Musings

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Entreprananural Fatigue

While conversing with the owner of the McDonald's I frequent, he revealed he used to own eight McDonald's stores but was now down to one. He said he sold the others because he could no longer stand the business climate in Jacksonville. (His other seven stores were in Jacksonville proper.) I was surprised at this and asked exactly why he got rid of them. He said it was the people that the stores served, they did not respect his property, they stole food and drinks, they left the tables dirty all the time, spilled drinks on the floor, emptied napkin holders and were very demanding and abusive to the help.

The available help in those areas required excessive training and retraining. They would give food and drinks away to their friends. Often he was short handed because the help would not report to work every scheduled day. The workforce was constantly changing and there were always trainees serving customers. Equipment was not maintained as required and when it was the work was shoddy.

Gangs were set up in the parking lot and there were always trouble makers around the cars. It was difficult to get employees to go out into the lot to clean it up, they were frightened. He would go into the lot to clean it up and was never bothered. But his employees were harassed when they went out. He said he could not personally spend all his time cleaning his lots.

He is very happy with his decision to only own the one store in Green Cove Springs. I commented that we have our share of blacks in this store and, to my way of thinking, they are unruly. He just smiled and said it is a whole different culture here in Green Cove Springs.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Upward Mobility

For the most part, people understand that it is necessary to start at the bottom when entering the work force. It goes without saying that that is the level in which the lowest remuneration is to be had. As the trainee becomes more knowledgeable, adept, productive he becomes more valuable either to his present employer or another potential employer. This enables the employer to increase the amount paid or the benefits awarded. The progress is from trainee, to competence, to superior ability. It is expected that employees will progress in this manner.

When such progress is not achieved it is often times the individuals fault through the following: lack of interest. lack of application, lack of understanding, poor work habits, or unsuitability for the work, inability to do the work at the next level. It can also be the company's fault through: stagnation, lack of growth, lack of innovation, inability to compete, failure to automate, failure to understand the market. In such a case it is necessary to leave such a company in order to continue rising.

Obtaining an education enabled people to start at a higher position with slightly higher pay. This person was more valuable to an organization. Early on a high school diploma was sufficient but was sometimes superseded by a college degree. The more you know, the better the job and the better the pay.

The minimum wage law has had an important effect on upward mobility at the low end. Where a person could be hired for very little and tolerated for not producing much until skills could be developed, which enabled the earning of a higher wage. Now the wage is so high that a person must be productive very early on or the business can be put in distress. Hiring now is similar to the biblical saying: "Many are called but few are chosen." It is the low level jobs that have a high turnover. This is why there are not as many low level jobs as there used to be.

Today, there is a problem because so many of our young people have been told that they are special and the world should yield to their desires. Many want to start at the top because that is where they feel they should be. It is cruel to keep them ignorant of the real world.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Romney RINO

The Republican candidates for president are all good but one thing stands out in the field. Romney is not a conservative even though he has many talents for governing. His leadership stand in Massachusetts for Romneycare screams out that he is a large government guy. He worked hand in glove with liberal Democrats to craft that piece of legislation. The main stream media is constantly telling us that he is the one that should be chosen. Just as they chose McCain in the last election, they seek to choose Romney for us in this election.

He also believes in man-made global warming. The danger here is that, followed to its logical conclusion, it can be ruinous trying to take action on reducing man's effects on climate. This says nothing of his inability to see the whole hoax about global warming and the efforts that were made to show proof of global warming. This means he cannot yet see the attempt made by United Nations to control this complete issue and bring all other countries under the laws of the United Nations, including taxation.

His state, Massachusetts, is starting to reel under the costs of Romneycare, yet, he continues to defend that program. It is troubling that such a good manager will not admit that there are flaws in the program.

The main stream media are already trying to influence each debate and will continue with each primary. They point out that Romney's record is far and away the best of the candidates. Also, he has executive experience gained as a state Governor. This is said as if nobody in the field of candidates can come close to being as acceptable.

Conservatives have cause to be wary. They fooled us with McCain last time but it will be hard to fool us again.

Friday, October 07, 2011

House Slippers

Is it just me or is there a direct link from the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd to the statement Obama made to the Congressional Black Caucus: "Get out of your house slippers and put on your marching shoes." Shortly after he had made that statement the occupation began.

Now the usual suspects are joining in: SEIU, the Teachers Unions, AFL-CIO. When the unions get in their demonstrators are usually paid. That they want to be recognized as being similar to the Tea Parties is absurd. Tea Party people did not make a nuisance of themselves, obeyed all laws, respected public and private property, respected the police and went home after their lawful protest.

That they are trying to duplicate "Arab Spring" is surprising because those demonstrations ending up very violent. Also, they were trying to depose their tyrants. Here, we do indeed have a tyrant in training and he is doing his community organizing best fulfill his destiny.

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Atlanta Braves

I have seen many of the baseball games played by the Braves this season. They mostly were exciting games, many of them were won by only one run and some were lost by one run. It was amazing to see many of the games won in the last inning with two outs. It is called a walkoff-win and when witnessed at a night game it makes going to bed late entirely worthwhile.

The team did astonishingly poorly during the month of September. The hitting stars forgot how to hit, the starting pitchers could not last more than five innings. We were all pleased when a starting pitcher lasted into the sixth inning and the bullpen of: O' Flarity, Venters and Kimbrel were called to finish the remaining innings. It meant the the opposing team would not get any runs during the last three innings. But in September the opposing teams got their runs during the first six innings and our hitters did not do their job.

It was heartbreaking to see the Braves win only one of their last ten games. In the middle of September it appeared the Braves would easily win a Wild Card slot. But we watched as the wheels came off the wagon and winning became a thing of the past. The last series of games were against the Philadelphia Phillies and the Braves needed only one win out of the last three games to be played - they lost them all.