Still Alive. Mostly.

[lagilman]

Thanks to everyone who sent cheering thoughts and healthy vibes. Discovery; strawberry-flavored lozenges are so much better than cherry. Ugh. I blame my dislike of cherry-flavored anything on cold meds when I was a kid, because, ugh.

I have spent the past two days alternating between bed and sofa, with a brief foray out to the office this morning to take care of the things that had to be done there. I still sound like Lauren Bacall, but now I have sneezing, too. Tea and soup are the order of the day. Interestingly enough, I feel better when I'm upright and doing things than when I'm trying to lay down. This probably says much about me.

Also, I woke up this morning to Boomer stretched out along my side, his chin resting on my shoulder, looking at me with a look that might have been adoration. Or "are you dead yet, can we eat you?" Either was possible.

Massive amounts of small things being taken care of. Large things still loom, but I have given myself permission to ignore them until Saturday. Monday looks to be...insane. In, hopefully, a good way.
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Random thoughts:

I watched the 60 Minutes segment on Millennial kids, and how companies can keep these uber-self-assured, self-centered new workers happy and productive. Basically, by agreeing with them that personal issues come before work, and they are more important than the company.

I have sympathy, I do. And we all know the pendulum swings the other way, toward work-obsession, no-life, far more often than not. But isn't there a happy medium?

And all that reminded of how wonderful it was, in the early years of my previous life, to work for bosses who believed that fun=productivity, that improvisation=improved profits, that joy in our work=pride in our work. And we responded by working our butts off, having fun and taking pride in the fact that we could do More with Less. That all ended when the uber-corporate bosses came down and said "get more money out of everyone. Stop throwing Spring Fling parties and taking people out to the movies for a job well-done, spending an afternoon for office bonding is a bad idea. Don't encourage people to come in costume/decorate for Halloween, it lowers productivity for the weeks leading up to it. Have them spend more time in meetings, making spreadsheets instead of making books. Get a larger profit margin back to us by year's end, and never mind the fact that this industry has always had crap margins."

And with that, it all went to hell. Morale died, productivity tanked, our esprit d' corps was spent muttering about how to get out instead of how to get things done. All to squeeze out another bit of profit for the shareholders. Not us, mind you -- we didn't see the money, and lord knows consumers didn't see any benefits. All for the price of company shares.

Not that I'm bitter or anything. Any more.

Maybe the pendulum is starting to swing back a bit. I hope so. I honestly believe that the only way to get the best work out of someone is to make them feel that they are valued for that work, even if the work itself may not seem important to anyone else. Is it that difficult, to be a decent manager, and a decent employee? Even after being on both sides of the equation, I still don't know.

Comments

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

Glad you're on the mend. Do you think it was Con Crud? I actually managed not to catch anything this time.

[lagilman]

I do seem to get sick every year around WFC, so that's possible. I also suspect the weird weather patterns have screwed with me some. I like to ease into climate changes, not boing-boing from day to day.
It's warm! It's cold! It's freeeezing! It's warm! I'm confused!

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

That's one of the advantages out here. The seasons change more than people think, but very gently and gradually.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Saw that segment, and was vastly amused. A lot of what they said was similar to what I was told when taking a Master Tutor course two years ago. These Kids They're In It For Themselves. To which I say: why not be? Pfftt. Although that did make explaining to a couple of them that no, they did not *pay* for an A, they paid for the right to *earn* an A a little difficult on one or two occasions. But for the most part it makes sense. They grew up with Enron as a fact and Governments Lie as solid realities, unlike some previous generations.

We can *always* blame the stockholders. I personally don't think the stockholders have a clue what's going on with their companies, nor care. As long as they're getting *some* dividends these days, they're happy.

I wasn't as impressed by the way the show blamed the Millenial's parents for telling them how special they were over and over, for their attitude. I think the impact of the reality around them is much more formative than parents who take too many snapshots of their kids. But I could be wrong on that.

Also, glad you're feeling better! Am half-way through Burning Bridges, so yay on the next book being in-process.

[lagilman]

Am half-way through Burning Bridges, so yay on the next book being in-process.

Oh, FREE FALL is well into production, so you can rest easy on that. And Ihave to keep reminding myself that although I'm on deadline, the deadlines have room to move re: the actual scheduling. I just... well, this is me. I hate not having things put to bed well ahead of time, just to make sure nothing goes pear-shaped. Especally when I know all the ways pear-shaping can happen.

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

When in doubt, possum, rest. And then rest some more. You've had a full on year.

As for the current generation of self involved putzes ... well, as we breed fewer children their perceived importance rises. The notion of others before self is rapidly disappearing. And sorry, yes, I do blame the parents.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*points upward and nods*

[lagilman]

I've heard such horror stories, I totally hold the parents for their fair share of responsibility. When I came home with a crap grade, my folks worked with me to fix it, they didn't get outraged that my teacher hadn't understood my genius (or if they did, they didn't let ME know).

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

I think this is one reason why I love Simon Cowell so much. He so clearly despises that kind of crap and has no compunction in shattering the dreams of the Little Darlings who can't for the life of them carry a tune in a bucket yet have been told by deluded parents that they are The Next Big Thing. There was another one on this season of So You Think You Can Dance. Scary and also very sad. And it doesn't bode well for society at large, because without a sense of humility and recognition that things have to be earned, then ... well, it just lends entitlement a whole new depth of depravity.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I keep having such misery at this job, that I didn't have at my first job in DC. And I was talking to someone today, and I said, in DC, they acknowledged that while we were 'just' research assistants--people with at most 2 years of post college work experience, we were also vital to the running of the company. HR worked for us, to make our job run the way it was supposed to. We had regular feedback on the job, and support systems that didn't overlap our chain of command, so that I could go tell someone if my boss was ineffectual. Here, it is acknowledged that we are completely, 100% expendable. At any time should one of us leave, we can be replaced by a temp off the streets. Even my bosses know they could be let go in a heartbeat. So where's the motivation to stay loyal to the company? (of course, this job is also publishing, where as the job in DC was a not-for-profit research/think tank sort of company.)

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Publishing does have a cannon-fodder culture, what with there always being more interns/writers/scutworkers where you came from. It's a Glamour Profession, you know.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

It's textbook publishing! Oh, teh glamour!

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

The only reason inertia won out and I spent 12 years at my last job is, I really really liked the people I worked with and for, and they all made me feel appreciated. They were into having fun on the job, and didn't let little things like dress code (we had none) or clock-punching (didn't much matter what time you were there, so long as you were in the office when others needed you to be and got all your stuff done on time) get in the way.

Some bozons came and went who took advantage of this, but they didn't last long. So long as you gave what you could, you got what they could give you back. For the most part, it worked out really well.

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling better.

At my agency, they keep harping on people to take time out to rest and relax and take time with the families and/or friends. This is a high-pressure job, and if I screw up, it can cost lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. We go out to lunch about once a month or so, just to get people out of the office. At Halloween we had all kinds of costumes wandering the halls, some of them really pushing the edge of risque. Our management held an ice social for us on Halloween, and encouraged us to actually get out and talk with one another. We have our usual office summer picnic, and we're in the middle of planning our Christmas party in about a month. (I'd like to get an authographed set of your books for the gift exchange...) We don't have a dress code; people wear anything from expensive suits to jeans and a T-shirt (but upper level management is expected to dress up). But then, out of all the intel agencies, we have the biggest reputation for having the largest collection of introverts, weirdos and just plain screwballs. You should see some of our cryptanalysts wandering the halls sometime. They really can't be let out without a keeper...

I finally got to my first ever Bruce concert Sunday night...

[lagilman]

I finally got to my first ever Bruce concert Sunday night...

congrats! did you have fun?

(I'm going on thursday, cold or no cold)

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

I loved it. But then, I've always liked his music, even though I disagree with some of what he says. I've always been able to divorce a performer's politics from their art. There are lots of artists out there who I disagree with, but I enjoy their body of work and I'll willingly pay good money to go their performances...

I guess you're not coming to Philcon. This is my first time in a number of years, so I want to go exploring the eateries around the new hotel...

[lagilman]

(BTW, drop me e-- with an address where to send the books! And no, no Philcon for me -- even if I'd originally planned it [no time!] I'd have to cancel out for reasons of sick.)

[davidlevine]

It's not just you. Artificial cherry flavored anything is just vile.

[arouraleona.livejournal.com]

Personally, I vote for "are you dead, can we eat you" as the kitten-y feeling. But that's just me, and MY cats are evil. Yours might be nicer and capable of adoration... if so.... lucky lucky you.

On the worker issue... as a Millennial ::shudders:: myself, the stereotype (like most stereotypes) isn't really the norm. Maybe it's just because all the millennials I know are in college and we're struggling to pay bills, but we're all really hard workers. We work 30-60 hour weeks with full school loads and sports/academic extras. I haven't had a Sunday or a holiday off in... jeez... two years?

Sure, there are the Paris wannabe's out there, ruining our reps... and most of us do feel that we should be able to put like family and loved ones first... we certainly are not Yuppies who think only of money. Most of my age group that I deal with on person and online feel that after bills are paid, health and wellness should come before the amassing of wealth. The amassing of wealth must wait until after the reading of books, watching of movies, hanging with compadres, or playing of video games.

Of course, I'm hardly in a metropolitan area. It's possibly different in what was considered the more 'fast-paced' cultures. I'm in Texas, where the world is a little slower anyway... so maybe that's why it makes sense to me.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're still feeling crappy. Hope you're better soon.

[lagilman]

I seem to be in the danger zone of "feel better, but must remember am NOT all better just yet." This is where, in my impatience to get on with my life, I usually contract walking pneumonia or something much more vile than the original ailment. *frustrated sigh*

[greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com]

Must resist temptation to overdo.

The crud cost me an opera I was looking forward to see, so I share your pain.

[mzipser.livejournal.com]

Glad you're feeling better but bummed that you won't be at Philcon. Beth and I were looking forward to seeing you. The bar will seem emptier without you there (and I have a new Lagovulin for you to try ,too).

[lagilman]

I know, I know, but even if schedule had allowed (see above comment), there's no way my system could have handled another convention weekend. I will be at the Mill-n-swill, though....

And I WILL be in your area this spring. Honest. It's top of the list. I've already RSVP'd and everything.

[mzipser.livejournal.com]

Sounds that way. Better you should stay healthy.

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Sounds that way. Better you should stay healthy. <glyph of grandmother's accent>

Yay! Spring! We will need to make sure we get you back of Fast Forward. One way or the other.