You are currently browsing the Rant & Rave weblog archives for June, 2010.
June 28, 2010 by Hawk.
Shame on Bright House Networks! Just recently they raised our rates and took channels away from basic cable subscribers and now there’s a notice in the paper that as of July 29th they’re taking two MORE channels away from us. While I won’t much miss SoapNET too much we do watch a LOT of programming on The Travel Channel and if we want to keep watching we’ll have to upgrade to digital cable and rent at least two set top boxes at additional cost. They keep running commercials that tell us how much they care about us but it’s really only our checkbooks they care about. Every few months they’re taking things away and charging more for less!
Hawk (Take the damn MTV!)
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June 19, 2010 by Hawk.
Years ago my friend J was moving out of state and had promised his boss
he’d find someone to take his place where he worked. The job entailed
printing bar code labels for Mil-Spec (military grade) packaging and
shipping. Maintaining the parts and box databases. Creating new label
formats when necessary as well as any other computer related jobs like
installing software, running backups, etc. This was back in ‘92 - 93
before everyone and their cousin owned a computer. I interviewed and was
hired. The owner told me “I’m going to hire you at X/hour and once we’ve
got you up to speed and are sure you’re a good fit we’ll bring you up to
what J’s making now.” (about $4.00 an hour more). After six months of
doing the job I asked the owner about the promised raise and was told
“We only do raises during the yearly review in September.” He wouldn’t
budge from that statement. When Sept. rolled around and after every
other employee had been called in for their review I approached the
owner and asked why I hadn’t been called in for my review. I was told
that you needed to be employed for a full year before you received a
review and I had only been there ten and a half months. Without a review
there would be no raise. I desperately needed the job and there weren’t
many others to be had (I looked!) so I stuck it out. The following
September I was called in for my review. By this time my workload had
increased by at least 30% (we’d picked up another large military
contract) and I’d been put in charge of training other employees on a
second printing station as well as a host of other duties. My boss
thanked me for doing a good job and picking up the pace when it was
needed and then, after nearly two years of employment, rewarded me
with… a .10 an hour raise. When I brought up the increase he’d
promised me when I was hired he told me it was all the company could
afford. The biggest raise given out that year was to a guy who’d been
there for eighteen years. He got a quarter. A month later the boss
showed up in a brand new Mercedes-Benz. At least we knew where our
raises went.
For more stories like this visit: thatsmyboss.com
Hawk (has had many sucky bosses…)
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June 7, 2010 by Hawk.
Not really a review Monday…
I wanted to thank you for recommending Michael Gruber’s ‘Tropic of Night’. I’ve given it three full days and I’ve only been able to manage around a hundred pages. I have to admit defeat, it’s just not my cup of tea. Jane Doe doesn’t come across as a victim in hiding. She’s a freaking superhero. Martial arts expert. Mechanical genius. Language expert. Voodoo priestess with ‘real’ magical powers. The ability to raise other people’s children.
The narrative switch back and forth from first person to objective view was confusing and IMO should never be done. It takes a strong, talented writer to write from the view of the opposite gender. Gruber doesn’t have this talent. It comes across more as “Boy, if *I* had a vagina I’d show the world what it meant to be a woman!” I just wanted to punch him after the first page and the urge never went away.
Sorry we couldn’t agree but thanks again for trying!
Hawk (on to other books…)
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