My last day of teaching high school and coaching football was June 3, 1986. Due to declining enrollment of the school district where I was employed, my position was being eliminated. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, I think I escaped just before the Apocalypse. Back then, I never feared parental…
Q. What’s the simplest way to pay an employee? A. Wage per hour. Simply multiply the number of hours worked by the agreed upon hourly wage, subtract taxes, and presto – a paycheck! Hourly compensation has been a staple of the free enterprise system since Rosie fastened her first rivet. And like they always say,…
A close friend of my wife invited us to a celebration of her daughter’s high school graduation. Jenna’s a great kid who did very well in school and was involved in several extra-curricular activities. But at 18, she’s never had a real job. She applied at several boutiques in the mall but never made it…
A story in last Thursday’s newspaper tells about a mother who is upset that her 30-something daughter is panhandling. Apparently, the daughter has been unable to get pregnant and wants her husband to undergo a $10,000 medical procedure to improve his fertility. Even though the couple has a combined income of $80K per year, they…
A customer service manager of a regional banking chain recently told me about a challenge her managers were having in getting young tellers to handle incoming calls when they were assigned phone duty. “It’s astounding how many will answer our business line by just saying ‘Hello’ or ‘Yo. Wat up? This is Monique.’ It’s almost…
If you woke up today and discovered that you had won millions in last evening’s lottery drawing, would you still work? Always a great conversation starter, the number of Americans responding ‘yes’ has declined from over 80% in 1955 to 66% in recent years according to Psychology Today. So what happens when there are people…
Michele Klein, HR Manager for Fidelity Exploration and Production (a large player in the booming oil and gas industry) was doing an exit interview with an engineer who was leaving to take a similar job with a competitor. As her final question, she asked, “If we had known that you were thinking about leaving several…
It made for a dreadful commute. The crater-like potholes dotting the main thoroughfare near my office were wreaking havoc on my car’s alignment. I wasn’t the only unhappy camper. The city was inundated with complaints from angry neighbors and shopkeepers who demanded repairs. Finally, a road-crew was sent to fill the gaping cavities and restore drivability…
Postal workers get a bad rap and are frequent fodder for comedians and late night talk show hosts. But aside from the renowned story of Fred in The Fred Factor, here’s another glowing example of a remarkable postal worker. “It’s just part of our work ethic,” Deborah Ford said when asked how she’s retiring from…
Kyle (age 21) handles the scheduling, appointments, estimates, and all payment transactions for the auto service center near my office. On a weekday morning at 8:16, I call to inquire about getting my vehicle in for shocks and an alignment. Kyle politely tells me that if I can bring it in within the next 30…