As expected, today was extremely busy. A conference call with a client officer (another officer flaked), an interview with a prospective staff member (not bloody likely, after her 57% score on an English usage exam), lunch with the former CEO of a couple of very big local associations (i.e., budgets of nearly $20 million) who recently lost his 3-year-old job with a big organization, dozens of emails with client officers, etc., etc., etc. Plus, work on a registration system for our newest client. I should have made $10,000 today, minimum, for my efforts...but it will translate into more like $500, if that. Pain in the ass!
This evening, I got an email from a staffer who "assumes" I want her to go to our new client meeting next week (after I mentioned to her that the client got us sleeping rooms for Tuesday through Friday), but she has other commitments that she will find hard to break, including a charity luncheon on Tuesday, when I'll be attending a Board meeting at noon. I expressed my dismay and responded that she was, indeed, expected to attend, all the time, and that her charity event could do without her, as could the other commitments. She is the one who seems to think her work schedule is her time to schedule, not mine. My response explained clearly that she is to schedule her work time on my calendar, with my permission...and she is, by god, expected in Austin on Tuesday when I arrive, since we're driving, not flying. If that doesn't work, then she doesn't work. I've reached my limit; I run my company, I set the schedule...my staff does not. If they must set their own schedules, they must pay their own bills, pay their own salaries, cover their own medical coverage, rent their own office space, etc. My Republican attitudes surface quickly when someone who feels she should control her own destiny steps across my requirements...she can control her own schedule and her own destiny, but not on my nickel.
I think I may be turning Republican! But, then, I turn on the TV and see the massive protests by Hispanics about idiotic immigration reform and I say, "No" to Republicanism. I support immigrants. Sure, we need to control our borders, but we cannot say "we need cheap labor, but we can't let them in...and if they come, they're criminals, but (wink), let's just not catch them." What bullshit! We do need to control our borders...one of the best ways to do it is to provide financial and business support to other countries so they can generate their own jobs and make moving to America less appealing. Let's all comprehend that a reduction in illegal immigration will increase the price of okra & tomatoes & lettuce & peaches & highway construction...and just live with it! People should be paid for their work...based on the value of their work. Frankly, the efforts of a guy laying highway asphalt are probably more valuable, in real terms, than the efforts of a guy running an association management company. I mean, which would create more aggravation, the disappearance of associations or the disappearance of highway maintenance?
I want the freedom to say what I think publicly...this bullshit of expressing my opinions on a web blog that doesn't identify the author is...bullshit! I should be willing to risk my clients by saying what I think. I do, ocassionally. A gay couple involved with one of our clients is coming to visit Dallas soon...I learned by accident that their politics are much like mine, and I immediately developed more regard for them. So, I expressed to one of the guys my personal opinions about George Bush. I love it...they believe Bush is a Hitler-equivalent who stole one election and steeped the public in idiocy to get the 2nd. I may overdo my views with them, though, inasmuch as I have expressed my belief in preemptive protective-euthanasia for certain of our "leaders." I think they believe I am a little on the radical fringe. Maybe I am. Shit, SOMEBODY has to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment