I'm heading off to a departmental meeting this afternoon, so I figured I'd fall back on that old "post a video" gambit... A few days ago, Ned put up a post titled "Camouflage", which reminded me of Gang of Four, a band I like enormously. Gang of Four's song "I Love a Man in Uniform" was a departure from their earlier work sonically (it's a lusher, fuller sound, in contrast to the edgy, jittery minimalist music of their earlier works), and I used to think that it really didn't have a political bent. Recently, with the focus given on gun ownership, and the generally poor state of the economy, the political nature of the song finally dawned on me- the song is basically the lament of an underemployed, disaffected man who convinces himself that his dysfunctional relationship is healthy, and props up his flagging self-esteem by collecting weapons and engaging in "military" cosplay:
Time with my girl, I spent it well
I had to be strong for my woman
She says, "You must be joking, oh man You must be joking,"
She needed to be protected.
The good life was so elusive,
Handouts, they got me down.
I had to regain my self-respect
So, I got into camouflage
The girls, they love to see you shoot.
I love a man in a uniform.
I love a man in a uniform.
I love a man in a uniform.
I love a man in a uniform
To have ambition was my ambition.
Time with my girl,
I spent it well.
"You must be joking, oh man, you must be joking."
If that doesn't describe the Tea Party and "Milita" communities to a "T", I don't know what does. Enough of yapping, crank this one and shake your rump for great justice:
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I'm heading off to a departmental meeting this afternoon
Good luck!
Those things used to kill me. I'd be sitting there thinking, "Don't fall asleep and drop your pen again! Don't fall asleep and drop your pen again!"
~
BUGGRIT.
Damn. Sorry to hear it, B^4.
Is this because the collection plate keeps coming back light?
~
I'm embarrassed to say I've shaken my rump for causes less worthy than great justice. Fer instance, I've shaken my rump just because it's Friday. I will only shake my rump in recognition of solemn occasions from now on.
I have a friend who worked in a relatively succesful firm - they did suburban 2-3 story bank and medical buildings, the kind that spring up like inedible mushrooms. I call 'em 'donut buildings'; you know, a little building with a circle of parking lot around it.
When the Bush Depression got into full swing, about half the office got an email asking them to come into the conference room. When there, they were notified that there was a round of layoffs, and that they were the ones staying. the rest of the office, about half, were being pushed out the door, literally, while that meeting was going on.
Fuck, but architectural firms have done some crappy human resource shit in my experience.
But as meager as it was, my friends in these positions have been envious of my situation. Which gives some idea of how bad it has been.
Good luck to all the Bastard-adjacents.
Yeah. Back in May I got laid off by the technology company I was working for. This is NOT a pleasant sensation. It was exacerbated by the fact that they were based in Israel, and were not culturally inclined to gentleness or any kind of touchy-feely kindness in the process. They hired an HR consultant, a woman in her sixties oddly enough, to handle the layoffs, of which there were about a dozen.
It's scary, and you wonder how things will work out for you, and if you'll be ok, but you also feel a certain kind of outrage as you become aware not only of who else is being shown the door, but who else is STAYING. You think "THAT idiot still has a job and I don't???" You dwell on what you could have done differently - I have a tendency to push back when I think they want to do stupid, pointless things and I wondered if I should have just smiled and nodded, going along with the stupid things rather than offering my alternative suggestions.
Of course, in this case I find myself here seven months later, another year older, flat-on-my-ass broke and STILL without a job. This risk exists for everyone who loses their paycheck - anyone could end up like me, and many do. It is not a particularly secure world we have made for ourselves...
It seems secure enough for the people who made the situation, mikey.
FWIW, the time I had to lay off my entire staff was the hardest thing I ever had to do, and it was everyone, because, we hadn't enough client payments to make payroll and there was no way I was going to ask them to forego paychecks, nor was I going to pick and choose who was sticking around. it was horrible and I apologized and afterward drank myself sillier.
Also weird was that one of them took me to task with the Department of Workforce Development for holiday/leave pay, and then I proved them horribly wrong, complained that I made THEM look bad.
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