Is the Economy the New Get Out of Jail Free Card?

T’is the season to be jolly, but the spirit of Scrooge seems to be looming in the air. As long as there is poverty in the world there will always be a need to help those less fortunate, and those that know me well know that it’s my passion and calling to help the poor; and given the economy there is an even greater need. However, I’m finding that people are also using the economy as a reason not to help those less fortunate and it makes me sick!

Rewind to the 1930s during the Great Depression. People didn’t just leave each other hanging, they came together to help each other out. Whether it was by lending a cup of sugar to a neighbor, or watching their neighbor’s children while their parents tried to look for work, they helped in any way they could. National programs were even created to ensure that everyone could get a meal. What happened to the days of literally giving someone in need the shirt off your back? What happened to sacrifice for the sake of others’ happiness?

Fast-forward to 2009 and everyone is choosing selfishness. So what if I’ve got a whole loaf and my neighbor only needs a slice of bread? So what if I’ve got $10 and my friend needs fifty-cents? The excuse of the day is “the economy.” I can’t give to church because of the economy. I can’t volunteer because of the economy. But you can still get your biweekly manipedi’s despite the economy, right? And you can still afford to buy your daily lottery ticket, $8 pack of cigarettes, and liquor right? Call me a b!tch, but I think that’s selfish.

In a way, it’s to be expected. Selfishness is what got us in this mess in the first place. People wanted to make more and more money no matter the cost, and now we’re suffering the consequences. Many innocent people are suffering the consequences, many of these people were poor before the economy took a turn for the worse, and as a result of a lack of aid they’ve been pushed further into dire poverty.

But the cycle needs to be broken. Isn’t the golden rule to treat others the way you would want to be treated? I recently held two collection drives- one collecting food for a pantry that is quickly running out of funds and food, and another collecting toys for a shelter. I barely got any donations. You would think I asked people for a kidney! It just angers me that people are so selfish. I didn’t ask for much, I literally just asked for a canned good from your pantry, or even a toy from a dollar store. Nothing.

I know someone who’s been unemployed for over a year who still tithes at church, gives to charity, would literally give the shirt off his back if it would help someone, and he’s living in the same economy that we are. So there is still hope that we can break this cycle of selfishness, if not for our the sake of humanity, then because of the economy.

Broke as a Joke

Every time I turn around, a tv show or a magazine headline has tips for saving money, clipping coupons, and even vacationing for less (does stay-cation ring a bell?) due to the current economy. There’s tips on how to save the most on airfare (buy your ticket at the beginning of the week), how to save money at the grocery store (buy what’s on sale and don’t be brand specific), how to save money on gym memberships (join in the summer when it’s dead, not in the winter when everyone gets ready for Jan 1st), and so much more. People are starting to enjoy the “simple things in life” such as spending time with your family with a good old fashioned game night full of board games; borrowing books from a library vs buying them; and to put a “new” spin on the good old-fashioned book swap, some people are hosting coupon clipping parties.

Now I’m frugal and all for saving money, but people have been broke since the beginning of time, why are we NOW concerned with helping people enjoy life for less? Where were all of these tips the past few years we were digging ourselves deeper into debt like money grows on trees?

It’s aggravating. This reminds me of how when I was 13 and I got my 1st subscription to Seventeen magazine and YM magazine (which apparently is now an online magazine?). My mom, and many other apparently didn’t like the magazine’s sections on diet and exercise because they felt it would lead young women to develop eating disorders. The articles were fairly simple- they encouraged you to eat an apple instead of cake, and to do some sit ups every once in a while. Overtime, a lot of magazines stopped featuring these healthy lifestyle sections, McDonald’s started super sizing butter and cheese, the internet eliminated much of our exercise and replaced it with online shopping/banking/classes/sex/communicating and overtime we got fatter. It took our being one of the fattest nations in the world for people to realize um, yeah so maybe we should start encouraging people to eat better and exercise again.

Why does it always take our going to the extremes to change things?

You Are the Weakest Link, Goodbye!

Word on the street is we’re in a recession. The stock market is ridiculous, many companies have shut down or merged with others, and millions have lost their jobs. So you’d think people would be practically kissing butt to ensure their job security right? Wrong. I know someone who would probably qualify for Worst Employee of the Year. He literally comes to work when he feels like it- doesn’t even bother to call to give an excuse, he just doesn’t show up. His boss would call me at work every time he wouldn’t show up to see if I knew where he was, as if I’m his keeper or had any control over his going to work. You’d think this person would get fired right? Nope, his job is still intact because his department considers him a Godsend and he’s able to do things in the group that others cannot. Last time I checked, that’s what cross-training is for, but I guess some managers have less common sense than others. Being the spiteful person that I am, I would start to exhibit the same behavior as this person- after all he is a manager and employees should follow by example right? Wrong again, because should we even think about calling out we could lose our jobs.

There’s another person who calls out at least once a week. Slightly better than the person in the first example in that this person at least calls to say he won’t be in. Management still does nothing about this, but will feel the need to “scold” us if we’re ten minutes late because there’s construction everywhere, or if we wear inappropriate shoes to work. At least I’m at work, B!tch! That’s a Hell of a lot more than I can say about the first two examples.

Why do companies continue to hold on to these weak links when there are millions of more qualified people who would actually take their job seriously-millions of people with families and mortgages who really need the money? I hate to admit that adults before me were right, but when you’re young and stupid you really don’t care about the consequences of your actions. Here’s another example- there’s an employee who has been at a company for quite some time and still does not get the basics of some of the things her group does (nor does she care to learn), and as a result repeatedly causes a few errors in reports, among other things. This person’s job is miraculously still intact. Let me pull a stunt like this and I’d definitely be standing in the unemployment line.

Am I being punk’d? Are managers stuck on stupid, or is there a quota of defective employees that need to be on the payroll? Are the dumb managers themselves included in this quota? How far up the chain does this stupidity go? We should be allowed to apply a kind of Darwinian theory to our work environments- only the strongest survive. And it is with regret I inform you that you are the weakest link, Goodbye!