SueWorks

My Outfit Today

Main Entry: dé·col·le·tage
Pronunciation: (")dA-"kä-l&-'täzh, (")dA-"kol-'täzh, "de-kl&-
Function: noun
Etymology: French, action of cutting or wearing a low neckline, from décolleter
1 : the low-cut neckline of a dress
2 : a décolleté dress
3 : BUST

Working at Work

Quality people use 6.5 hours as the effectiveness timing for the average day.  I think this means that in a work day (typically 8 hours), the company can expect 1.5 hours to be spent on non-work.  This doesn't include lunch but it probably includes breaks.  So, if I work really hard for 6.5 hours then I should be able to go home 1.5 hours early!

Back in the Saddle

I'm recommitting myself to Weight Watchers, which so far has amounted to spending an extra 12 bucks each month to track my points online.  I also determined that I can make a 6 point salad.  However I better verify that there are indeed four teaspoons in a tablespoon to be sure about the point value.  I'm supposed to eat 26 points a day and milk "costs" 2 points a serving.  I'm supposed to have two servings which leaves me with means I spend 15% of my "calories" on milk.  That seems like a lot to me and I'm already drinking nonfat milk at that.  Anyway ...

If anyone has details of true success rates of diets (although WW, they tell us, is not a diet but rather a plan for life -- See I've been indoctrinated), please share the numbers with me.  I love how all the literature describes the weight loss results as "not typical."  I'm sure that I would be typical, 2.5 years of weekly fees and still in the same dress size.  Well, at least I'm not a larger dress size.  We have to count our blessings.

$80K Receptionists*

Businesses pay millions to sports figures to advertise their products.  Until recently, many other businesses paid hundreds of thousands to Kate Moss to wear their clothes.  Yet, they can't pay anything approaching a livable wage for the everyday voice and face of their company.  Makes you wonder, as Laurie shared.

When I was in college we did an exercise to "price" jobs.  You look at education needed, experience required, skills used and many other things, including risk and health impact I think, and add it all together to determine what a job should pay.  I recall that we very much overrated the "lower skill" jobs relative to the "higher skill" jobs.  Maybe more college students should decide what jobs are worth.

Also, what is a fair wage?  Regardless of what Craig may think, I'm not a socialist.  I just wonder.

*Thank you Laurie!

Titles

If you haven't guessed, or are just wondering, I work in corporate America.  I would like to live in the world of private enterprise but I'm scared and that's another topic for another day.

Titles make the corporate world go round.  It's how we know what kind of "Pig" we are.  (You have to recall Animal Farm by George Orwell, you see some pigs are created more equal than others.)  For example, VP pigs are "better" than mail room pigs.  To be politically correct, mail room pigs and VP pigs are entirely equal and just as important as the other.  I think that if the VP pigs were all in plane crash with the mail room pigs, we'd miss the mail room services first and then the VP's. 

It's my opinion though I could be wrong.  What do you think?

This and That

Topic 1:  We all have preferences.  Some of us like cotton, some polyester.  Others like Mountain Dew, while others prefer Pepsi.  See what I mean?

We have preferences in terms of the people we gravitate to as well.  I experienced someone showing a distinct preference for someone of the same national origin.  This can be touchy in the workplace, and the actual legal question is, were others discriminated against because of their national origin?  Now it gets all messed up.  Also, I'm overly sensitive.  I just had harassment prevention training.

Topic 2:  There has got to be a better way to endure a week long class.  The first thing I would do is not require you to spend the entire week in one chair.  We all need to move around to experience a different perspective.  Just having at least one exercise where you get out of your chair each half day would have been a vast improvement.

Topic 3:  I strongly believe that you get what you pay for.  For a Lexus that sits on a Toyota frame, you're paying for the service that surrounds the Lexus, and the leather too.  I have the Toyota, buy the way.  I also much prefer natural fibers to artificial fibers.  Again, a better long term wear is what I value. 

The reason I'm thinking of quality vs. price is that my six-to-a-pack Costco panties are fraying as the elastic peeks out of the seams.  I have some Hanes Her Way undies that are going strong after years, years of wearing and washing.  A bargain now may not be a bargain in the long run.  Though don't just spend more, spend well.

I guess that is all for now.  Maybe I'll be inspired in the next few hours to share more.

So Much to Say ...

And so little interest from the general public in listening to me. 

• The floor of the Ahmanson Theater midway through the matinee looked worse than the bleachers at a weekend rodeo.  I guess I expected better from a group of people who paid $30-$130 to sit in the dark and be quiet.  I guess I was wrong.

• I want to study how negatively weight impacts earning potential for women.  If you know of such a study, please let me know.  I'm sure there is a pounds/dollars calculation somewhere.

• This weekend I finished by first "book on tape," though it was a CD.  It was Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  I don't think I'm any better at reading people but I know, in more detail, why I am so poor at it.  I was engaged in the listening, "it had a beat, you could dance to it."  Or whatever comment it appropriate.

• I knitted about two rows on my sampler.  We have to celebrate the small victories.

• Am I the only person in America who has not seen The 40-Year-Old Virgin?

Profundity

Shouldn't profundity mean pregnant?  Doesn't is just yell pregnant?  Feet swollen, belly protruding pregnancy.

It means intellectual depth.  I used to be intellectually deep now I'm shallow.  I suppose my depths have dried up, much like Mono Lake.  It's very sad.

    Mono Lake, CA

Opinions are like ...

We've all heard it before, Opinions are like <<fill-in>>, everyone has one and think theirs doesn't stink.  So to Laurie, it's only my opinion.  And I'm sure it stinks!

Homosexuality, Doing a Good Job and Cleaning for the Cleaning Person

I heard a close-minded someone (Person 1) today describe another person (Person 2) as lacking moral integrity and I think the comments were prompted by Person 2's homosexuality.  Do you think you could determine if someone lacked moral fiber in a 20 minute conversation at a workplace?  Yes, you could but I truly doubt Person 2 said anything morally offensive.  I really think Person 1 projected their own feelings on the exchange. 

It's 2005 and I can't believe that this kind of stuff is still part of the workplace.  I thought there were laws against discrimination.  You can't outlaw prejudice but you can punish discrimination.  Now if I really had strong integrity I would have a conversation with Person 1 and say something like, Please help me understand a little more about the comment you made about Person 2.  Maybe in my next life.

I've decided that everyone could be doing a better job at their job.  It's just the nature of things.  You could work longer hours, take fewer social breaks, only use your phone for business calls, and you could make better decisions that, perhaps, are not based on the politics of the workplace but on the true needs of the workforce and the business environment.  I also think that the people who think they are doing the best job possible are actually doing a pretty poor job overall.

And I can't write much more because the cleaning person is coming tomorrow.  And you all know what that means:  I'm a poor housekeeper, I don't save enough money, and I have to clean up my junk so she won't be paralyzed by my mess.  She really is made of sturdy stuff.  I'm very messy.