The Last CSR Please Turn The Lights Off

President Obama gave a passionate speech in his inauguration about us having to change our attitudes and pitching in to save America. I haven't seen much change -- at least not for the better. It seems most businesses are running on a skeleton crew these days. It used to be that you would get good service in most places, but with personnel pared down in all businesses, it takes longer to get service and staff is too busy to assist you. It didn't used to take me 30 minutes to check out in a grocery store, or have to wait two weeks to get an appointment for car service. The frustration level of employees is high, too, both because of unbearable workload and the fear of being laid off. I'm starting to see the Soviet Russian "nye rabota" (not working, on a break, "I don't give a damn") attitude in more and more places. This is sad, because it's not what America is about. Have we become so spoiled and disenfranchised that we, as a nation, will just roll over and give up?

Where Are Wal-Mart Greeters?

Is it just a local thing, or have greeters disappeared from Wal-Marts? There used to be an old gentleman or lady at the door of every Wallyworld handing out buggies, but in my recent visits, there has been no-one even checking the receipts... sign of times?

Grumpy

I hate "spring-like" weather. If you dress up in the morning warm enough to not freeze your nuts off, you'll sweat like a pig come afternoon.

Congrats Steelers

...Since neither the Patriots nor the Titans were in the running.

TARP And Feathers

First rule of failure mitigation: When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging. Layoffs in the tech sector increased by 75% in 2008. Meanwhile, mofos responsible for the banking meltdown sought to bring in foreign H-1B workers as they were laying off American ones. Associated Press has found out that

The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.

Asshats in the the American Bankers Association said as recently as year ago that demand exceeded the pool of qualified workers in areas like sales, lending and bank administration. "Demand" as in need to turn in exorbitant profits and not ask too many questions.