Bait and Switch

Packed powder, blue skies, sunshine in January. Ingredients for a great day on the mountain (earlier this week). Athletic ski stance, working on my turns, and finally using my poles right. Planting them correctly--just a little flick on the snow as I make my next turn, loose arms, shoulders straight and staying focused on the fall line. The intense rays made the snow just soft enough to get good turns in and spray a little powder.

After a late lunch and realizing tight quads would make me not as "aggressive" for the afternoon portion of the day (and Judd had an hour of "bump shack" duty--required of all ski patrollers), I snuggled into a blue window seat in the patrol lodge to finish Barbara Ehrenriech's latest book of investigative journalism, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream.

Some of my favorite parts:
"As the best-seller Who Moved My Cheese advises, dislocated professionals must learn to adapt to new flavors of cheese as the old ones are taken away. But when skilled and experienced people routinely find their skills unwanted and their experience discounted, then something has happened that cuts deep into the very social contract that holds us together." - page 217

- a passage she quoted from Lucy Kellaway's article, "Companies Don't Need Brainy People" (Financial Times, 11/22/2004): "Think what characterises the really intelligent person. They can think for themselves. They love abstract ideas. They can look dispassionately at the facts. Humbug is their enemy. Dissent comes easily to them, as does complexity. These are traits that are not only unnecessary for most business jobs, they are actually a handicap when it comes to rising through the ranks of large companies." - p. 228-229
. . . Ehrenreich goes on to comment that, "It is a strange team in which everyone is equally good-natured, agreeable, and not too threateningly bright . . . it seems counterproductive to bar diversity in personality . . . [an employee] risks being dismissed for failing to be a sufficiently compliant 'team player'."

When I working as a "project manager/techincal writer" I heard these comments and feedback from my "co-managers", sometimes directly and sometimes through others' comments:

1. It was suggested that maybe I didn't "fit in" with the rest of the managers because I asked too many questions - and therefore, I wasn't a "team player". . . (this started after I questioned the intent/purposes for a "communications workshop" which was really a PhD student's research study, who was a friend of the boss/owner). It's important to note that the there were 6 other managers, plus myself and the owner. The number of other employees? 5 (at that time) - most of them sarcastically commented that while the managers had their hour-long monthly meetings, they were the ones doing all the work. (Oh, and sometimes the owner's husband also sat in on these meetings, though he didn't have any managerial duties, didn't oversee any employees or area, only occasionally helped with sales and marketing tasks, some admin. tasks, and janitorial tasks around the office.)

Really, it didn't take 8 people to manage 5 employees and do all the work. Everyone was over 49, except for the boss's son (appointed as "Marketing Director" - no completed college-degree, no prior marketing experience), the Ops Manager (see #2 below), and myself. I once told the owner that I didn't want to attend the manager meetings because it interferred with my primary job duties, didn't feel like my comments were sincerely heard or valued.

(Therefore, it felt like a waste of time to me. If others wanted to make rash business decisions and get emotional about issues that was fine, but I didn't want to witness the incompetency and asked for my thoughts but then discounted in response every time; I had better things to do with my time at work.)

I also proposed that the group be called the "Leadership Team" or something like that, because only 2 of us (me included) were actually responsible for directly supervising workers. And the general manager managed everybody, when he was in the office. (He usually only worked about 20 hrs a week sometimes, and would sometimes be out of town for days at a time.) The others managed their "area" or "department", such as marketing or billing, therefore they were considered an essential part of the decision-making team. Unfortunately, the loudest (and rudest) often were the ones talking most (and usually without sound sense or logic). I commented privately to the owner (who I'll now call "Sally") that it seemed like she was being disrespected by a certain 2 "managers" (who I'll refer to as "Fay" and "Jill") because they talked over her, interrupted, and generally didn't allow her to facilitate the meeting. Sally excused their behavior, calling them "strong-willed women." But really, they were just bitches. There IS a difference. However, she agreed it was getting out of hand and talked to the guilty, after which behavior improved somewhat. (Sally was also learning to stop the behavior from continuing in the meeting by raising a palm, and saying, "Wait, I'm still talking." It was interesting how Fay didn't have basic communications skills suitable for the workplace. Jill was better, she had a college degree and more work experience.)

2. Because I was college-educated, I acted like I was better than others. - This was a common critique of anyone in the office who had a college degree, or even took college classes. Because Sally and the General Manager did not have bachelor's degrees, they felt threatened even by the Operations Manager, "Keri", who had PhD work (albeit in anthropology). A worker taking accounting classes finishing up her AA was even pushed out of her new bookkeeping duties because she started questioning some of the billing and financial practicies and mistakes of the company and the former bookkeeper Fay, who was now the "office manager". Fay only's qualifications were her on-the-job experience, but she becomes the bookkeeper again. Fay couldn't even do cash flow analysis reports or create a budget, and refused to learn how and the software to assist with it (claiming it was too difficult, frustrated her, and she didn't have time for it--because she worked part-time hours.) So Keri, putting aside her other job duties, taught herself how to do it, using college accounting textbooks and Excel software.

I would like to write an insider's view article about what it was like working for a small business, who ran like a "family business" where the owner and her husband have a wheelchair decal on their rearview mirror and park in the disabled spots even though both are walking without any aids and go on frequent vacations (Hawaii, Las Vegas, etc.). Where the oldest son, who gets laid off from his pastor job, is now the "Marketing Director" (were we hiring one?), yet he fails to bring in substantial profitable new clients which leads to greater cash flow problems--and he signs up for expensive out-of-state marketing conferences, then whines about having to attend them. The owner's husband (an outspoken homophobic/racist) is the highest paid salary employee, yet is described by the owner/wife as being "computer illiterate...give him easy tasks...he can make copies, prepare folders, whatever you need done." He made too-light copies, emptied the trash bins, answered phones but directed calls inaccurately and couldn't correctly tell someone who was on the line and what it was regarding--resulting in numerous unnecessary disruptions. And the company paid for the owner's rental house on a lake, SUV lease, gas, food, Starbucks, Nordstroms Rack, Toys-R-Us, $100 dinners for 2 (called "marketing event"), a fishing trip to Alaska with two employees (called a "marketing conference" in the expense report), and over $500 in tickets to a major league baseball game (another "marketing event"). Some of these may be fine and well, but then to threaten to "lay off" some people to get out of the hole and shove work onto others isn't the responsible business solution.

I hope I don't sound bitter, because I'm not. It was facinating lesson in human psychology and disorganized leadership. I'm much happier not working there anymore, and not having to see Fay ever again...well, that is priceless. Once I realized the limits to being able to utilize my brain and skills in that environment, that change was slow, that efficiency and education were not real values, that incompetent and unprofessional (even rude) people would stay in their positions despite numerous mistakes and inadequacies just because they were "friends" with the owner, I saw no prudence in staying. My friend in "Organizational Leadership and Development" advised: Get out of there as soon as you (and make sure you're fairly compensated while you're still there).

It's actually hilarious to be able to step back and ruminate on the incompetence and at times unethical behavior of Sally, especially one who liked to talk about her faith and "trust in God". Her and her "strong Christian family" makes me shake my head. I wish my friends still there could leave and be better respected for their work and intelligence. Fear of loss of income, health insurance, and the question of "where else could I get paid this much to work part-time" keeps them there. And the illusion that they can "make a difference." (Which I'm not sure can be aptly used when working with a for-profit business, especially one documented to line the owner's pockets and promote high turnover/layoffs among the ones who do the direct labor work for clients.) Sadly, one former employee lost her job when she had to go out of state to take care of a tragically ill parent. Because a small business is exempt from the "Family Medical Leave Act", she had no job security. So though she was a very strong employee, loyal and willing to telecommute (and was even offered this plan by the owner), the offer was retracted and the employee was simply told over the phone by Fay (when calling to finalize things with Sally), "Oh, you don't work here anymore."

As a public service: To all you in Washington state, you wonder how you can get health insurance without an employee group plan or state assistance, go to: www.asuris.com And I'm sure there are other companies that offer similar plans for individuals. As Ehrenreich points out, since white-collar workers will have numerous jobs throughout a lifetime, employer-provided health benefits should not be counted. Having your own health insurance assures that you will be covered no matter what happens, free you to make the best job choices, and not be grouped together with older and unhealthy co-workers on a group plan that may be dropped or whose co-premiums may rise drastically. If I get a job that provides insurance, I'll ask for compensation to cover my individual plan--which will actually save the company money since my plan (which is just as good, no doubt) is half the total of the company per-person premuim.

* * *

...on a related note (to skiing), someone recently made me aware of this: Indoor snow skiing. They do it in Dubai.

sock monkey

...possible inspiration for new writing ideas?








Red-Lipped Cowboy

Straddles the desert like sundance
and wind, looking for a fellow
to love, to save, to wander
together on long Mondays
when sock monkeys
sing about lost blankets,
slippers from home, and freshly-baked
banana bread bagged and sealed for the long
trek home to the horizon.

You go girl!

This is amazing and I'm highly interested in reading The Year of Yes memoir. She must have a very personable demeanor, because it seems to me that dates don't happen this easily--at least not for the majority of people. Either men are too shy or uncertain, or a woman doesn't give the "green light" signals. Or am I becoming a 31-yr-old ignorant of the dating scene since I've "attached" for over 2 years now?

This tidbit from the article amused me most: "The ensuing 150 dates included a homeless man, several non-English speakers, 10 taxi drivers, two lesbians and a mime." This woman has extreme fortitude, an admirable trait. Yet, I wonder...did she think about writing a memoir about this during this life experiment--or only after the fact. Experiential non-fiction?

I wonder if her books discusses each one of the 150 dates, and what they did, who paid, and all those other little tidbits that make a good first-date story interesting.

I wonder what the MFA non-fiction professors would say about this? I suppose if Headley was a writer before this experience, this is a totally reasonable outcome. After all, writers are constantly looking for good writing material and real-life personal experience is the main avenue for gathering ideas.

What can I do that would be intersting and worthy of a memoir?

While reading Lillian Hellman's memoir last spring and studying this NF sub-genre, I couldn't quite make up my mind on one of the core issues of the memoir . . . what makes you, the author, think your life is so interesting that people would want to read a book about it? If it's something that isn't entirely flattering, than I suppose there are redemptive, humanitarian motives..."Look, readers, you can learn from my mistakes!" Or it's because the writer has an issue that he/she never quite recovered from. Or there's a fair degree of self-importance involved - "Read about me, my life, because it's so interesting!" (Essential, a memoir is like reality-TV.)

That said, I'm almost half-way through Frank McCourt's Teacher Man and am enjoying it. He includes quite a few self-depreciating moments, and his age and removal from those experiences makes it easier to share with readers, I suppose.

One literary issue that irks me is this issue of a former boss of mine. She claimed to write a book about her experience as a police officer and the sexual harrassment she endured. (She even told a local reporter this and it was published as "fact", along with some other exaggerations and/or non-truths.) However, when some of the employees and I researched further we discovered she didn't write the book at all. Another woman did, and it was a fiction book only based on the boss' real-life experience. (I heard part of the sexual harassment settlement with the police dept. was that she would not profit from the experience through writing about it.) When confronted, the boss insisted she wrote it. Then she changed her story and said she co-wrote it. Then she said she was the "ghost writer". But this didn't really make sense either, because the woman who is credited as the author apparently uses that name as a pseudonymn, and she writes books of poetry (with cheesey titles) and this was her 5th published book (??). So, the debate was whether or not it was ethical to claim she wrote (because she didn't), or to claim she was the ghost writer because the whole idea behind being a ghost writer is that you don't take credit for it.

Bottom line: this woman is not my boss anymore.

As a writer, I was so disgusted by her deceitful attitude. I literally had a gasping fit of shock when I actually found a copy of the book--clearly proving she was NOT the author. I read the first chapter out of curiosity, but the writing was terrible!!! I couldn't force myself to read such crappy work! After studying the publisher name and all, it is my opinion that it was a vanity publisher anyway, or a self-publishing effort. I can't believe my boss could not see the embarassment she was potentially causing herself. She asked me, "What's wrong with telling clients I wrote the book?" (because she would put it in the marketing materials, even when the operations manager took out the untruthful information). My response (more or less in these words): "Because if they research the title, they will find that you, in fact, are not the author. This will make you seem like you are just trying to make yourself look better with false boasting."

brain food

"Congress has taken eight pay raises since 1997, while denying fair pay for minimum-wage workers. On Jan. 1, congressional pay quietly rose to $165,200 -- up $31,600 since 1997. And unlike minimum-wage workers, members of Congress have good health benefits, pensions and perks." - from Martin Luther King Jr. valued workers . . . a great editorial article.

sweet revenge?

"Don't you think it's kind of ironic when the high school English teacher is a more important literary figure than the authors he assigns his students to read?" - calico cat blog

All hail, Frank McCourt and David Guterson!

I'm excited to pick up McCourt's Teacher Man and start reading.

thoughts on teaching

"The average high school doesn’t need a teacher with the brilliance required to write a book like Angela’s Ashes, the average high school just needs teachers who are good disciplinarians, who can force just a little bit of knowledge into the students’ brains so they can pass their standardized tests." - from Half Sigma's blog entry

I disagree.

It's always interesting to hear what someone who has never been a teacher thinks teachers should be. We have all been students, and had our own experiences of good and bad teachers. Try stepping to the other side, and be that teacher.

"Re-hab Teacher" is back and well. The district didn't fire her, contrary to prophetic comments heard from her colleagues. As she said, "I'll be here for the rest of my life!" That kind of optimism can only be heard, I think, from a teacher who has been gone "on medical leave" for 4+ weeks, plus 2 more weeks because of Winter Break, without any responsibilities before or during her extended absence for lesson-planning or grading.

Sure, it's fun to be the popular, bubbly teacher who everyone wants to hug. But what are the students learning about Literature and Writing? How well is the "College Prep" English class really preparing them for college?

In college, English 101 cares more that Freshman students can write a coherant, organized, insightful, original analytical essay--not remember the chronological periods of American Literature or that their high school English teacher showed them movies frequently and let them have "parties" in class.

When there is relaxed discipline, lack of routines and boundaries--both personally and behaviorially--order breaks down. That's how you have 19 year old students repeating their senior year. Students don't need their teachers to be their friends. Friendly teachers are good, but teenagers have their own friends. The teacher-student relationship is not equal, and although there can be moments of sincere connection--especially when teachers are coaches or club advisors, that professional boundary and the teacher's clear position as mentor/role model needs to be maintained. I think, in the end, this gains more respect. There is a way to be both a fun, interesting teacher, and a challenging teacher who instructs, inspires, and actually TEACHES so that students remember what was taught years after graduation.

Those teachers who just want to have fun with their classes, tell jokes, and discuss personal matters, dangerously blur the boundaries between their personal life and those of the students should really go into a career of counseling, social work, or work in a community recreation setting--like the YMCA or a teen shelter or youth center.

The warm and caring relationship is good, but it needs to be balanced. When it comes at the expense of real academic teaching and genuine learning, and when it takes the place of a challenging and intellectually stimulating classroom environment, then it's inappropriate and undermines the purpose of being a high school teacher.

Sometimes I wish some high school teachers would grow up and realize how silly it looks when they try to recreate a better, more powerful version (and sometimes total opposite) of their own high school experience. Whether it's to re-live the glory days of being a jock--now experienced as a coach or rabid HS sports fan, or being Ms. Popular, it is awkward to witness. Maybe my five years has made me cynical, but I think I've seen enough to support my opinions with strong evidence and vivid details.

Students grow up and move on, and eventually realize that maybe that one cool teacher was fun, but frankly they don't remember one thing they really learned in class because it was just so easy. But then again, some students sort of teach themselves anyway, based on what they are given for curriculum...and others don't really care about learning anyway. But the AP kids...they get pissed off. What they remember is that the teacher has not ever been present 5 days in a row, they only discussed to chapter 4 in The Scarlet Letter, and they feel cheated out of a stimulating learning experience for Advanced Placement.

* * *

My favorite parts from a NY Times article by Elissa Gootman, "Before Memoirs, He Wrote A's, B's, C's, D's and F's" about Frank McCourt and his newest memoir, Teacher Man:

He lamented the onslaught of gadgets that today's educators have to contend with, saying, "If I were a teacher now I'd have a sign that says, 'If you have a cellphone, I'm going to step on it,' " and likened politicians' efforts to improve education to "interfering with a couple in the bedroom."

"Teachers are treated like the downstairs maid," he said. "If there's a panel on television on education and the schools, do you ever see a teacher? No. Chancellors, politicians, someone from a think tank."
. . .
"The books, the notes, the paperwork, the names that you have to memorize, the individual problems, and to read all this stuff that you take home, it's overwhelming," he said.

good start to the new year

Latest freelance writing opportunity...a Nordic ski cover article for OutThere Monthly.