New Job

"Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs increased to 7.0 million in January. This measure has grown by 3.2 million during the last 12 months." -US Department of Labor

I got a job yesterday. Which is ironic considering the statistic above. I had one interview with this place last Monday, then spent the entire day there on Thursday as my second interview, and concluded my day with a third interview.

Wentworth Inc. is a sales and marketing firm for Fortune 5oo companies like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Pinacalle Security, etc. My branch deals specifically with AT&T. It is basically a "door to door" position...which i am not too excited about. BUT the good news is that 80% of small businesses already use ATT for their services anyway, so we're not as much sales people, as update-your-account type people.

Commission based- could be AWESOME!!!!! Or could suck! But from everyone I spoke to, they seemed to be making pretty good money. It's in the heart of downtown Atlanta which is pretty cool, and all the people seemed really nice and friendly.

We shall see.......
Start date: Mon March 9. Full benefits package, paid training, pay check one a week.

Stereotype brought to life

I spent my day at Green Acres Elementary School. It was educational to say they least. It was a "team teaching" position, which means that 2 classes share the same room (total of 25 kids) and 2 teachers share the responsibilities. So, today it was me, and one of the real teachers.

I sub for South Cobb, which has a very diverse demographic. Every kid, with exception of one, was either African America or Hispanic. Now, these kids were very well-behaved, and generally followed directions quite well. But one kid in particular stood out....

We'll call him Robert.

Robert is a super smart 2nd grader. Today they were finishing their "friendly letters" which they had been working on yesterday. The letter could be to whoever the kids chose, and had to have a topic, and some main points, etc, etc.

This was Robert's letter:

"Dear, Dad,
I hope we get to see you soon. I really wish you could see me. I wish you would stop telling us you were coming to see us, and then not show up. You have not seen me in a year.
I love you
Love Your Son,
Robert"

Robert broke my heart today :(

Question...

Here is my beef with blogging...

I understand why people would read the blog of someone semi-famous, or super resourcesful, but why would someone read my blog?

Let's be serious now, this thing has been up and running for 2 days, and I have no followers. Which in my mind is not surpising. I dont read anyone else's blog, so why should they read mine? BUT...if this phenomenon is so big and important to my social networking life, how am I supposed to get people to read it???

Low Prices=Low Morals

I recently watched a documentary called "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price", and was shocked to hear some dirty facts. I have never been too impressed with the establishment in the first place. I have never had good service at a Wal-Mart, I've seen people standing near fruit displays literally eating off of them, I always run into long lines no matter what time or day or night, etc. But after this documentary, the "bad feelings" I have had towards the monopoly have led me to the decision to cease shopping there (until I get married and Nathan will probably force me to!).
Top 6 Reasons I hate Wal-Mart

Point # 1: Poor Healthcare for Workers

• ALABAMA: 3,864 Children of WAL-MART Employees are Enrolled in Medicaid. Why, You ask....because Wal-Mart does not pay their full-time employees enough to have their kids on a regular healthcare program.
• WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000,00 to Support its Employees. Again, because full-time employees are paid such a small salary they are forced to live off taxpayer dollars.
• Nearly 10,000 workers with Arkansas' nine largest employers receive public welfare for themselves and their families, according to the state Department of Human Services. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with 3,971 of its 45,106 employees on public assistance, topped the list." ....why are full-time employees living off government checks?

Point #2: "Full-Time" Status?

• Before 2002, Wal-Mart's definition of full-time was 28 hours per week, and was raised in 2002 to 34 hours per week in order to raise the bar for healthcare eligibility for their employees - as the raise in hours coincided with the increase in eligibility requirements for healthcare
• The average income of a full-time Wal-Mart employee is $17,144. Which is well below the poverty line for a family of 4.

Point #4-Anti-Union

• According to a recent report issued by American Rights At Work ("Wal-Mart: Rolling Back Wages, Workers' Rights, and the American Dream"), at least 59 complaints have been issued by the National Labor Relations Board on the basis that Wal-Mart uses illegal surveillance techniques to monitor union activity inside and outside their stores.
• $7,000 ANTI-UNION CAMERA PACKAGE per store
• $30,000 UNDERCOVER SPY VAN per store
• $100,000 24 hour ANTI-UNION HOTLINE
• $7,000,000 Rapid response team with CORPORATE JET
• FYI- Anti-Union is basically being anti-workers rights

Point #5- Overseas Workers

• Cost for WAL-MART Factory Worker to Assemble: $0.18 (average price for any item)
• Retail cost at Wal-Mart: $14.96
• WAL-MART Imported $18 BILLION from CHINA in 2004. They buy 100% of their merchandise outside of the US.

Point #6- Just Plain Wrong

• Lee Scott (Wal-Mart CEO) earnings for 2005: $27,207,799.00
• On average, Wal-Mart sales clerks -- "associates" in company parlance -- pulled in $8.23 an hour, or $13,861 a year, in 2001
• Sam Walton's (founder of Wal-Mart) family is worth a combined value of $90 billion. The WALTON FAMILY Has Given LESS THAN 1% of Their Wealth to Charity.Bill Gates has given 58%

For these reasons and more, I just cant shop at Wal-Mart. I would rather pay the extra few dollars to shop at Kroger, Publix, or Ingles, than contribute to this capitalist monopoly.

*All facts can be verified at www.walmartmovie.com

Social Networking?

Ever since Facebook became popular, I have been very against other forms of social networking; blogging, twitter, Myspace, etc. I just never saw the need for any of it until yesterday. Myself and a friend of mine attended a Public Relations Conference and they had an entire session devoted to Social Networking. Never in my 4 1/2 years of academia had I been taught the importance of this type of networking. Therefore, I now see and understand the great need for such tools (especially with my degree!), so I have started a blog, as well as joined twitter. I cant promise mine will be as interesting as most, but I at least need to learn to make blogging a habit, because it seems like I tool I will be using in a job someday. :)