Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Ranting and Raving

I'm going off topic today since I don't have anything new to report on my business front.

So, watching Heroes last night I noticed a few things. First, a TV show is a lot more fun to watch without the commercials. I originally got into Heroes late and therefore was watching the episodes online with very limited commercial interruption. Also, I watched them in bulk. I was working night shifts at that point and old TV episodes were my only solace, so I'd plow through as many as I could fit in an eight hour session. I got through the first half of season 1 of Heroes before I caught up, and I plowed through most of season 1 of Friday Night Lights.

Anyway, I believe commercial advertising is dead. I cannot recall a time I've ever ended up buying a product because I saw a commercial for it on TV. The closest thing is maybe a movie or a TV show I watched, which does not completely fit even since I was going to see it anyway, regardless of the commercial. In some cases, I've actually changed my mind and not seen something because I hated the commercial. So it seems to actually be a net negative. The only value commercial breaks hold anymore is allowing the viewer to get up and get something to eat or go to the bathroom. Soon, when I have a little more control over my living situation, I will only watch TV shows after recording them so I don't have to watch commercials. I may even just record whole seasons and then just watch them in binge fashion to save time. This also applies to listening to the radio as well. Soon everyone will just listen to CDs or HD radio without commercials.

The second observation was that Heroes is becoming the OC. They're adding relationship drama to what was once a show focused on the next stage of evolution for humanity. It's like watching a "boy" comic become a "girl" comic. Do more women watch TV then men? Is that why there seems to be a need to add this element into every show? Maybe the writers have all been offered better jobs on other shows, but it's just disappointing and annoying.

So my second off topic rant for today is the Dallas/Buffalo game last night. I started watching it late, but the entire time I couldn't shake this feeling like Dallas was going to win. I wasn't sure how, but I just knew it was going to happen. The entire Buffalo organization needs to be fired and replaced for the absolutely pathetic management display. The plays they called and decisions they made, they might as well have put out a Welcome mat at the goal line. How does someone throw 5 picks and still end up winning the game? Esp when you have 2 defensive and 1 special teams touchdown. Just pathetic. The best part of the whole thing was this commercial with this really dumb looking cowboy to which my brother said, "What is this? Tony Homo's boyfriend?" Priceless.

One final rant for today. I'd like to get some feedback from the audience about the Employee/Employer and Employer/Employee relationship and obligations. To what extent is an employee indebted to an employer for that paycheck? If the employer has nothing for an employee to do, why is the employee still indebted 8 hours of time to be spent at the office just to receive their salary? If they employee has other things they can do that will add more value to themselves, which means they are increasing company assets, shouldn't the employee be sanctioned to do them? Where is the moral obligation line for the 40 hour work week in regards to time spent at the office? Let's hear what you think.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

John, with regard to your question about employer / employee relationships and obligations, I highly recommend you check out this book:
http://www.amazon.com/True-Professionalism-David-H-Maister/dp/0684834669

...although it sounds like you already have a hefty number of books in your reading queue.

Anyway, I enjoy reading your blog each day. Keep up the good work.

~christophany~ said...

Thanks for the feedback.

I read the reviews and as much of the book that is posted on Google's book search. I'll try to grab it later this week.

What I do find interesting just from initial impressions, is that he focuses on his own secretary. She seems to find ways to advance because she is in the pulse of what is going on in the business.

My dad likes to say things like, "take ownership of your job", which is similar to the concept of being a dynamo, but what about when you aren't connected to the pulse of what is going on?

At my last job I worked in the Customer Service division, which even though it was less prestigious and in the bottom tier of the company, got me access to the flow of business. I was able to connect to departments like finance, accounting as well as production and testing. I even knew the CFO of the company pretty well. But then my department started to grow and my manager pushed us in the direction of isolation instead of greater interaction (one of the many reasons I decided to leave and a huge management mistake in my opinion).

The point though, is there I could see how to be a dynamo and I had been making the most of it. Currently there is nothing to take ownership of. I get good reviews when I talk to the president of the company (there are only 60 people in the company so it's easier here) but I don't have access to business flow because it's in the hands of 4 or 5 people at the top who only interact with each other.

So the question is, do I just stick it out as a Coaster for now or should I be doing something else?

Anonymous said...

"listening with HD radios"

Problem is that hardly anyone is, after four years, as consumers have zero interest in HD Radio:

http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/