Tying it all together for the community

Folks I’ve seen a lot of things go by in my years on the ‘Net. I have been privileged to be “in on” some exciting times, and seen quite a few good and bad things happen, and I have my share of wisdom as a result! LOL. :) So, I thought I’d put together a Guide for the Pre-Plexed “as it were” so that people can benefit from some of my own observations, rants, and perspectives.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you who’ve contributed to my ruminations and updates over the years. I couldn’t have done all this without you, the readers and bloggees!

So, to the point. Here are some “talking points” and “starter advices”:

1. The charter of this discussion group is based around the writing and ideas of yours truly! A lot of you have some great stuff to contribute but it’s best to stay “on topic” as much as possible. Thanks in advance! LOL

2. It’s super important to wash yourself frequently, especially in the groinal area. A lot of people pish posh the basics but if you’re gonna get somewhere in society you have to have that fresh feeling all the time!! :)

3. Wear sunscreen. Okay, it’s cheesey!! Heh!! But, so true. Hubby and I went to Disney World last year and he was so chapped. If only he would listen. Men!

4. Baking soda and baking powder are totally different from each other. Boy, that’s one substitution this little substitute isn’t gonna make again! Write that one down, you’ll forget it; trust me. Boy did we have a good laugh over those “muffins”!!

5. My eBay auctions are constantly being updated. I hate to mention it all the time, but it’s a good thing for this community and for you too! :)

6. When we get into those silly discussion over who’s indie and who’s goth, or whether the Bones and Raw Food diet is okay, it’s easy to lose our focus on what’s important: that we’re all in this together and that we all enjoy MacGuyver/Stargate fic and Richard Dean Anderson fantasy art. Let’s keep the accent on the positive and share the GOOD times!

7. There is no number seven! Hee, hee!

8. If you know me, you know it’s always okay to send chocolate!!

9. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again. You’ll never make it with that special person in life if you bring up that shared interest of ours right away. Let things blossom and grow for a bit before it’s time to open up and let someone know about what’s special and different about you.

10. I’m not discussing font issues any more on this forum. Microsoft Comic Sans has a lot of sentimental value for me.

Modern Times

Maybe 15 years ago, Harper’s did one of their “annotations” of documents on a piece of paper from an airline reservation call center. New at the time, it was an analysis of a particular employee’s week done down to the second by a computer system that tracks what the employee is doing at any particular time. Not only did the machine know whether she was speaking to a customer, and for how long, but she was also required to hit various buttons when she was doing paperwork, taking a lunch break, taking a personal break, or going to the restroom.

The document also had the manager’s notes to the employee, since the analysis is given back to the call center person with various exhortations on it intended to improve productivity. Employees are told to reduce their call time, and are disciplined if they work the wrong hours or take too many breaks. Especially bad was the annotation on the bathroom time, which was three or four minutes per day too much. The manager had scrawled on it something like “Let’s keep this in bounds. Remember, you have control!”

I had forgotten about this completely until last night, when I found out that at friendly_bandit’s customer service job, they had the latest version of this system. His boss noted that instead of the allowed 10 minutes of bathroom time, he had 10 minutes and 37 seconds of bathroom time.

He was told to fix that. You know, shave off that 37 seconds. This despite the fact that his breaks are shorter and his work times are longer and his clients write letters to the company praising him for his personable and efficient manner and the excellent job he does on their insurance contracts.

And we wonder why there’s a workplace violence problem?