X is…

Three years ago I couldn’t speak any Spanish.

Here’s the deal.  I still can’t.  I supplement my work force with people through the temp agency.  There’s very little long term planning in the business I am in, so I plan on lower levels.  I plan on month to month, week to week, and, on occasion, day to day.

My company has a rule that no associate from the agency can work for more than 90 days.  This is based on a lawsuit with Microsoft years ago in which employees through the agencies worked for years and wanted a benefits package.  My company doesn’t understand the difference between years and months.

What that does mean for me is the ultimate in random luck.  Over four years, with a 90 day turnaround, I have had hundreds of people work for me.  I average 8-12 temporary associates per day and have no problem getting people to put in their 90 days with me.  I truly try to run a relaxed environment.

So I get a lot of people seeking employment who were originally from Mexico.  This is insignificant to me other than a little language barrier.  Certainly I assume that they have to be able to communicate with me.  I also decided to try and meet them in the middle a little bit.  I have tried to learn whatever Spanish my little brain will take in.

So I ask Maria, “ ¿Cómo estás?”  She replies with, “My bien.  ¿Usted?”

My reply of “Bien” doesn’t satisfy her.

She something that is really relevant.  I think people lose track of this, but Maria has yet to.  She says, “Why?  You have your health and work.  You should be muy bien.”

I agree.

Here’s the deal.  The more people have, the more upset they get at the things that are not as important.  If one feels secure in the job, then the person is more likely to complain about issues that are less important.

For example, those that are actually company employees complain about working even a minute of overtime.  Those that are happy to simply have a job are happy to even have one minute of work (pay).

My point?  Everything is relative.  Seems my job as a boss is completely wasted on those who feel that simply having a job is not enough, but are not willing to go the extra mile.  Those who wish to learn… well, they really enjoy working for me.  I love teaching.  Those who simply love the idea of having work again love working for me.

Is life that simple?  The more you have the more that life disappoints?  The less you have the more likely you are to be happy with the simplest things?  Is there any going back?

Do we screw over our brains with each and every promotion or pay raise or thought that we have just advanced ourselves in the socio-economic world?

I want to keep many of the temporary employees I get through my workplace forever, but I know that will only spoil them and make them complain about the petty things.

The world can often be consumed with the petty things.

Popularity: 31% [?]

“I’d like to personally thank God for giving us the gift and the opportunity to share our music with the world,” said Daughtry after winning the Breakthrough Artist award on the AMA.

At least he thanked the fans first. Realizing that it doesn’t matter how much of a gift he has unless people are dumb enough to purchase his nonsense is a good move.

Of course he should thank all the random luck over the years that has afforded him the opportunity over every other act in the world that may be more talented.

The Rascal Flatts thanked their god as well, but not the fans. I won’t speak of the Rascal Flatts anymore. They are country and I don’t know a goddamn thing about country music artists.

Neither should think that they “god-given” abilities are the reason they are performing and selling millions of records. It’s meeting the right people. It’s performing on American Idol. It’s getting the opportunity to reach millions without any real right to.

I can guarantee you that there are hundreds of very good singers and writers and artists without recording contracts. Daughtry was one just a few short years ago. Oh the stories of him and his wife and his kids holding on to every note he sang and all the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the events that season. Good thing god had his hand on Daughtry guiding him every step of the way.

Daughtry should take some credit. He got himself noticed by the judges and worked his way onto the new Gong Show. He lasted long enough that all he had to do was make an album and millions of zombie music listeners would flock to purchase the CD.

Quite honestly, if Daughtry’s god handcrafted him as the music to make millions, then it is all the more reason that I cannot believe.

Popularity: 43% [?]

I hate this saying. The justification for horrific events. An excuse to move forward.

I’ve been hearing it a lot lately. It drives me crazy.

A friend of mine was talking about a job change she made. She hates the new job and the people she works with.

I know you don’t believe in God, but I do and I think everything happens for a reason. I think I’ve become a stronger person.

Or, when given lemons, make lemonade. Accept the events that happen to you and make the most of them, because that is what makes you a better person. Take credit and don’t let anything else accept credit for your hard work.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

I’m trying to sleep last night and my wife was catching up on that Ellen show she loves so much. Jenny McCarthy was on. I’ve always been a fan of her. I think she’s very funny and one of the few people to show some intelligence out of Playboy.

She has an autistic son and decided to say the same thing. Everything happens for a reason, and God gave her an autistic child so that she could speak to the world about it.

Let me put it a different way. She is a celebrity that has an autistic child. There were days where she cried, “Why me?” but instead decided to speak about some of her struggles. She may have decided to do so in order to make a few more bucks or to help others. Only she knows the answer, and if both are accomplished, then who cares?

And I’ll throw this out: Did her god encourage her to get naked? Without getting naked, nobody would give a rat’s ass who she is. That is her stepping stone, and I don’t think she should forget that. If her god did encourage her to get naked, then that’s a different god than any that I’ve heard.

I do not think things happen for a reason. Things happen. We are powerless to control them, so why try? We, instead, should accept that things happen and do our best to work through them and make the best of all events.

I encourage my friend to accept more credit than she gives herself credit for.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Always wanted my own sermon. I’ve joked for years that I am going to start my own religion. An atheist breeding ground. Here’s my web page of ideas.

Instead of teaching the golden rule or reminding people that they have sinned or my interpretation on how to be a better person or what have you, I would prefer a Siddhartha approach. No, I’m not claiming to be enlightened. Siddhartha taught that life is suffering, and that the key is to accept that life is suffering and move from there. I’ve always liked that. Life is suffering.

I have an addition to discuss today, and please excuse the language I will use, but it is the word that best gives the true expression I want to use.

We are all fucked in the head.

The older I get and the more people I encounter, I have found that there is not one exception to that idea. Even the most well adjusted people I know are fucked in the head. They have their hangups and disillusions. That’s life. So if we all start with that understanding, then life becomes a lot easier. I believe that whole heartedly.

This completely coincides with my first understanding that life is random. Things happen that impact a person from well before life begins. Each of us are a continuing result of a Markov Chain of impacts. The attitudes that our parents bring, the genetics they pass to us, the rearing we receive, the kids in our neighborhood, etc.

All of this randomness determines what types of issues are created in our heads.

People like to joke as if they are saying something ground breaking, “What is normal?” Normal is a statistical term. With enough data, we can learn where the most common attributes lie, but that doesn’t help us on a one-to-one basis.

I try to understand that with each and every relationship I enter that the other person is fucked in the head. My goal is to find how and sometimes why. Occasionally I simply cannot deal with their fuckedness (yes, I’m creating new words today). For most, understanding is all I need.

I joked of a wedding sermon I would perform not long ago. It was to be centered around the words I have written today. Understanding and accepting other people’s issues will allow for success. The worst thing a person can do is attempt to change others.

Understanding and tolerance.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I often supplement my work force with contract labor. That’s how we do things where I work and it doesn’t really matter whether I agree with it or not.

One person has been with me for a few months now. We’ll call him Mike.

He was telling us this past thursday about how he took his kids out trick or treating the night before. Everybody was sharing stories of the prior night’s fun.

Mike is in his mid-40’s, so I guess I just expected more. I couldn’t imagine doing what he told me he did.

He said that one house didn’t give his kids any candy, so he went back a couple hours later with them and egged their house. Nice. Great to see that we’re going to have more maladjusted adults in just a few short years. I always thought that kids learn these things from other kids and it gets passed down from generation to generation with through older brothers or older neighbors. That the kids actually kept this kind of garbage alive and it wasn’t the adults who were actually telling their kids this garbage.

On his behalf, though, I’m not sure Mike is all there. For a guy who shows regularly to work and always excited with a good personality, he’s definitely not all there. His language skills are weak at best and he often thinks about things way too long while trying to create an answer to questions.

A few weeks ago, he was telling me that he wasn’t going to work for me any longer. He had a job lined up and all he had to do was pass the UA. I said, “No problem, right?” His answer was, “Nope, I’ve been good lately.” I laughed and he gave a big, proud smile and put his hand up for a high five.

Good for him. He can admit to it. The damage is done though. And he’s still with me, so something went wrong with the job. Maybe he hasn’t been as good as he thought. Or as long as he needed.

At any rate, his kids are going to be marvels when they get older and enter the job market or try to make a respectable reputation for themselves.

He’s one person. There are so many more.

Popularity: 17% [?]