Domestic Workers Feel the Trickle Down Effect

"(Workers who are still employed, too, may find their circumstances reduced along with their bosses’. “I got a 20% pay cut,” someone posted on the UrbanBaby chat boards last week. “Should I give one to my nanny as well?”)"
The trickle down effect of the economy is taking a toll on so many. According to the NY Times article a mother in Dominica can not be as supported by her daughter who lives in America and works as a nanny and house keeper because her bosses' real estate business is failing due to the economy (loss of jobs, credit freeze, borrowing Peter to pay Paul, banks going out of business, Bush. Its all a hot mess, pick one; it will be the right answer).
This is affecting so many lives and will for years to come. This struggle is and will be so hard for so many. I would take the 20% pay cut over the job loss any day. I've looked at a homeless person and wondered, "How or why did that happen?" Now its not so hard to imagine how or why. Our lives can take any direction if the pendulum continues to get closer. Restoration and new plans or ideas need to happen fast!

Where there is a will, there is a way.

So apparently this is one of the reasons people with money are hiding, because they are embarrassed to shop. “Shopping is almost embarrassing, and a little vulgar right now,” said Ms. Buckley, an editor at Allure magazine.
I found these images to be hilarious. These people have problems. They are shopping anonymously because they have an addiction. They are shopping online so no one sees them out there physically shopping in these hard times. They can't help but to spend until the money runs out and unfortunately for some of them it will. This should make them see they need to seek help, but I guess its good for the economy.

A Sign of the Times: Make money on You Tube

Michael Buckley has ceased an opportunity and is finally getting the payoff. He launched a show on You Tube in 2006 and is finally make enough to quit his day job. He making about $100, 000 from advertisement placed within and around the video and You Tube splits the cost with Michael Buckley. The more viewers, the more money he makes. Times are getting harder, so here is an option for plan b.

Slow Day

People are losing jobs all over the world. Sony will cut 20,000 jobs within the next 3 years. The stock market is still doing badly. A governor tried to sell Obama's Senate seat. Jay Leno will be on prime time television five nights a week at 10pm (I don't get that one). There isn't anything really thrilling for me to write about.

Walmart is going to sell the iPhone.

It is really true, Wal-Mart will be selling the iPhone, but it won't be $99. It seems this is an Internet rumor. This is major news, but price will be the leading factor in this "merger." Unless the iPhone is sold through Verizon, they won't get my money. The results should be pretty interesting.

Give Them Their My Money!

Republic Windows and Doors is closing one of its factories. It employed 250 workers who are now laid off. The workers are owed vacation and severance pay and were not given the 60 days of notice generally required by federal law when companies make layoffs. "Workers also pointedly blamed Bank of America, a lender to Republic Windows, saying the bank had prevented the company from paying them what they were owed, particularly for vacation time accrued." One very interesting point from one of the workers was, "“Here the banks like Bank of America get a bailout, but workers cannot be paid?” So the former employees have decided to form a sit in and refuse to leave the factory until they get their money. I wonder how long it will take before they give those people their money.

Cadillac Records the Movie

Cadillac Records the movie was (honestly) a really good movie. Beyonce was great (that really is not a bias opinion). I don't think her role in the film is Oscar worthy as the buzz is in Hollywood, but she truly turned the Etta James character out. She played her with what my friends and I call "a really stank attitude" that you just love.

One of my favorite actors, who I've seen at the Public Theater, Jeffery Wright plays Muddy Waters. Adrien Brody was good and although he was the lead. I felt he was mostly supporting the supporting character; which means he did a great job because that is what Leneord Chess, the character he plays, did. Columbus Short does an amazing Little Walter and I found myself excited to see what he would do next throughout watching the film. Eamon Walker does a haunting Howlin Wolf. Finally, Mos Def is a truly hilarious Chuck Berry. The cars are highlights of being taken back in time. We must give major props when they are due and acknowledge the business woman that Beyonce Knowles is as the Executive Producer of this film. I do believe that because of the overall the casting and the way the story was laid out, there should be an Oscar acknowledgment for the film. Here is a taste:


Here is a taste of the legendary Etta James:


At this posting the film came in at number 9 with one more day to go. It opened in limited theaters, 686. The current leading film is in 4 times as many theaters, so I see this film riding a slow wave to the top from the number one marketing rule in business, "word of mouth."

The Trickle Down Effect

In our last class we discussed what would happen if GM were to end. We all wrote about the trickle down effect, but the proof of what could happen is happening here. I remember what it was like to not have insurance. Those were some of the most difficult times. I was stuck in the middle because I had a job that did not provide health insurance, so I could not get assistance for it. That is not an option that is available for these people. This only gets further depressing

What are the others doing?

The failed economy not only affects us in the United States, but the entire world. The world doesn't seem to be waiting for the United States to take the lead. At least, France isn't. They've decided the "plan includes aid to the country’s ailing auto industry, which employs 10 percent of the French work force, and sets aside money for the construction industry." The construction industry is one I haven't heard in all of this. It should be really interesting to see what the US decides. It just can't be an option not to support the auto industry.

Twitter Turns Down Facebook

I heard of Twitter during the election, many articles mentioned that Barack Obama checked his Twitter all the time. Twitter is a way to communicate with people in less than 140 characters answering the question: What are you doing? or "microblogging" (hint hint Professor :-)). Facebook and Myspace have included this format within their pages with "Username is..." Twitter does this without all the extra bells and whistles that Facebook and Myspace have. It has a cool "follow me" feature that allows you to be updated on what your friends, family, or coworkers are doing.

Twitter has chosen not to venture with Facebook. Their main reason is they want to figure out a way to make a profit. Unlike Myspace and Facebook, they don't want to sell ads on their pages. They want to sell direct communication between a business and the Twitter community.

An interesting note, "Twitter was being used in newsgathering, as it was during the terror attacks in India last week."

Gerald Schoenfeld Dies

I wanted to write about this on Thanksgiving Day, but was too busy creating a feast.

Gerald Schoenfeld died on November 25, 2008. He was one of the best examples of power and "was one of the most influential figures in American theater," says Jim Joseph of Jazz at Lincoln Center (and personal friend). Mr. Schoenfeld was the chairman of the Shubert Organization, "the largest and most important theater owner on Broadway and in the United States." Check out the videos below. One shows his swagger in the business world of Broadway and both show his passion. The first video from Theater Talk aired on CUNY TV this weekend where I got to catch the entire interview from 2001.




It moves me to know that some how and some way some of the choices he made created a path for my part in the theater world.

The Plunge is Official Today.

So it has been officially declared today that we are in a recession. Even after reading this article, I still don't get what took them so long to determine it. The proof is in the Dow.

Black Friday was "Whack Friday."

That shopping buzz of my past Black Friday experiences was not in the air at the Palisades mall. We tried to catch the full complement by going to the place that has most of the stores we want to go to. Plus it has a Circuit City that is going out of business. The stores were not having any really unbelievable deals like I have experienced in the past and Circuit City, in particular, was a bust. Best Buy, who is not going out of business actually did have some cool sales. Not enough to make me buy a flat screen tv or the surround sound set I was hoping to find. Even Macy's was a disappoinment, at least in the plus size section. Lord & Taylor did work out well with the 70% off steal deals I was looking for and I was feeling the shoppers high there. Then we checked out "Twilight" and did a little Cheesecake Factory.

After a long day at the mall, I learned that Jdimytai Damour, a Walmart employee, was trampled and killed by shoppers for $798 flat screen televisions and more. I was stunned when my friend texted me. I was looking for a flat screen television, but perhaps the people were seduced by their own hype while waiting for the store to open? I just cannot believe that something so senseless could happen. They actually broke down the doors at 5am. WTF? The same television was available on the Walmart website and was not sold out when I checked that night and its still not (as of this posting).

I wonder how do those people feel now. Was it really worth killing someone? Can Walmart put a positive spin on this? I know I went to thier site to find out what kind of sale did Jdimytai Damour die for, but I certainly did not buy the television. Just seriously turned off by it all.

Shopping For the Holidays?

The NY Times has an article on about Mothers Doing Without so their children can have during the holidays. This isn't something new to those who don't have it like they do, but I am curious to see what their Christmas will look like. What will they be doing without to sacrifice for their children. Christmas has become so commercial, it will be a beautiful thing to see people really rejoice in the spirit of hope and love. Christ being born is suppose to be a celebration of hope because the savior is born. There is a celebration of hope in the spirit of change.

Hope

You can visit the presidential transition site to see all the positions that need to be filled to complete the team Barack Obama is pulling together and more. Today Timothy Geithner was nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury. This along with the Citigroup bailout has somehow has restored some faith in Wall Street and the DOW has had its "biggest two day percentage gain since October 1987"

(Side bar: Did you know that Chase Bank has been around longer than the United States has been in existance. They have rediculous fees, but I guess that is where the money is because they are the ones helping out or taking over many of the losses happening right now.)

Today marks a taste of our future, we are unstoppable. We are Generation O. My future is bright and there is hope in site.

Forbes Goes In on Paulson

Steve Forbes says Henry Paulson is the worst treasury secretary we've had in modern times" My professor said that "something wasn't right with that man"  January 20th can't come fast enough. Hopefully the more people with influential power that speak out will lead to some sort of something to happen.  You just don't mess with other people's money.  Period.  No, change to the system won't happen on January 20, but like Alstate, we'll be "in good hands." 

Feeling Confident About My Future

Although these are really scary times financially, I feel so confident about my future. I just know I will be okay, because our president elect is trying to secure and change our future. He is not doing it alone, it is a team effort and that team includes me & you. Its exciting to participate, even in the smallest way to lay the ground work for all of us.

Identify a Conflict

Conflict:
One of the longest employed staff members was constantly late or not able to work the shift assigned. Although her personal issue was clear to me, it was not clear to her coworkers and they started to believe there was favoritism for this employee.

Competitive conflict:
We had a staff meeting to go over the rules.

Conflict Trigger:
Status differentials, unrealized expectation, & communication breakdown

Resolution:
The conflict was resolved with a staff meeting. This allowed me to explain all at once what changes were happening and why. It also allowed me to hear the staffs’ issues and perspective on what was going on. The meeting helped to boost their moral by showing them that their opinion matters as well. It allowed for unification and teamwork to shine through.

Airborne Owner Takes Her Company Back

On November 8th I wrote about miscommunication and the millions of dollars in loss miscommunication caused Airborne. Well now Victoria Knight-McDowell has taken her company back, simply because she did not like the way it was being managed and she is sending a very clear message to those who believe in Airborne. No miscommunication here. I love it. Check it out: http://www.airbornehealth.com

A Little Escape: Sasha Fierce Has Arrived.

I am...Sasha Fierce has finally come out. My favorite songs are "Halo" & "Video Phone" I can bet they will go #1 on the charts. "If I Were a Boy" is number 5 on the billboard charts and "Single Ladies" is right behind at 28. The album will debut at #1 with 500 - 550k in sales. Live performances on SNL, TRL's finally and 106th and Park has helped this icon in the making an assured success.

How fair is the fare increase?

After 21 increases in the airfare thus far, the airlines have decided to charge $5 to $35 for picking your seat. We doing bad, but do they really have to kick us when we are down. Its not like oil is at an all time high.

I missed my Blackberry.

11/16

I haven’t had my phone since Thursday night. I left it in a cab after leaving my home due to a personal upset and my world was upside down ever since. According to the NY Times, Barack Obama may have to surrender his Blackberry in 65 days. “A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.” That is just so unbelievable. Chapter 12 is focused on Communicating in the Internet Age, that would be today and 65 days from now. “The chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive.” How can they be so primitive? I understand that it can be hacked, but there has got to be better options especially with the technology we have today.

Excutive Director Quits

11/15
An article in the NY Times talks about an Artistic Director of a musical theater in California who chose to support Prop 8 and was forced to resign because of his personal choice. This reveals another side to what we learned in chapter 5 about management’s social and ethical responsibilities. He used defensive social responsibility and quit. I understand that the world of musical theater has a large group of homosexuals, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. I’m sure they feel betrayed, but I am sure he has his reasons. I do think it was stupid to do, especially if the information would be made public, but why resign, why not stand up for what you “believe” in? Where were the ethics in outing him and pressuring him? Who knows? But this is the United States of America and freedom of choice is what we are about.

This is reason why he should not have resigned and the reason why he should not have been pressured to resign. I don’t know; I am on the fence. I don’t know how I would feel if I worked at that theater. Gay or straight, I wouldn’t think it is right for him to step-down because of his personal choice. That’s like quitting because your coworkers don’t like the fact that you or your partner had an abortion.

Why?

11/14

Tonight we had a performance there was hardly an audience. It blows my mind how we couldn’t even give tickets away. The artist was really great and deserved to have at least a half full house. It’s like we don’t even support or promote ourselves. She had a two night run and we could have had the New York Times come out for the first night to review and perhaps push her second nights of performance. It just seems like the message we give off is we don’t like it here and you shouldn’t either. We had an unsuccessful benefit and could give tickets away to that either. How could you have a benefit performance on Halloween and not embrace the holiday? No wonder there was hardly an audience. Is there something wrong with listening to the ideas of those who don’t have a degree, but have a great deal of common sense? I can’t wait to get that piece of paper.

Magazine Circulations are Down

11/13
Today I got an email from Essence magazine about Rihanna’s hairstylist’s birthday party. I found this to be just as odd as when I saw the email alert of Lisa Raye McCoy-Missick’s fight with her estranged husband. I think this is a result of Change, Conflict and Negotiation. Magazine sales have gone down so far this year. I believe it has everything to do with communicating in the Internet age. Magazines have to change the way they get their message across. Magazines are getting more expensive everyday. What magazines and the Internet have in common is advertising. The only way Essence, Vogue and Elle can keep their legacy alive is to change with the times. I am afraid the directions they will choose will be gossip and scandal. They clearly don’t believe in the value they’ve added to our lives. What a shame.

Assignment - Change

1. Anticipatory Change is planned change based on a situation.

a. A female manager temporarily replaced for maternity leave. One would expect to hire a temporary replacement for the position until the manager returns from maternity leave.

2. Reactive Change changes made in response to unexpected situations.

a. 9/11 caused extreme reactive change to Performing Arts Center. A staff of 22 people was cut down to a staff of 5. This was due to the fact Lower Manhattan shutdown for almost a month. When everyone came back they were told that there wasn’t any reason to keep all but 5 on staff since all the programming and rentals had been canceled or refused to perform. The loss of jobs came as a reaction to the loss of support of business from the community and clients.

3. Incremental Change is subsystem adjustments required to keep the organization on course.

a. Incremental change may come from revising a marketing plan. Perhaps the public is not responding to the initial promotion of a product, a coupon or discount may be created in order to get butts in seats and meet the expected income.

4. Strategic Change is altering the overall shape or direction of the organization.

a. The Obama/Biden team will alter the overall shape and direction of the running of the US Government. Almost everyone’s positions will be changed to those Barak Obama selects. This would mean a very different way of decision making, communication and policy than what has happened in the past 8 years.

Let's Talk About Miscommunication

You know how you are use to people's ways and you build up a mechanism that helps you filter through the bull crap, well that can lead to miscommunication. I received a notice to attend a meeting from an organization that tends to give short notice when scheduling meetings. My filter was in full gear and I assumed when I saw the word "Tuesday" that it meant today at 7pm. I realize this was a conflict with the business of my education, so I referenced the meeting in an email to my professor stating that I could not attend class tonight because I had to be at this meeting. I literally made a copy of the agenda and left it with my classmate in order be accountable to both my class and the group I was meeting with. I arrived at the meeting location at 7:19pm to meet complete darkness. No one was there, at which point I pull the agenda from my bag, remove my filter and I read the 2nd line "on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 7pm"WTF I filtered the wrong information. Now I will miss two days of class because the meeting will be the following week.

Expectation: To attend a meeting
Deviation: I did not read the notice fully
Result: Wasted time and missed out on valuable class time for no reason and will have two absences instead of one.

Miscommunication: SENSELESS

Transition is the word of the day

It makes perfect sense that there would be a transition team for Bush and Obama. Our text book says, "A productive balance is required." Conflict management is at its peak and the press is instigating every move. They say the Obama's team is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling, and more. Is this the beginning of Cooperative Conflict? I know we are past the Iceberg of Conflict, but somehow it has to be part of this process. Barack Obama seems to be quite skilled in the Iceberg of Conflict. I am sure that as he learns more his perception of conflict will change. He is the perfect example of how to explore your iceberg. It feels great to have someone to look up to.

Honesty

Is it too much to ask for honesty especially in business. I suppose this would be in a chapter on ethics, but I can't explain how important trust is in all relationships. Somehow today I am told I am wrong for not enabling a liars lie. One of the coolest things about Barack Obama is that I feel safe knowing he will be in charge. When he speaks it feels honest. In his first press conference, he made it clear that he would not speak about things he could not speak of. I felt like that's what I was looking for honesty. I can talk to you about most of this, but there is a part that is grown folks business and its OK. I want to be that person in all that I do. Someone said that politics will be defined as, "before Obama and after Obama" After Obama will hopefully be honesty in politics and business overall.

Miscommunication

Go back in business history and find a monumental business miscommunication.

Airborne

Expectation: To sell a “miracle cold buster”

Deviation: “They made the claim, Airborne products are clinically proven to treat colds.”

Result: The loss of $23.3 million to settle a class action lawsuit over false advertisement and the removal of the word cold on all packaging.

Actually happened:

“An effervescent dietary supplement that was created by a school teacher” was marketed to be the cure for the common cold through commercials, the Oprah show, famous people and placement on drugstore shelves. It was touted as a product a teacher created because she worked with germy children. They took in $100 million in sales of Airborne in 2006 alone.

Airborne’s claims were strategically mis-communicated to the public as clinically proven to treat colds, but they had no data to prove it.

The FTC ruled there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can prevent or reduce the risk of colds, sickness, or infection; protect against or help fight germs; reduce the severity or duration of a cold; and protect against colds, sickness, or infection in crowded places such as airplanes, offices, or schools.

Airborne Health Inc. settled to pay 30 million dollars in settlement funds.