Employment Archives - Blowing It

September 25, 2019September 25, 2019

Employers Dictating What You Do Outside Of Work. #222

Employers Don’t Own Us. So What We Do Outside Of Work Should Have No Bearing On Our Employment.

Yet a lot of employers like to treat you as if they own you. And a lot of industries set up rules as if they own you. Not only for the time that you put in at work but also when you clock out.

There is no better example of this then in sports where your employer is actually called the owner. And the owners write the rules and make player conduct policies that reach deep into the personal lives of each player. It’s all about creating a system where the people they own contractually. Not ever giving them a bad name or representing their product in a negative light. But a lot of it infringes on the personal lives of these players and employees.

What people do outside of their job should be their business and their business alone. No boss, owner, or manager should have any right to dictate what is done outside of those premises or outside the job at hand.

Whatever you want to legally do outside of work, should have no repercussions within in your job. Also if employers are looking into the personal lives of employees it crosses so many boundaries and should be illegal. Something liken to spying or peeping.

I think more laws should be in too protect people from this invasion of privacy. But for now do what you want legally outside of work and if you’re employer fires you for it. Make sure you make a big scene about it.

September 1, 2019September 4, 2019

Waiting Until End Of Life For Retirement #218.

We Never Know What The Future Holds. That’s Why We Should Enjoy Retirement Consistently Throughout Life.

In speaking with a hospice therapist the other day. He spoke of a couple that was just weeks away from 65 years of age and full retirement. They had planned a luxury cruise that they had always dreamed of. And just before they were to depart, the wife had a massive stroke. And needed in home hospice care. No retirement, no dream vacation. Just a rapidly fleeting life.

And that’s the problem. Life can change in a flash. This hospice therapist told me of a 29 year old with a wife and kids and 19 year old both of which had brain tumors, he spoke of children with cancer.

It’s truly devastating that anyone could be taken at such young ages. It’s not fair at all but it is an aspect of life. The therapist spoke of the work as being rewarding. To help ease the burden at the end of life. And that’s just it, we have to respect the fact that our time here is limited.

With just a blink of the eye you could be healthy and in your prime. Dreaming of a future that may never come. Than out of nowhere, blindsided by a catastrophic event.

We Can’t Wait, We Have To Take Advantage Of Our Time Here And Now.

After the therapist saw all these patients taken too soon. He realized he had to live his own life before it was too late. He began to take short retirements yearly. A few months off to recuperate and rejuvenate.

Something that we should mandate for ourselves, as well as from all employers. Its no wonder why this F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early) idea is taking off. No one wants to wait till it’s too late to enjoy retirement. To truly take full advantage of that part of life.

I spoke with a retired engineer as well. He and his wife were thoroughly enjoying their retirement. But in order to get there, he spent 30 plus years working in the same office. He said his son once commented to him, “Dad isn’t that just a prison sentence with a life release program?”

Is Your Work A Prison Sentence With A Life Release Program?

It is how most work is treated. Give us two thirds of your life. And just maybe at the end of it you can finally relax and enjoy what you are doing. This is if you had a decent paying career that helped contribute to the income needed for after the work is finished. Or you yourself properly planned for retirement. Most give the two thirds of life and have nothing to show for it in the end.

What Can We Do?

We could subscribe to financial independence, retire early. And get out of the prison sentence while we’re still young. We could find work we truly love so we enjoy every aspect of our life even work. Maybe start a successful business and take command of your time.

We could demand employers to allow us up to 5 months off a year. If we do that, we could institute a new program. That while working, income is placed into a mini retirement account to be used annually. It could be separated out so that living expenses are covered throughout the year and you can take months off with ease and have still your job when you come back. If you still want it. All so we don’t have to wait till end of life, to truly enjoy our life.

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August 24, 2019September 4, 2019

Company Stealing From Employees #216.

If A Patron Tips Someone That Is For That Individual’s Services. If A Company Takes It. That Is The Company Stealing From Employees.

Or in the case of door dash stealing from independent contractors. Door dash is literally stealing from employees. By keeping a portion of the tips that customers think are going to the driver. The driver that just spent his own time, energy, and gas. In order to go to a restaurant or store, park their vehicle, walk in, sometimes wait extra time for the order to ready. Than gingerly drive said order to the patrons house which could be many miles away. The time in which that takes could approach upwards of an hour.

This whole service somehow cost under 5 dollars. There is absolutely no way that driver has earned any income whatsoever. They may in fact be in the negative. The only way to negate this negative monetary state. Is with the hopes the patron understands all that went into bringing them that order. And they reward the driver with a tip. Or at least they think it goes to the driver.

Door Dashes Policy Was To Skim A Percentage Of The Tips Paid To Drivers.

In order to increase their business. A blatant theft of both consumer and employee.

As a consumer, most tip for service and we expect that tip to go 100% to the person who facilitated that service. Not the company. When we pay for meals the business has already accounted for profit. We are not tipping to add to that profit. We are tipping the person barely getting by on the earnings provided by that employer. The fact that we even tip is still an allocation to the company. We are outsourcing the responsibility of wages to the patrons.

To Insure Promptness.

This is the true meaning of the word tip. Originally you gave a tip at the beginning of service with the expectation the server would be prompt with their service. Which is already a given, it’s part of their job. So tipping turned into exceptional services rendered. Than from there it became customary to leave something to all assistance. Meanwhile employers could begin paying employees less. Because income was than covered by the people receiving the already mandated services provided regardless of tip.

We Have Now Taken This To The Extreme.

Where some people in the service industry work off tips alone. Which is ludicrous. Tips aren’t a guarantee. No one should ever have to work for another and than be forced to beg many others for spare change as their income. A tip should always be in addition to salary, not salary itself. And if ever we find a company stealing from employees like this. It should be charged as what it is. Theft.

January 16, 2019July 20, 2019

Remedial Work, A Mental Muzzle #176.

This Isn’t To Say You Can’t Think While You Do The Remedial Work. It Simply Changes The Context And Structure Of Your Thoughts.

Leaving less room for creative thought and expression. Your mind is somewhat hijacked for the 8 to 12 hours a day you spend devoted to another entity. If you have remedial work that maintains the hijack even after working hours than hopefully you love what you do. Because you have sold your mind to the highest bidder, or what you might think is your highest bidder. A company you might feel you can’t do better than what they give you. We can always do better.

The Path You Are On Could Be The Wrong Path

Be careful with mental distractions. What pulls you in one direction deters you from another. And that other path might be the one you were supposed to be on. I’ve seen it before.

Pressure to have a life you think you want may direct you towards a path you think you need to be on in order to attain this fictional existence and while your on that new path, those closest to you may have been content with the path you were on together. If your goal is to leave them behind I assure you, you will be successful.

But if your goal is to make a better life for them and you in turn spend all your life away from them, what does that accomplish? How is that a better life, if you eliminate yourself from the picture? Especially if you are working your life away in work that doesn’t stimulate you.

It’s a lose lose battle if your wasting your life working remedial jobs and than in turn while you waste away in this job your creative well runs dry.

What Is The Answer?

We need more freedom and more autonomy in the work we choose. Isn’t this the goal of work anyway. Work your entire life, pay your bills, save your income and hopefully one day you’ll get to spend the last few remaining years with a little bit of freedom and autonomy with the ones you love.

We should be allowed more of our life to enjoy it now, work needs to be restructured in a way that accommodates these things. You can only help others if you have the time, energy, focus and creativity to do so. Don’t let one employer burn you out on of all that.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don't, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

December 14, 2018July 24, 2019

Buying Into Multilevel Marketing #169.

If You’re Not The Owner Of The Multilevel Marketing Company Than You’re The One Getting Conned.

What other job on the planet forces you to pay them in order to essentially be their employee? Than in turn making you a nuisance to your friends and family, all because they are the only people left for you to peddle your terrible products too. And while you continue to become the town pariah. Your new “employer” continues to get rich while selling you the multilevel marketing lie that you will be a millionaire. If you just buy more products to sell and get more people involved to help you sell them.

Who Actually Makes The Money.

They will showcase the one percent of individuals who had mediocre success. Traipsing them around stages letting the audience know it is possible, just buy more of our products. Look this person did it, you can too.

You than buy in under someone else’s sales team umbrella. So the company and this other person make a large percentage of profit off your hard work and sales.

Than, not only are you selling your products, you also need to start annoyingly convincing others to buy into this company. And they can start selling under your umbrella of sales staff. This is how the multilevel marketing company continues to grow.

Multilevel Marketing Companies.

It’s absolutely asinine to join one of these companies. Lularoe, Amway, MonaVie, HerbaLife, The list goes on and on, most, if not all of these companies eventually go defunct. Once everyone figures out the scam. LuLaRoe sellers are all now suing the company for their money back. A company once valued at 2.4 billion may soon be completely worthless.

Usually only the owners and a very select few, those who are the very first in the company, are the only ones who actually make any money. The owners make a killing but all the rest are left with worthless inventory that they paid good money for, that now sits idle in some basement or storage locker.

What We Can Do Instead.

Do not buy into these companies. No matter what they say, they will not make you rich you will only help make the owners rich. If you think you can get rich from selling vitamins or leggings. Than find your own manufacturer and create your own products and sell those. That way your profits are not being eroded by all the middle men taking their chunk out of you. They take the whole pie while your left with just a sliver. Make your own pies and keep them for yourself. Avoid others get rich quick schemes. Heck you could even start your own Multilevel marketing company. Just don’t work for someone else’s.

December 14, 2018July 24, 2019

Don’t Always Conform #168.

Be Unapologetically Yourself And Don’t Always Conform To Societal Norms.

Some societal norms are of necessity to conform too. As to not harm other individuals with your actions. Don’t kill cheat or steal these are things we can agree to conform too to protect our fellow man. But in other areas of life we need not always conform.

Your Choice Is Who You Chose To Be.

As the great poet Ben Harper would say, your choice is who you choose to be and if you’re causing no harm than your alright with me. My choice is what I choose to do and if I’m causing no harm it shouldn’t bother you. Yet everywhere we look we are guided into conformity and it starts and a very early age.

Social norms dictate that you act as others do as to not disrupt the delicate balance of those interactions. What we wear, how we look, what we say all require a sense of uniformity. It takes a keen eye to understand you are playing a role and to break free from that role you need to go against the grain.

The strange thing is, and it’s something you have to pay very close attention to is this. Even when you think you might be bucking the trend, you may just be conforming to someone else’s rules.

The Conform of Nonconformity

I recently read of an artist who thought they were living the life of an artist not conforming to societal norms. Getting face and neck tattoos so he could be unhireable.

Sometime we just have to play by our own set of rules and this individual thought he was doing that. He moved into an “artist” warehouse where many other artist and misfits made their home. Yet in his attempt to check out of “normal” society he still had to pay rent, eat and buy supplies for his art. This required income.

36 People Perished In The Fire.

Eventually the manager of the warehouse allowed him to live rent free if he cleaned the bathrooms, collected the rent checks and occasionally put on events, basically he was working a job conforming to the rules the manager of the property set for him. Eventually this nonconformist put on a concert at this illegal warehouse living space and due to all the faulty wiring of the building it caught fire and 36 people died.

He was eventually blamed for these death and is now is forced to conform to a new life behind bars. He did not kill those people but the fact that he did the bidding of other individuals made him some how an accomplice. Don’t simply be the accomplice in others work, plans, goals or dreams. Or in this case a nightmare. This individual conformed through anti-conformity. It’s seems like these things can’t exist together but surely they do. And now this individual has to conform to the penitentiary system.

Be Yourself.

Walk to the beat of your own drum, conform where is absolutely necessary but go against the grain when it feels like the right move. Or if something doesn’t feel right, don’t simply conform to it because that’s what someone who might seem to have authority says to do. Question it and jump ship when it’s the wrong move.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don’t, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.

November 20, 2018October 25, 2019

Commute To Work #159.

What Cost You Money, Time And Energy, Just So You Can Give Your Time And Energy To Make Money? It’s your commute

It’s that hellatious daily commute we all love so dearly. Unless you live where you work, you have one. And if you have one you know all to well about the daily plight most of us go through.

Time Cost Of Commute.

Many commutes average about an hour one way. That means two hours a day round trip. 10 hours a week. 40 hours a month. Which all adds up to a whopping 20 days a year. That we spend locked in our vehicles stressed to the hilt. Trying making it to work on time and worrying about the other drivers around us.

All the while not being capable of performing any other task that might help to free us from that daily grind. Nope, we can just drive on in our silent misery. Well maybe not silent but at least the other drivers can’t hear us lament with your profanity riddled screams.

Monetary Cost Of Commute.

On top of those 20 lost days with no compensation for the loss. We must fill our gas tanks, pay our tolls, or pay for some other from of transportation. With that hour commute you’re vehicle will probably require a fill up once a week. Let’s say it takes 60 dollars a week to fill it up. That’s nearly $3,000 annually just for gas to get to and from work.

That doesn’t include the maintenance, the insurance and your taxes, which is a few thousand more. All of this devoted time and money is for another’s benefit. Sure you benefit in the sense you get a paycheck. But essentially it is you giving up your personal time, money and energy in order to offer your services to another entity in the hopes of getting paid.

What Can We Do About It?

Well we can ask our employer to contribute to all those added cost. We can create a life where we’re able to work from home. We could read and learn new things on our commute, making that time more valuable. And by reading I mean listening to audio books and podcast while driving.

We can take public transportation to and from work and use that time to work on personal growth projects that can one day free us from that daily grind. Get creative with it. Maybe if we all begin to not except it as status quo together, we’ll force those who make money from our hard work to pay us for the time and money it cost us to get to said work.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read our post. If you like what you read, or even if you don't, we would love to hear from you. Please join our email list here. Or if you want to comment on this article, or write your own in our Forum. Please sign in here and if you are new to the site you can register here. This website is not intended to be a blog. We want it to be a place to help others grow and learn from mistakes and the Forum is where that begins. Please tell us your stories.