Friday, June 2, 2017

"Last Man Standing", Writing for Profit and God. Thats an Interesting Combo Isn't It?

I am still retired. I am not even going to end up getting paid for the correspondence I just wrote. As a result of the position I took in the document I ensured I would not get paid. I had agreed to only get paid if the outcome was slightly different; but, I wrote what needed to happen even though it meant I would not get paid. I could have written it differently; but, I won't help people I don't want to and don't agree with in business and if I do help someone I do what is best for them in my estimation.

When I am asked for my business opinion or assistance I am righteous ass. If you don't take my suggestion I don't give you them. I am not your friendly neighborhood consultant kissing rear-ends for pennies. I wasn't a kiss up when I had a real job. When I had a real full time job they had all the managers get a psych test, an attitude test. My results said stand 3 feet away from if I work for you and just tell me what you want and leave. That was the advice the specialists gave my bosses and it surprised nobody. They scared of me and smart enough to follow it and reaped the benefits. I treated those who worked for me as family because I saw us all in it together and I didn't care if they hated me for it. I don't want to be kids friends, I sought to be their father even if it pissed them off sometimes. My goal was to help them find their way and be themselves, I think I did that or at least the best I could. You are responsible for your employees just as if they were your kids because you have the power. If you discipline, make sure it is in their best interest not just to get out anger.

I got irritated at the people I am helping. I wasn't upset because I will not get paid. To tell you the truth they don't even understand that my agreement means my solution results in my not getting paid. I love my work. LOL. When I take on a job I find the answer to the question I was asked to address, I feel a fiduciary duty (you really need to look up the word fiduciary, it means so much) when I agree to help someone. I got irritated about the people I am helping because they felt entitled to my best effort and forgot I owe them nothing and am doing them a favor and always knew I might not get paid. You should never expect things from others if you are looking to only get from them without ever giving anything back.

"Last Man Standing" is Tim Allen show, he was the guy behind "Home Improvement". I never watched the show until about a week ago. It got cancelled a couple of weeks ago and I didn't really know about it before then. Hey, I didn't know what a Snookie was till it wasn't. I didn't watch much television until I retired. I found out about the show because they cancelled it. Some said it was cancelled because it was too conservative. The network said that even though it was their third highest rated show they were killing their comedy night. I think they lied because it is the funniest show I have ever seen. I have been splitting a gut for the past week as I binge watch it. Maybe he reminds me of me except I am a socialist. Now, I am only on season 4 and am hoping Tim's character does not decide to get a sex change in season 5 or do something else I find out of character.

I really like this show and I want to talk about why. The show is about family and integrity, I like those issues. The show is about a real dad who actually cares for his family and pushes his daughters to be the best they can be while still viewing them as different than boys. I actually like the show more than I liked "Home Improvement". The messages it makes are about love, mercy, generosity, hope and innocence. There are no bad guys in the show, just people working through things and trying to figure out the balancing act that is life.

I told all my employees the same thing, "Do the right for the right reason and you cannot make a mistake that I cannot fix". I wrote a new correspondence today and it is great and will be very effective and I reminded the people I am helping that can't help them if they don't take care of their problems. To fix problems you have to address them when the opportunity arises. Sometimes it doesn't come up; but, when asked for help it has already come up. People ask for my assistance when all other answers have failed and they don't know what to do. That is exactly when they should ask for my assistance, when they are willing to listen and are desperate because I am a pain in the ass and make sure they know they have screwed up.

Sometimes I think God is like that. I think God waits until we really mean it, that we are searching for a solution and have screwed up badly. I think maybe we only hear him when we can see that all of our choices didn't find the right answer. We call him much more earnestly when we are desperate than when we are comfortable. Maybe he is always talking to us but we ignore him until he is our last chance to find a better way.

I should not have been irritated with the people I am helping, maybe I should have appreciated the fact they came to me in the end and trusted that I could and would help when nobody else had the answer. That is the kind of message I saw time and time again on "Last Man Standing". Tim Allen does not need more money, he is doing fine and always will. When he was young he made a lot of mistakes and then asked God what to do. I don't drink beer, I drink wine and only red wine because it keeps my blood cells from coagulating and giving my that all important third heart attack. I don't think I will be coming back from that one. I would be happy to have a beer with Tim Allen and ask him why his show was so spiritual, there are no others like that on the air.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You might enjoy this you might not... you being a irishman and socialist... Mr Hughes was fighting for a socialist democratic Ireland against the british. Did you know that darwin was an Eugenicists who HATED the Irish lol...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Un_0NheCaw


Pimpernel said...

Dear Anonymous,

Just to be clear, I am an American of Irish decent. I do not refer to myself in conversation as Irish, I refer to myself as American. While entitled to Irish citizenship and duel citizenship, I have not applied to be a citizen of any country and am quite happy to only be an American citizen. Funny how we use the term Mexican American, African American, Irish American; but, not English American. Yet we all come from immigrants except the American Indians. Terminology is funny except we have to use it as a shorthand to explain how our families got here and their experience here.

As for being a socialist, it is also a funny term. I use it to explain that I believe a community is responsible for everyone in it. You wouldn't use that term for Indians or Eskimos or Polynesians or societies through history because the word scares people as meaning something modern. These are not modern terms and actually have real meaning.

Darwin did hate the Irish; but, he was far from alone. The Royal family also hated the Irish and wanted to starve them to death. It wasn't because of religion or nationality, it was because of empire and greed. That is pretty much true of every society that believes the vast majority of citizens are there to provide for a few "special people". There is little difference between anarchists and libertarians of today, neither believes in community only self. There is little reason to fight for a society that will not fight for it's citizens. There is little reason to support a system that sends all the benefits to the few in charge at the expense of the rest, that is called oligarchy or feudalism or worse yet, slavery.