Hello...
I sincerely thank you for listening to my rantings about the American labor force. I would love for you to come back more often and comment on my postings. Please add me to your readers, or leave some comments. I don't want my voice to go unheard.
Thanks, Jeff
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Religious Music
I've been an opera singer for many years, but this year is really upsetting. I have found that many of the organizations in my area (Chicago) have loaded their programs with religious music. I being an Atheist object to singing this material. First of all, these organizations are world class and they should be open to everybody. However, I was told that the organizations do a lot of religious music because it is in the repertior of symphonies and choruses around the world. Well I disagree with that position. These are arts organizations and should expose the general population to many points of view.
In my case I won't be singing for these organizations because of the religious music. Why should I be excluded from working for these organizations based on religious beliefs? This is Chicago. It's a pretty progressive city. These organizations (Grant Park Symphony Chorus, and Chicago Symphony Chorus) shouldn't be allowed to represent the city when they are advocating religious beliefs. In question are the masses and the requiems that many famous composers have written. Well that brings me to my next problem...
Many of the masses and requiems come directly from the Catholic tradition. I am a homosexual male and I refuse to support anything of a Catholic nature. You would think that there are many homosexuals in these choruses. Why aren't they speaking up? Are they afraid that they will lose their jobs? Chicago is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the country, the city would have their back. Or are they afraid of the Catholic church with their pedophiles?
I truly imagine the problem actually lies with the guest conductors. They are invited to conduct these organizations and then the organizations ask the conductors what they would like to do rather than say...here are your options. The conductors want to pad their resumes and say they've conducted these wonderful pieces without giving any thought to their performers. They just want to put their stink on the piece. Repulsive!
In my case I won't be singing for these organizations because of the religious music. Why should I be excluded from working for these organizations based on religious beliefs? This is Chicago. It's a pretty progressive city. These organizations (Grant Park Symphony Chorus, and Chicago Symphony Chorus) shouldn't be allowed to represent the city when they are advocating religious beliefs. In question are the masses and the requiems that many famous composers have written. Well that brings me to my next problem...
Many of the masses and requiems come directly from the Catholic tradition. I am a homosexual male and I refuse to support anything of a Catholic nature. You would think that there are many homosexuals in these choruses. Why aren't they speaking up? Are they afraid that they will lose their jobs? Chicago is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the country, the city would have their back. Or are they afraid of the Catholic church with their pedophiles?
I truly imagine the problem actually lies with the guest conductors. They are invited to conduct these organizations and then the organizations ask the conductors what they would like to do rather than say...here are your options. The conductors want to pad their resumes and say they've conducted these wonderful pieces without giving any thought to their performers. They just want to put their stink on the piece. Repulsive!
Credit Reports
I just read an article about employers using credit reports more often to make hiring decisions. This is highly outrageous considering the mess many of the "top" companies have put consumers and employees in. It's common knowledge that the banks and credit card companies are doing whatever they can to screw over consumers. What with their alternating due dates and zero-balance practices. How much more can consumers take?
With the downturn of the economy many people can't pay their credit cards or their mortgages because they have lost their jobs, or the banks have jacked up their rates so high that it is unbearable. So now we have to open up our entire lives just to work. No more privacy. Once an employer looks at your credit report they know so much more about you than you really want to tell them.
There really isn't a rating agency for employers. Oh sure every now and then somebody does a best or worst companies in America to work for article, but that really doesn't cut all the slimy things that companies do. When you talk to executives about the lead-up into the recession they readily admit the heinous things that they did to employees. So by all right shouldn't they be held accountable? A rating agency for employers would expedite this process.
A friend of mine has quit her job recently because they had bedbugs. Yes you heard me...BEDBUGS!!! How would you like to go to work and come home with bite marks and a nasty infestation. But what is really crazy is the volume of people that go to work for this company. They hire like 20 people every three weeks. The staff turns over that fast. Where are the protections for these employees? If she could have reviewed the rating for the company she would have never gone to work there. She would have realized that they sexually harass their staff constantly and when somebody complains they get fired. This is America. You are supposed to be protected from things like this.
Oh well. Maybe when the revolution comes things will be better.
With the downturn of the economy many people can't pay their credit cards or their mortgages because they have lost their jobs, or the banks have jacked up their rates so high that it is unbearable. So now we have to open up our entire lives just to work. No more privacy. Once an employer looks at your credit report they know so much more about you than you really want to tell them.
There really isn't a rating agency for employers. Oh sure every now and then somebody does a best or worst companies in America to work for article, but that really doesn't cut all the slimy things that companies do. When you talk to executives about the lead-up into the recession they readily admit the heinous things that they did to employees. So by all right shouldn't they be held accountable? A rating agency for employers would expedite this process.
A friend of mine has quit her job recently because they had bedbugs. Yes you heard me...BEDBUGS!!! How would you like to go to work and come home with bite marks and a nasty infestation. But what is really crazy is the volume of people that go to work for this company. They hire like 20 people every three weeks. The staff turns over that fast. Where are the protections for these employees? If she could have reviewed the rating for the company she would have never gone to work there. She would have realized that they sexually harass their staff constantly and when somebody complains they get fired. This is America. You are supposed to be protected from things like this.
Oh well. Maybe when the revolution comes things will be better.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I've Made A Decision
I've decided to go back to school. My feeling is that I shouldn't wait around to see when I'm going to be able to go back to school again. I should take this time to work towards a new goal. I've been an opera singer and restaurant manager most of my life, but now I think that it's time to make a switch to healthcare. I feel that I have plenty of time to still make my career happen and that this minor inconvenience in the economy can actually be a blessing in disguise while I take time to refocus my energies.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Out Of Work For Years To Come
Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if you were out of work for many years? I know that this is a really upsetting and demoralizing prospect, but could it happen to you? What would you do with all of your free time? What would happen to your family? Would you still be connected?
I've had some time to think about these prospects and it is very scary. I've now been out of work almost a year and a half and I don't believe that I will be going back to work anytime soon. There are days that I am angry and days I just cry. It makes me feel like I've let people in my life down. That I have not done the things they have expected. I know that is not true, I didn't cause this economic mess, but it's hard not to think these thoughts when you have so much free time on your hands.
So maybe now rather than keep thinking about this nightmare I should refocus my energies and still try to accomplish my goals in life. Just because I have no money doesn't mean that I have to stop living. I still have dreams of singing for the Lyric Opera. I have dreams of writing a Broadway show. I have the dream of being a normal weight. There is absolutely no reason that I can't still make attempts at these goals and still look for work. It just may take a while.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that life is not about the money, it's about the dream.
I've had some time to think about these prospects and it is very scary. I've now been out of work almost a year and a half and I don't believe that I will be going back to work anytime soon. There are days that I am angry and days I just cry. It makes me feel like I've let people in my life down. That I have not done the things they have expected. I know that is not true, I didn't cause this economic mess, but it's hard not to think these thoughts when you have so much free time on your hands.
So maybe now rather than keep thinking about this nightmare I should refocus my energies and still try to accomplish my goals in life. Just because I have no money doesn't mean that I have to stop living. I still have dreams of singing for the Lyric Opera. I have dreams of writing a Broadway show. I have the dream of being a normal weight. There is absolutely no reason that I can't still make attempts at these goals and still look for work. It just may take a while.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that life is not about the money, it's about the dream.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
No Job Yet
It's been a while since I've written a post. I was so gung ho on the idea of starting a blog and then it fizzled. I'm trying to get back in the habit. Well, as the title says. I have not found a job yet. Correction...I did find a job.
And it sucked!!!
It was for a telephone answering service. They answer phones for websites and doctor's offices. Pretty run of the mill stuff. I'm not going to disparage them and say the job was horrible (even though I already said it sucked), because I'm really not used to that industry. I know the restaurant industry like the back of my hand, but not telephone answering. In all fairness these people provide a great service. Plus any job in this economy is a good job right? Wrong!
The job was a good job, but it wasn't right for me. I'm a gay man. One of their biggest customers was a Catholic store. I cannot sell Catholic products and violate my very beliefs. Another customer was a pro-life organization. I do not want to get into discussions about abortion issues at work. They also took messages for a mortgage loan modification company, but nobody returned those calls. The job just did not represent my own values. I would rather be out on the street begging for money than selling Catholic products.
I was also told that I would have to field phone calls for a female vaginal stimulant as well as a male enhancement product. I was down with the male enhancement product. I feel that every man should have a couple of extra inches. But I do not want to discuss women getting moist all day. YUCK!!!!
So I quit. In the process I learned that I almost lost my unemployment because I quit the job. But thankfully I didn't. To make a long story short...companies should disclose difficult situations that employees may have to handle before they give them the job.
And it sucked!!!
It was for a telephone answering service. They answer phones for websites and doctor's offices. Pretty run of the mill stuff. I'm not going to disparage them and say the job was horrible (even though I already said it sucked), because I'm really not used to that industry. I know the restaurant industry like the back of my hand, but not telephone answering. In all fairness these people provide a great service. Plus any job in this economy is a good job right? Wrong!
The job was a good job, but it wasn't right for me. I'm a gay man. One of their biggest customers was a Catholic store. I cannot sell Catholic products and violate my very beliefs. Another customer was a pro-life organization. I do not want to get into discussions about abortion issues at work. They also took messages for a mortgage loan modification company, but nobody returned those calls. The job just did not represent my own values. I would rather be out on the street begging for money than selling Catholic products.
I was also told that I would have to field phone calls for a female vaginal stimulant as well as a male enhancement product. I was down with the male enhancement product. I feel that every man should have a couple of extra inches. But I do not want to discuss women getting moist all day. YUCK!!!!
So I quit. In the process I learned that I almost lost my unemployment because I quit the job. But thankfully I didn't. To make a long story short...companies should disclose difficult situations that employees may have to handle before they give them the job.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Homemade Pizza Co.
Well this week leads me into yet another discussion of lax hiring practices. Today's offender....Homemade Pizza Co.. I decided to take a step back in position. My thought is that if I take a step back in position it will allow me to get my foot in the door at a company. Well that completely escalated out of hand at HPC.
I applied for a team lead position at HPC which is really not a good match for my skills. I have been working in the restaurant/retail industry for over 20 years with the last 5 years in management. So I was completely overqualified for a supervisor position with Homemade Pizza. But like I said, I was willing to take a step back to get in the company. I passed their phone screen easily, and made it onto the first interview. The recruiter said that I would not work out for some of the other management positions because I didn't have a car. So she set me up for a face to face interview with a district manager for a team lead in one of the stores.
In theory this is a district manager, he should have been qualified to hire me for one of these positions on the spot. That's what district managers do when the fit is right. But nonetheless he said he wanted me to meet the manager that I would be working for and he was going to set up an interview with her. This sounds logical to me. How many times do managers get forced to take staff that they don't want to work with. Out of all of the interviews that I went to this was the most professional of the interviews. So he told me he would call me when he got the interview set up. Ok.
Then I got a phone call from the recruiter who said that the next interview would be in the suburbs and that she would send me information for it. The second interview was not with a store manager, but rather a regional manager. Plus for this to be a second interview I was shocked to find out that I had no set time, the interview was a job fair. How did I go from second interview back to job fair? Very unusual.
While I was in the interview for a team lead, they realized that I had quite a bit of management experience and told me how overqualified I was for the position that was available. Then to make a long story short they wanted me to consider becoming a manager in a store in Washington DC. This interview really shouldn't have escalated like that. They asked me to consider it over the weekend and I did. The cost of living in DC is about 38% higher than Chicago, so I told them that I would need more money to go there. The recruiter laid it off on me that it appeared that I had reservations about moving to DC and that another position became available in Chicago. The only reservation I had was that they wanted me to work for next to nothing in an expensive city. So the recruiter set me up with the Director of Operations to interview for the position in Chicago.
First of all the place that I had to go to for the interview was in a very bad area. I thought I was going to get mugged, but nonetheless I found the place and interviewed. The Director of Operations was so rude it was unbelievable. It was very clear that he had been out too late the night before and he could hardly keep himself awake during the interview. From the moment we started he was yawning. Not once did he apologize for his actions. Apparantly it's ok to party all night and half-ass your job the next day. Plus this was my third interview, not my first...I got there for a reason. By the third interview there should be talk of money and benefits and what the optimal situation should be. Alas no.
This brings me to my point. Hiring managers have lost the ability to make decisions. They don't know how to conduct an interview. They are too afraid of hiring the wrong person that they present themselves in such a bad light. Hiring managers should not be in their positions if one of the chief responsibilities they have is hiring, and they can't do it.
I applied for a team lead position at HPC which is really not a good match for my skills. I have been working in the restaurant/retail industry for over 20 years with the last 5 years in management. So I was completely overqualified for a supervisor position with Homemade Pizza. But like I said, I was willing to take a step back to get in the company. I passed their phone screen easily, and made it onto the first interview. The recruiter said that I would not work out for some of the other management positions because I didn't have a car. So she set me up for a face to face interview with a district manager for a team lead in one of the stores.
In theory this is a district manager, he should have been qualified to hire me for one of these positions on the spot. That's what district managers do when the fit is right. But nonetheless he said he wanted me to meet the manager that I would be working for and he was going to set up an interview with her. This sounds logical to me. How many times do managers get forced to take staff that they don't want to work with. Out of all of the interviews that I went to this was the most professional of the interviews. So he told me he would call me when he got the interview set up. Ok.
Then I got a phone call from the recruiter who said that the next interview would be in the suburbs and that she would send me information for it. The second interview was not with a store manager, but rather a regional manager. Plus for this to be a second interview I was shocked to find out that I had no set time, the interview was a job fair. How did I go from second interview back to job fair? Very unusual.
While I was in the interview for a team lead, they realized that I had quite a bit of management experience and told me how overqualified I was for the position that was available. Then to make a long story short they wanted me to consider becoming a manager in a store in Washington DC. This interview really shouldn't have escalated like that. They asked me to consider it over the weekend and I did. The cost of living in DC is about 38% higher than Chicago, so I told them that I would need more money to go there. The recruiter laid it off on me that it appeared that I had reservations about moving to DC and that another position became available in Chicago. The only reservation I had was that they wanted me to work for next to nothing in an expensive city. So the recruiter set me up with the Director of Operations to interview for the position in Chicago.
First of all the place that I had to go to for the interview was in a very bad area. I thought I was going to get mugged, but nonetheless I found the place and interviewed. The Director of Operations was so rude it was unbelievable. It was very clear that he had been out too late the night before and he could hardly keep himself awake during the interview. From the moment we started he was yawning. Not once did he apologize for his actions. Apparantly it's ok to party all night and half-ass your job the next day. Plus this was my third interview, not my first...I got there for a reason. By the third interview there should be talk of money and benefits and what the optimal situation should be. Alas no.
This brings me to my point. Hiring managers have lost the ability to make decisions. They don't know how to conduct an interview. They are too afraid of hiring the wrong person that they present themselves in such a bad light. Hiring managers should not be in their positions if one of the chief responsibilities they have is hiring, and they can't do it.
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