The Economy

sgreenwell said: ↑
boys acting like assholes to impress girls, and girls in psychological warfare with one another.

The first newsroom I worked in, there was a young female reporter. She was the most neurotic person ever, worried about everything. They were hiring an additional reporter and she flipped out.

"I'm the newest one. Will they make me teach him our procedures? What if he's older than me? I might still be the lowest on the totem pole. What if they give him my desk? I won't have any place to sit."

Wise-ass sports writer said, "Listen, as long as I've got a face, you've got a place to sit."

 

And we wonder why some women are neurotic.

 

Posting this just because this thread meander provides the opportunity ...

There's a guy I kinda sorta knew in my journalism days who was one of those red-hot chargers whose ticket to the big time seemed punched from day one. Hell, he started about two levels above where I washed out, but I was no rock star. Still ... he definitely was in the big time.

On that paper's sports staff there was this very nice woman who sorta was a general assignments type. Not the "enterprise" type, but the type who did a lot of fairly prominent this-and-that kinda stuff back when papers, especially the big ones, had the staff for that. She'd be at big games being played by teams not regularly covered by this paper, that kinda thing. Her work was, to my admittedly pedestrian eyes, quite good.

So the story goes that one day the nice woman took a phone message for the red-hot charger (who, it should be noted, was two or three years younger). And because she didn't take the message to his satisfaction, he had a conniption in the newsroom that featured multiple instances of him yelling "dumb c**t."

This twerp is now out of journalism and a Facebook friend of a friend from those days. And as a result on occasion I'll stumble across these long oh-so-woke/oh-so-MeToo takes of his on all that's wrong with these people or that institution.

And when I do I wanna throw up.

 

Even in the troglodyte 1980s, that kind of comment would earn you a quick trip to the HR office at virtually every paper I ever worked, if not a solid slap in the chops.

Especially if the staffer in question was high-strung or neurotic.

 

Same state where the teachers have to pay for their subs, right?

 

I am curious to know if the recent problems low-wage places have had in getting workers is related to many people no longer needing second-jobs to make ends meet. In the past week I stopped at a gas station that didn't have enough workers to have a gas attendant so I pumped my own (this is Oregon). And went to a mechanic who talked about being shorthanded. And went to a pizza place where the owner was the cook, AND the counter person.

I wonder if there might suddenly be "relaxing" of immigration enforcement in order to fill jobs. Chamber of Commerce types seem to have a lot more pull with whomever is in the WH than your typical border hawk.

 

This is exactly what Marx predicted would happen in a Super capitalistic state, no?

 

People have recalibrated their personal worth during this pandemic. They don't want to work shitty jobs for shitty pay. If, as a business owner, you can't find anybody willing to work for $11 an hour then raise your pay until you do. Can't afford to pay more? Then buckle up and do the work yourself as the owner or executive or manager.

 

Middle schoolers were my favorite age group to sub for. Then again, I went from peds/ado psych to subbing when the sw/admin stuff was slow, so it seemed like a leisurely stroll at the time.

This was a little under ten years ago and my degree got me five dollars more than what subs without a degree made (40.00 per day.) I was usually called in to teach science classes and the occasional history class. Frankly, I miss it, but can't take the risk.