Monday, May 23, 2005

Racism

This word is often used to describe a practical person. By practical I mean someone who can view the world around him and assess what is a usual occurrence, then base his future decisions off of what he has learned. In most cases of practicality it is considered a virtue to learn from what you see, hear, and feel. However, things fuzz when you consider millennia old feuds that draw people together only to separate a much larger region.

Consider a man you see each morning when you come to work. With each day he is doing one of several things at a certain time. No big deal; at 8 he drinks his coffee, at 8:15 he's going through some basic prep work like organizing last nights work or gathering utensils to do whatever it is he does. Maybe at around lunch time he gets up to Starbucks and orders 2 Tall expensive drinks and 3 biscottee. He eats and drinks with eloquence and before he finishes, always comments to the waiter that his mere was particularly delightful and he will most assuredly be attending the same place the following day. A smile and a generous tip later, he is back at his desk before his break is over and once again milling about his work. Within 2 hours he leaves, and places all his work in the proper area and goes home. Though he goes home early, the boss never comments publicly about it and he's been working there longer than you.

The following may be practically assessed:
  • He is generous with his money and probably doesn't think much of it when contrasted to enjoying his life.
  • He is thoughtful of others and will go at fairly noticeable lengths to make that point
  • He enjoys life in the ways he was brought up to. (lets face it, nobody likes biscottee...Its just always there)
  • He rewards himself in the ways he deems worthy. Leaving early is more important to him than staying for lunch if it means he gets to go home (...And see his family, wife, smoke a cigar?)
  • Work is a necessary means of which he has obviously come to terms with. While not overly sociable, he isn't unfriendly and just wants to get his work done and leave.
Now this is all fairly boring until you contrast it with the general stereotypes about other groups, sexes, regional originals, or shared interests. Consider this in a another mans shoes. If you see someone do something all the time your going to mark him specifically as someone who (spits, curses, has no morals, is very nice, stupid) give or take a few days when he's different. Now if you see a group of friends that always place basketball or get in fights, the same idea still flies.

So here we have the final point, if I see a group of blacks in my school slowly escalating the stairs, yelling obscenities, slouching in a chair, wearing jerseys, threatening the "crackers" nearby with a swift jab to the gut and a gang bang by him and his "cousins" then they will effectively be marked as that type of person. This still doesn't apply to racism until you consider the sheer mass of people that this applies to. Hell I don't care about the color of your skin, if your yellow and fall under the category of what I've just described then your as guilty as any of an effective stereotype.

This isn't an argument until I add the fact that each time I've brought this up to a particularly exultant figure, I get berated with words that don't necessarily apply to an observer like myself, but would suit more of a red neck hick with a 5th grade edumacation.

Then, for a brief moment I like to consider the people in more fortunate regions of the US (Orange county) where this type of person is less frequent. This is followed by a group of higher class individuals that defend something they have no experience with. They might as well be arguing the condition of the Moon for all they've been informed. Then, after considering that I throw it away cause they just don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

One last note I'd like to bring up. Ever notice why higher class areas are noted for being higher class? From what I've seen (4 states and 15 cities) the higher class always sticks to one type of people that, on average, resemble one of the indicated colors above. This is only noted because these areas lack one thing: niggers. They don't have any sorry looking jersey wearing, boom box blaring fruit cakes disturbing the neighborhood and claiming "territories" from which they base an operation of drug dealing, gun slinging, or an overall gathering of loiterers.

When you argue with this, as I'm sure a few may, consider that I never said any of these points of observations were even close to a 100% true. Nothing is even close to "always correct" and I acknowledge that. These are merely observations that happen to apply to what I've seen as a neutral perspective on the neighborhoods I've lived in. So please, when you do say anything, make sure its not something that would irritate you if you were to read it following a post you made about a highly debated point.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

How to not be a shitty worker

1. Ok, I'm not that old and I haven't worked a lot of jobs. However, I'm pretty keen when it comes to things that irritate the shit out fo me and the other 50% of the population (that half with the brain) happen notice on a regular basis. There's a certain way to view things that, though you may not know how, let you do things on the job fairly pain free, for you and the rest of the world

2. Never put your hands in your pockets. This shows you are bored and though you are capable of completeing many a task, you chose not to. This also appears that you are not interested in doing your job. Your stance should always be brisk and at the ready when you are not busy

3. Keep an eye out for what the people in your work area are doing. If you see Joe wiping down the pots after he finishes a few meals then go ahead and take the initiative and do so even though no one specifically instructed you do it.

4. This gets its own number because it cannot be stressed enough. ALWAYS take the initiative to do something, even if you are not sure it should be done. It is far less of a problem that you are doing somebody else's job rather than doing no one's job.

5. Though smiles are not required for every job, never get an attitude with someone else even if you don't like what they're saying. Hell, even if the person is spitting sarcastic remarks unjustified, don't get an attitude. This sort of leads to my next point.

6. Work places are like court rooms. Its always better to have proof and if your both caught in the act of whatever it is your doing with someone else (usually its not a good thing to be caught doing anything.) Its better to be found being calmly assertive about whatever your argument with your co-worker.

7. If you are trying to point out another co-workers misplaced ideas of what it is to be an "employee" don't ever point it out in an instructive manner to your boss. The last thing he wants is a shmuck telling him what's going on his shift in his area like he doesn't already know it. If you want to be a knark and get someone fired, do it by placing a question or curiosity. Even if you are reprimanded for wondering what isn't your business, at least you didn't get bitched for being an ass-pirate standing too high on his own pedestals.

8. Don't ever make a weak excuse. Things the boss here's 46 times a day don't flash well in his mind when he thinks of you again. If you're actually late because of traffic and there's somehow nothing you could have done about it then try and put it to him without a response that rings of "if you give me shit about my reason I'm going to throw a hissy fit and whine about how there's nothing I could have done, though taking twenty minutes to flirt with the gas station attendant could have been delayed till the following day...When I don't work

9. Finally, mostly cause I'm tired of writing this, have some respect for yourself. Don't spend 30 minutes crying and moaning about how sorry or upset you were that you didn't bring your full uniform with you to work every time it happens. Its better to lay it down evenly and without trying to make yourself look like a victim. If it bothers him enough to fire you then your better off, 'cause your bullshitting ass shouldn't have tried to get a job at a place that requires 33 different items to wear each day of the week in the first place.