As readers of the Panda Bear Blog know that the Panda Bear's daytime career is stalled. She works full-time in a daytime office position. She has been in her present position for seven years with excellent evaluations but still sees no possibility for chances of promotion.
To get her mind off her distressing lack of promotion, the Panda Bear has devoted herself in what little free time she has to art and spirituality. She tells herself what is worldly success compared to such higher pursuits of philosophy, beauty and truth. The Panda Bear felt inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love. The Panda Bear felt especially moved by the book's section on Italy where Elizabeth Gilbert eats good Italian food.
In her homage to great art, The Panda Bear has decided to create a wall of beauty in her office. The Panda Bear's office recently moved. The new office while nice in terms of workspace is very utilitarian and there is nothing pleasant for the workers to look at while they work. The Panda Bear used to read books written in the nineteen twenties about businesspeople/bourgeois being anti-art/anti aesthetic. Until she moved to her new office the Panda Bear did not see this side of administration/business but now she does. She and another office worker are putting plants on the on an unused office shelf on the wall with the idea of putting something in the office that is esthetically appealing for the workers to look at during the day. The Panda Bear has gotten somewhat ambitious for the shelf and wants to make look extremely visually appealing and make it a showpiece for the office.
In terms of spirituality, the Panda Bear went to a luncheon event at work today which discussed Yoga. The Panda Bear knows a little bit about Yoga. She left the workshop ready to improve her soul but had to deal with mundane paperwork when she came back to her desk She had fantasies about going to a local yoga retreat for a week; she was a little scared of India even in fantasy. However, a Facebook friend told her India was an awesome and inspiring place. Therefore, the Panda Bear switched her fantasy destination to India.
However, office politics pulled the Panda Bear out of her dreams of going to Italy and India. It has been more and more clear that to the Panda Bear that her division and another division in her office were having an office feud. Before her office moved, there were rumors that the other section wanted nothing to do with the Panda Bear's office section but the Panda Bear did not personally experience this division. However, in the new smaller office it became clear there was a split the Panda Bear's section and the other office section. This afternoon in the office kitchen she was hearing of events in the other section to which members of her section which were not invited.
As far was the Panda Bear is concerned it is the other section's loss that it does not want to interact with her section. The Panda Bear will keep to her section's side to the office. However, the Panda Bear will tactfully and subtly let the other section know how great their loss of the Panda Bear is to them and that there is no reason for them to snub the Panda Bear.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
The Panda Bear and the Corporate Politics Games
The Panda Bear has not read the book nor seen the movie The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. However, the Panda Bear has been hearing alot about The Hunger Games because of the movie that is due to come out in the US on March 23.
Also, recently, The Panda Bear has heard people complaining about office politics. The Panda firmly believes that to be a modern manager in these difficult times one has to have a mean streak and be willing to step on people to get things done and to advance one's self. The Panda Bear hears about offices where there are going to be layoffs in offices where no one knows who is going to let go and who will stay. It sounds like a reality show where some people are going to are going to be sent off an island but no one knows who it will be and everybody is trying to safeguard their own position. The Panda Beat herself has experience something TV reality show like when she and a coworker were told to get their projects out ASAP but they need to use the same piece of office equipment. This is an example of an office situation where office workers are pitted against each other an the nice one will finish last.
Therefore, the Panda Bear is daydreaming about writing a novel call the Corporate Politics Games. In this novel my heroine whom I will call Jane has risen to the mid-level of a corporation by being savvy, smart and hard working. She applies and gets into a program where the worker who survive the training program will be a candidate for top management in the company including CEO. If they fail, they loose their jobs in the corporation.
Jane thinks this is a legitimate training program. However, she soon finds out that to go past a certain level in the corporation one has to learn to play dirty politics. While this does not involve killing people, it involves cheating people and making them miserable. It involves breaking the law and not getting caught. As bosses they learn how to make their workers extremely unhappy but still want to stay and function in their jobs. They have to learn to steal other people's ideas and convince other people it was their own idea. These trainees have to learn to do fuzzy math and hide things from the auditors. These trainees learn how to make others take the heat for their mistakes/misdeeds. Jane has to learn such skills and getting people to help and then dropping them in a hurtful manner when she gets to a certain level while making sure that these people don't turn on her. In addition, she has to make sure make sure no one stabs her in the back. It is a step or be stepped on kind of world.The philosophy behind the program is that one does everything one can to succeed but don't get caught.
Jane does have a conscience but she also is ambitious and enjoys the rewards of her "success". Also as she gets further in the "training" program she finds it harder to drop out. She fears that if she drops out her misdeeds will get exposed, she will have lots of enemies without the power of the corporation protecting her. In addition, she keeps telling herself she is not doing anything that bad-she is not killing people just cheating them. Furthermore, some of the other trainees are truly heartless and Jane feels that she with some conscience is better than someone totally unprincipled. Also she is the only woman in the program so she feels it is a victory for women's rights if she succeeds.
The novel has an open ending. In the end the competition is for the top position is between Jane and Andrew. Jane is becoming more and more miserable and unable to live with herself. However, if she drops out, Andrew will get the top position who is totally ruthless. Jane herself is also quite ambitious and does not find it easy to walk away from fame and fortune.
Corporate Office Politics is the Panda Bear's first novel in a blog post. These are novels that the Panda Bear does not have time to write and the novels that the blog reader does not have time to read.
Also, recently, The Panda Bear has heard people complaining about office politics. The Panda firmly believes that to be a modern manager in these difficult times one has to have a mean streak and be willing to step on people to get things done and to advance one's self. The Panda Bear hears about offices where there are going to be layoffs in offices where no one knows who is going to let go and who will stay. It sounds like a reality show where some people are going to are going to be sent off an island but no one knows who it will be and everybody is trying to safeguard their own position. The Panda Beat herself has experience something TV reality show like when she and a coworker were told to get their projects out ASAP but they need to use the same piece of office equipment. This is an example of an office situation where office workers are pitted against each other an the nice one will finish last.
Therefore, the Panda Bear is daydreaming about writing a novel call the Corporate Politics Games. In this novel my heroine whom I will call Jane has risen to the mid-level of a corporation by being savvy, smart and hard working. She applies and gets into a program where the worker who survive the training program will be a candidate for top management in the company including CEO. If they fail, they loose their jobs in the corporation.
Jane thinks this is a legitimate training program. However, she soon finds out that to go past a certain level in the corporation one has to learn to play dirty politics. While this does not involve killing people, it involves cheating people and making them miserable. It involves breaking the law and not getting caught. As bosses they learn how to make their workers extremely unhappy but still want to stay and function in their jobs. They have to learn to steal other people's ideas and convince other people it was their own idea. These trainees have to learn to do fuzzy math and hide things from the auditors. These trainees learn how to make others take the heat for their mistakes/misdeeds. Jane has to learn such skills and getting people to help and then dropping them in a hurtful manner when she gets to a certain level while making sure that these people don't turn on her. In addition, she has to make sure make sure no one stabs her in the back. It is a step or be stepped on kind of world.The philosophy behind the program is that one does everything one can to succeed but don't get caught.
Jane does have a conscience but she also is ambitious and enjoys the rewards of her "success". Also as she gets further in the "training" program she finds it harder to drop out. She fears that if she drops out her misdeeds will get exposed, she will have lots of enemies without the power of the corporation protecting her. In addition, she keeps telling herself she is not doing anything that bad-she is not killing people just cheating them. Furthermore, some of the other trainees are truly heartless and Jane feels that she with some conscience is better than someone totally unprincipled. Also she is the only woman in the program so she feels it is a victory for women's rights if she succeeds.
The novel has an open ending. In the end the competition is for the top position is between Jane and Andrew. Jane is becoming more and more miserable and unable to live with herself. However, if she drops out, Andrew will get the top position who is totally ruthless. Jane herself is also quite ambitious and does not find it easy to walk away from fame and fortune.
Corporate Office Politics is the Panda Bear's first novel in a blog post. These are novels that the Panda Bear does not have time to write and the novels that the blog reader does not have time to read.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The Panda Bear on Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Feminazi's and Reductio ad Hitlerum
As probably many people are aware, many people popular conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "prostitute" and a "slut" for speaking out for the public funding for women's contraception, What amuses the Panda Bear is that another talk show host, Don Imus, has been very critical of Rush Limbaugh even though he was fired in 2007 for calling the Women's Rutgers Basketball team "nappy-headed hos".
When Don Imus these remarks in 2007 they were taken to be more racist than sexist. However, the remarks of Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus seem very similar because they call women. sluts, whores and prostitutes when these women are:
1) not public figures
2) not actually sex workers.
Furthermore, both these remarks were supposed to be flip and humorous. Is there anything truly funny about calling a woman a slut?
The Panda Bear thinks it takes more examining on why very well known men commentators/talks show hosts/public figures find it funny to pick on women who are much less influential then they are and attack their sexual mores/behavior. Is still the ultimate insult to women calling them prostitutes even when they are discussing politics or playing sports?
The Panda Bear has always been irritated by Rush Limbaugh using word Feminazi to describe Feminists since the real Nazis were extremely anti-feminist. It really is an really an oxymoron to call a feminist a Nazi and the Panda Bear feels the term is an example of misleading political propaganda/terminology.
In a previous post, the Panda Bear complained that the word "Nazi" was being overused and was diluting the true history of the Nazis. At work sometimes the Panda Bear has heard overbearing bosses as being called members of the Gestapo. One woman who was perhaps overzealous of enforcing in health care settings rules to clean hands was a called a "clean hands Nazi". These uses of the word Nazi detract from the fact that what the Nazis were calculating murderers.
The Panda Bear recently came across the term Reductio ad Hitlerum. It also misuses the word Nazi but in a different from what the Panda Bear has stated in the above. A Reductio ad Hitlerum seems to be the argument that anything that Nazis or a Nazi liked is bad((i.e. dogs, classical music ) even if it had nothing do with the political philosophy and/or actions of the Nazis. It is a another example of the history of the Nazis being miused.
In another post, the Panda Bear will describe how both the political left and right use the Nazi past to support their political views.
When Don Imus these remarks in 2007 they were taken to be more racist than sexist. However, the remarks of Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus seem very similar because they call women. sluts, whores and prostitutes when these women are:
1) not public figures
2) not actually sex workers.
Furthermore, both these remarks were supposed to be flip and humorous. Is there anything truly funny about calling a woman a slut?
The Panda Bear thinks it takes more examining on why very well known men commentators/talks show hosts/public figures find it funny to pick on women who are much less influential then they are and attack their sexual mores/behavior. Is still the ultimate insult to women calling them prostitutes even when they are discussing politics or playing sports?
The Panda Bear has always been irritated by Rush Limbaugh using word Feminazi to describe Feminists since the real Nazis were extremely anti-feminist. It really is an really an oxymoron to call a feminist a Nazi and the Panda Bear feels the term is an example of misleading political propaganda/terminology.
In a previous post, the Panda Bear complained that the word "Nazi" was being overused and was diluting the true history of the Nazis. At work sometimes the Panda Bear has heard overbearing bosses as being called members of the Gestapo. One woman who was perhaps overzealous of enforcing in health care settings rules to clean hands was a called a "clean hands Nazi". These uses of the word Nazi detract from the fact that what the Nazis were calculating murderers.
The Panda Bear recently came across the term Reductio ad Hitlerum. It also misuses the word Nazi but in a different from what the Panda Bear has stated in the above. A Reductio ad Hitlerum seems to be the argument that anything that Nazis or a Nazi liked is bad((i.e. dogs, classical music ) even if it had nothing do with the political philosophy and/or actions of the Nazis. It is a another example of the history of the Nazis being miused.
In another post, the Panda Bear will describe how both the political left and right use the Nazi past to support their political views.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Panda Bear on Cuts in Boston Area Public Transportation
Mr. Panda has been mobilized into political action as well many other public transit users/supporters in the past couple of months fighting proposed cuts in services for Boston Area MBTA(public transportation) users. Despite the recession and the rise in public transportation ridership, the MBTA says it is going broke and has proposed some drastic service cuts.. However, many people feel that this proposal is an attack on lower income/working people people. It is part of the ongoing debate that the Panda Bear and many others feel(interestingly enough both on the US political left and right) that the US is run by and for the wealthy elites. The Boston Occupy movement has taken on the cause to prevent these service cuts;the movement believes that for the rich the government finds the money.
Both the Panda Bear and Mr. Panda have never owned a car and have relied on Boston area public transportation to take them places they need to go. However, in February the Boston MBTA came up with a set of radical proposals to reduce services and raise fares. It would personally effect Mr. Panda more than the Panda Bear. Mr. Panda has gotten very upset and has started writing letters to public officials opposing the service cuts.
Both the Panda Bear and Mr. Panda attended the public hearings about the proposed changes. The Panda Bear and her husband are going to a meeting tonight. The audience at these meetings has been very angry. Both local politicians and MBTA officials are at these meetings.
The most interesting meeting was one in Quincy, Massachusetts. Many people at the said these cuts in services would leave them stranded and without transportation to get them to work. There was also anger at the sudden nature of these proposed cuts. Many businesses opposed these cuts in service saying they would hurt local business. Three Quincy teenagers spoke at the meeting to the MBTA General Manager and the Panda Bear was very impressed with these teenagers. They were saying how they, their friends and their families depended on the public transportation system to get to school and work. These teenagers seemed like a very articulate and reasonable group of youths .
What has made the Panda Bear, Mr. Panda and other MBTA users angry is the that so many of the financial problems of the MBTA come from the fact the Massachusetts State Legislature which has made the MBTA assume the responsibility of paying the interest on the bonds issued for highway projects. Many people (including the Panda Bear) believe that this debt should be removed and the MBTA only be held responsible for only its own operating costs. The Panda Bear believes that about a third of the deficit of the MBTA comes from debt relating to highway improvement projects. Also what has got Mr. Panda angry is that the MBTA is not willing to make cuts in the money/default on these debts but rather cut services. Bond holders are wealthy individuals;the MBTA seems like it more interested in protecting wealthy investors than the public which it is supposed to serve.
In addition what has made the people at these meetings angry(and the Panda Bear thinks rightly so) is that the MBTA has not looked at any other way of reducing operating costs besides service cuts. Both the MBTA management and employees make good salaries and have above average benefits. The MBTA has made no move to reduce salaries or cut benefits of its employees. The Panda Bear has come to believe that when organizations do badly the upper management should receive a pay cut(Mr. Panda Bear thinks this happens in private industry but the upper management seems protected no matter what they do). In addition, many people have pointed out that the finances of the MBTA have been mishandled; however, the people who made the mistakes are not the ones who are suffering but innocent MBTA riders. There has been a lot of financial mismangment and "fuzzy" math at the MBTA.
What struck the Panda Bear at these meetings was how unpublic minded some "public" officials are. The Panda Bear is no longer opposed to the privatizing of some public operations if private sector can show that the can perform the functions in an effective/cost effective manner. She has come to feel that there is no intrinsic superiority in certain functions being done by public employees. Previously, the Panda Bear had been opposed to privatization.
There is a famous song called Charlie and the MTA. It was written in the nineteen forties to protest a fare increase of the Boston public transit system which became very popular. There is a refrain that goes:
Did he ever return? No, he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He′s the man who never returned.
The Panda Bear thinks this song should be updated to reflect the reason for Charlie's non return is sudden cuts in public transit that leave him stranded.
Cynically, the Panda Bear things the MBTA could just put through these service cuts without anyone noticing them. Fortunately, people are taking note. Supposedly, as a result of public protest a modified plan has been offered with more moderate fare increases and no reductions in service. However, the Panda Bear believes that constant vigilance is needed to ensure that drastic MBTA service cuts are not made.
Both the Panda Bear and Mr. Panda have never owned a car and have relied on Boston area public transportation to take them places they need to go. However, in February the Boston MBTA came up with a set of radical proposals to reduce services and raise fares. It would personally effect Mr. Panda more than the Panda Bear. Mr. Panda has gotten very upset and has started writing letters to public officials opposing the service cuts.
Both the Panda Bear and Mr. Panda attended the public hearings about the proposed changes. The Panda Bear and her husband are going to a meeting tonight. The audience at these meetings has been very angry. Both local politicians and MBTA officials are at these meetings.
The most interesting meeting was one in Quincy, Massachusetts. Many people at the said these cuts in services would leave them stranded and without transportation to get them to work. There was also anger at the sudden nature of these proposed cuts. Many businesses opposed these cuts in service saying they would hurt local business. Three Quincy teenagers spoke at the meeting to the MBTA General Manager and the Panda Bear was very impressed with these teenagers. They were saying how they, their friends and their families depended on the public transportation system to get to school and work. These teenagers seemed like a very articulate and reasonable group of youths .
What has made the Panda Bear, Mr. Panda and other MBTA users angry is the that so many of the financial problems of the MBTA come from the fact the Massachusetts State Legislature which has made the MBTA assume the responsibility of paying the interest on the bonds issued for highway projects. Many people (including the Panda Bear) believe that this debt should be removed and the MBTA only be held responsible for only its own operating costs. The Panda Bear believes that about a third of the deficit of the MBTA comes from debt relating to highway improvement projects. Also what has got Mr. Panda angry is that the MBTA is not willing to make cuts in the money/default on these debts but rather cut services. Bond holders are wealthy individuals;the MBTA seems like it more interested in protecting wealthy investors than the public which it is supposed to serve.
In addition what has made the people at these meetings angry(and the Panda Bear thinks rightly so) is that the MBTA has not looked at any other way of reducing operating costs besides service cuts. Both the MBTA management and employees make good salaries and have above average benefits. The MBTA has made no move to reduce salaries or cut benefits of its employees. The Panda Bear has come to believe that when organizations do badly the upper management should receive a pay cut(Mr. Panda Bear thinks this happens in private industry but the upper management seems protected no matter what they do). In addition, many people have pointed out that the finances of the MBTA have been mishandled; however, the people who made the mistakes are not the ones who are suffering but innocent MBTA riders. There has been a lot of financial mismangment and "fuzzy" math at the MBTA.
What struck the Panda Bear at these meetings was how unpublic minded some "public" officials are. The Panda Bear is no longer opposed to the privatizing of some public operations if private sector can show that the can perform the functions in an effective/cost effective manner. She has come to feel that there is no intrinsic superiority in certain functions being done by public employees. Previously, the Panda Bear had been opposed to privatization.
There is a famous song called Charlie and the MTA. It was written in the nineteen forties to protest a fare increase of the Boston public transit system which became very popular. There is a refrain that goes:
Did he ever return? No, he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He′s the man who never returned.
The Panda Bear thinks this song should be updated to reflect the reason for Charlie's non return is sudden cuts in public transit that leave him stranded.
Cynically, the Panda Bear things the MBTA could just put through these service cuts without anyone noticing them. Fortunately, people are taking note. Supposedly, as a result of public protest a modified plan has been offered with more moderate fare increases and no reductions in service. However, the Panda Bear believes that constant vigilance is needed to ensure that drastic MBTA service cuts are not made.
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