, here or on your own. Better yet, send them a good word and a gun, and let Big Brother know we can find out where she/he lives. (grin)

The dangers of a technologically deficient teacher with an email account

Okay, so I don't like to bash a colleague if I can help it, but this is getting ridiculous.

On Monday, I opened an email from someone advertising something for elementary students. I teach High School. I checked, and the original sender had clearly made a mistake. She had emailed EVERY school in the county, not just the elementary schools. Not the brightest thing, but a simple mistake, no big deal. I deleted it and moved on.

Shortly thereafter I got several emails in succession. They were all replies, but I got them because the first person had hit "REPLY TO ALL", left the subject line the same, and wrote "please remove me from this list." They thought it was some random junk email. No big deal, but they clicked Reply to All. Again, it's a mistake, but a costly one. I have since gotten CLOSE TO A HUNDRED EMAILS asking me (and everyone else on this list) to also please remove them from the list, it's three days later, and we're still getting them!!!

People, are you serious? We have to work so hard to combat the ridiculous stereotype that those who can't do, teach. Do you really not get why this is wrong? I'd wager every one of your students, failing or passing, repeating or otherwise, would have handled the situation better than those of you who are STILL doing this.

Ugh.