Thoughts on work.

I am a strange person; I know this, and I have come to terms with this fact. Not strange in the sense  that people give me negative attention for my behaviour or look (although I do admit I feel comfortable even when I don`t dress up to date, and I do wear a lot more colours than what fashionistas would find appropriate. In addition I have a way of sometimes telling the truth, as I see it, even when a white lie should have been preferred and that might not be the most discrete thing to do, always...) but I think there must be something odd about how my thoughts fly, and what they find amusing pondering about.

Lately I have been wondering about work, and environment.

My grandfather used to say that when there is no more farmers, fishermen and hunters all the rich people with important, well-paid jobs, will starve because their millions can`t fill their starving stomachs.

Just recently I saw on facebook that an old Native American said the same thing!?! It must mean my grandfather was a wise man. (At least he was not the only man profoundly and deeply rooted in past knowledge to keep that thought in mind.)

It is just another one of those obvious truths you always knew, but needed someone to say out loud to really reflect upon. And then you acknowledge it IS a MATTER OF FACT... Even though it WAS always COMMON SENSE

Funny that, how basic living qualifications needs to be confirmed to be considered smart or true... or even legitimate.

Well, I grew up on a farm, in addition I know that in both chess and real life, pawns are not really considered to be important, but the way I play they are the most important ones. I am that kind of down to earth girl. That doesn`t mean I don`t have respect for a lot of other jobs, I even find a lot of them very essential, but I have to say it never cease to amaze me how and what some people do to make a living.

A few years ago a big corporation went into fusion with another corporation. Part of the deal was that the name of this huge corporation should contain both names. There were a few other conditions as well, but this was the big, new thing about this deal. Well; they spent millions and millions on changing this household name, brand and logo all over the world. When the deal had been on for like 6 months, they changed it back, spending even more money.

Now, it is kind to keep signmakers, printers, marketing consultants, graphic designers and other involved groups of professionals occupied. But I bet they kept more than one person busy, for over a year, thinking this strategy out. And I bet the soles of my shoes they were far from cheap.

When I was a kid, and we were talking about a small, isolated place with no apparent workplaces, my dad used to say: “They probably just cut each other’s hair”. Well, to be a hairdresser or a barber is a good job, and we need them, but we can’t all hang around waiting for hair to grow. Nothing much productive really happens then.

 

Whenever I come to a staffed restroom I just grin. I love it, when I know it will be clean, tidy, supplies will be at hand and there is a “Timmy Grasshopper” making sure everybody wash their hands. Going out, an inviting restroom is one of the signs I look for to identify true quality.

When travelling I have a few checkpoints which I go through to find out if the room and other facilities are clean. I really like it to be clean. Not only for the sake of cleanliness itself, but when everything is clean you know the people who own and run the place care.

Cleaning, as well as renovation, are really important jobs. I remember what Naples was like a couple of years ago. I have to admit I don’t know the situation there now, though. But it was bad!

I am very confused to why clubs and restaurants find it more important to employ hung-over kids to push unwelcome leaflets in bypassers’ hands instead of hiring them to keep their facilities clean. I never pick up on those offers. They come across as desperate attempts to keep a place open rather than anything else.

Another thing I don`t really understand is how some people can make a comfortable living giving speeches and lectures. I have to say a lot of them have never been even close to the topic they talk about and give their point of view on issues they know from books and strange research questionaires. When listening to them I always wonder if they are aware of their own distance to their topic. There are really good ones, but there are even more really bad ones.

In example: I have been to numerous lectures, conferences and seminars with no agenda other than telling the audience something we all know very well. I spent 4 hours listening to a woman who told us (us being 170 very good teachers) that in order to teach you must ask the students questions.

She forgot to tell us the most important thing about asking questions (i.e. how to ask them), but we have to always ask the students questions. I am embarrassed to say that I have not heard anything positive about this lecture. She was showing, and referring, to a powerpoint with too small print for us to read, she constantly stood with her back turned at us; talking to the screen, and when she asked us a question she answered it herself... Within a few seconds. That was the best part about her lecture: Showing us how not to teach! And to be honest, it is a good thing to be reminded of. But that was not the intention, nor was it the lecture the school had ordered.

I have also been to lectures, held by a very profiled person, who spent 6 hours telling us what a great guy he was. We fall for their (in their own circle or field of knowledge) famous names and book them, even pay them, to tell us nothing. Actually; to make us spend money doing that is quite an achievement. I should learn something from that.

On the other hand: some of the best lectures I have attended has been about truths I know very well, but needed to be reminded of, or I needed someone better than me to put the truths into well spoken words which makes people want to listen and take part.

Firefly inventors, as I call them, are really interesting. (Of course they don`t invent fireflies, but the things they do invent hardly ever last for more than (at best) a day.) They invent totally useless items, with no quality, or durability. The things they invent are just super cool!!! Until they break 3 hours later, just in time to be broken before we lose interest. And then we fall for their next invention, with even less durability, and we know about this, but it costs next to nothing, and it is tiresome to listen to kids nagging for hours because they want this bright yellow, green, blue, red, orange and/or purple supercool must-have-now thing. i.e. useless-kitchen-gadgets

Cereal boxes and cartoon magazines are full of toys like this, which have made someone rich. And those are only two examples to where we find them. They are everywhere! And we buy them… lots of them.

 

Every year, when a new schoolyear starts I give my new students a welcome speech. One of the things I tell them is: Every idiot can break a window. That is not something to be proud of, because anyone can do that. You will learn how to fix that window, not many can do that, and that is something to be proud of. In a few years you can drive through this region and point out to your child "Those houses over there are homes for families. I was part of building those homes".

We keep hearing about how we pollute the world doing everyday things. I think that if we stopped wasting time talking rubbish, and stopped wasting energy on buying rubbish (both would save us from a lot of annoyance and harsh thoughts and words), we would save both time and environment (not to mention all the money and paper). To me it strikes me as strange that work we do to support human's basic needs are so looked down on, while shuffling numbers and papers around are considered so much more valuable.