Tag: twitter

Vilifying people for being people…

overconfidence - when you assume you can make people be more or better without their consent.

Bad things happen when you expect the world to exist according to your whims. 😉

Don’t expect heroes, but encourage them.

People are going to be people, it’s great to hope they’re going to be amazing, but you’re setting your self up for disappointment if you expect consistent social acceptance or heroism. It’s great to hope for it. It’s even okay to help people be their best version of themselves, thats what people do for each other right? I guess maybe its the pragmatist in me that is also saying “If you tell them its mandatory they are going to flip out.”

That’s pretty much what happened according to SFGate

About 15 years ago, I came up with this awesome program to drive engagement and improve public perception of the work my team was doing. 2-4 times a year we were going to shine. A few times a year, we were going to, instead of a regular work day, help on Habitat for Humanity builds. You can call it what you want, helping people, teambuilding, character improvement, improving public awareness was my gig. You would think this is a really cool thing. So many good people on our teams, amazing people. But you know what…half of them we’re pretty pissed off. You see some people arent here to do anything but what they want. Its a fact of life. They arent evil though.

The level of consideration it takes to prioritize something that does not directly or tangibly benefit people over their own wont is actually pretty considerable. It’s not bad manners, it’s not poor social engagement…it’s just their prerogative is not aligned with whatever you’re intending. Everyone seems surprised when some employee that makes mad money doesnt want to do something he or she doesnt want to do. Doesnt make them a bad person…just means they dont want to do something.

But what happened on our little Habitat program? My people @#$%ing 100% revolted. No joke. I had to actually sit down and remediate my own @#$%ing program because of it. I lost friends over this, no joke. The program completely flatlined and my awareness and charity program fell apart.

Learning this the hard way wasn’t fun.

Regardless of the workload, the type of work, or the character of the people affected…you will find a boundary you dont want to cross twice even in requesting something small, like asking for help loading office supplies. In new york, you can’t even get on a damn latter to do something yourself, you have to hire a damn porter($40/per hour for dude that climbs ladders) and if you dont you’re open to a business-killing state case against you because porters unions lost wages.

In today’s banter it’s about someone who (as an engineer) doesnt want to have to make food deliveries for a delivery service we ALL use…seems like an abstract but it isnt. People dont want to do what they dont want to do, and I will go so far as to say even if its helping people. So an engineer the makes bank doesnt want to do a delivery for Doordash. Doesnt make them evil, yall.

But now lets say DURING COVID said person that drives almost never gets told they have to go out and deliver cheeseburgers because of some corporate policy. I would say no too. Its not like lives are on the line, and I know damn well it doesnt make me evil.

Fast food isnt an essential service. So corporate policy or not, there is an argument here that maybe its not exactly the time to be telling employees they have to go out into the wild and risk exposure so that someone can get their wings on.

Yes its probably an unpopular opinion, but its not like its someones last meal, we’re talking about a company policy that really has no place in our current social safety outlook.

Having in the past required people to help build houses periodically for families that dont have homes 4 days a year taught me alot about human nature. Stop expecting everyone to be shine like a rockstar. Hope for it YES…but expecting if of them pisses them off.

I write rants like this occasionally under the tag “No More Stupid” if you want more. Dont hold your breath though I dont post often 😉

Be amazing to one another.

-T




Subtweeting #521

liam neeson meme from imgflip https://imgflip.com/i/49hzjyI’ve been refraining from writing for a long time. The world got a little bit crazy, and my writing is and always had been intended an outlet of importance only to myself. But this year…2020…it has sucked more than anything has sucked before. Seeing so many people hurt, so many people sick, and so many people left without any real help, it’s kind of lit the fires again (so to speak.) This is me just dipping my feet back in the pool. No citations, no extra research because honestly I don’t have time for it. But who knows, maybe I will start making more time for writing again.

So…here it goes. My subtweeting is usually to avoid the crazy mob of pundits’ fans and their socks. Maybe someday I’ll shift a focus to being an influencer, but right now most of what I see is people using their powers to rile up their fans with shit-poor information.

The bigger problem with this, is that it is inspiring conflict, not resolution. Inspiring people to act and protect is beautiful. Inspiring people to suppress, to harm, or do violence, by word, inference, or gesture…that makes one part of the problem.

If the response is violence, suppression, or harm, it means that the system is either incapable of addressing the problem, or there is an agenda that specifically seeks to condone/promote the disparity.

If you’re wondering why there isn’t more oversight, simply look at everyone not voting for it. That’s literally all that is necessary. Vote them out, and vote representatives in that support term limits.

It might take a decade, but the end result will be all of the old good-ol’ boys will be gone, and younger, less corrupted representatives will only get 8 years(or whatever) to make their difference. The old guys will not be able to maintain their status quo.

We would also see quickly, a more diverse representation. Is the majority still white? Yep, but not for long. By creating/supporting initiatives that lessen the strength of minority votes, institutional agendas remain entrenched.

I hate to say it, but look at Russia. Putin’s playbook was a long long game, and it worked. Ignore that he’s scary as hell, but he systematically realign most of Russia to his agenda. I think honestly that’s the same playbook we’re seeing from the political institution now.

A small change in policy now nudges demographics to a more controllable voting situation. Think of it as non-geographic gerrymandering. And here we are, letting it happen, year after year, letting the same people do the same things to us.

Vote them out…vote them out and for heaven’s sake, don’t let them stay and continue to do harm.




Something You Have, Something You Are, and Something You Know.

A few random thoughts and general observations.

Big Ass Mug Of Get Shit Done

Big Ass Mug Of Get Shit Done

Earlier today, I mentioned this was the “great trifecta” referring back to a security premise for a three-factor authentication. As it happens, someone pointed out something startlingly clear, they do matter, but not digitally, at least not in the method intended. It is an analog solution to s digital problem and I get it and obviously not engaging that discussion anymore because I would rather write blog posts like these. It’s been a beast of a day, and I want to end it in a manner more satisfying to myself, as opposed to the semantics of shit I am not emotionally invested enough in to go into a twitter discussion over it. In short, it’s bed time and I would rather write about something else. Take that however the frak you want, chances are this post wasn’t written for you. Happy reading 😉

Something you Have…
Something you have is an item (or multiple items) that characteristically makes you unique in a million ways. I wont suppose to pre-define more, the idea of the characteristics are enough. They are variable in scope that is it patently easy say that we have a clear identity by their existence, even if that clarity presents an obvious lack of an item, a presence, or identity. Not to sound all Sun Tzu. Honestly the “something you have” could be confidence, could be intellect, an abundance or deficit of any other characteristic possessed. Me? I have a lot. I have pictures from a time before cell phones invaded every bit of our lives, I have written letters from exes from a time before we laughably though email was private. I have tons of mementos, at least something from almost every year of my life I think. A collection of things I have…this is me. Today, my prize possession is a friend, specifically knowing that friend is still alive tonight as I get ready to sleep, when it looked grim earlier, and hours of talking and de-escalating pay off long enough for the friend to understand that this life isn’t so bad. Literally talking someone off the edge is scary, but worth it, because I still have my friend.

Something you Are…
I am just a guy, I am at the top of my career, well-educated, I don’t regret much nowadays (except my weight) because there is a little bit of satisfaction in making sure you do the right thing in moral situations. But there are a million things about who i am that clearly needed to happen to lead me to today…a day that was busy, crazy, crazier, testing me, diagnosing me, me testing others, me mentoring others, other mentoring me and eventually…becoming a better person one day at a time. This is who I am. I keep hearing this in tv and it makes me smile. Some people run away from the fire, some people run into the fire. I run into the fire. It’s obviously not a superior process of longevity, but the premise of running into the fire is a fundamental flaw in our society I think…however noble. In the end, self-preservation is is expected…in some places here in the world it is actually the law. So in the end, I am flawed, but in a way that society accepts solely because they fear experiencing a situation that harm them without our presence. If we were wired otherwise, we wouldn’t need a fire department…now I am sure I am rambling because this is exactly how old fire teams used to work, a they were your neighbors and community that were nearby to man a bucket-line, right? Any bottom line, I am a guy that will run into the fire…it doesn’t bother me unless I try to rationalize it, so I don’t…acceptance, like ignorance…is bliss. That’s me. 😉

Something I Know…
Well this is easy…I know fundamentally everything other than that which I have not yet learned. A propensity for stroking and slighting the ego in one sentence? CHECK. I know my memory is just good enough that my bother constantly complains that I remember far too much embarrassing things about us as kids. I know enough of many languages to pull off being incredibly literate and functionally illiterate in one sentence. Remember that propensity mentioned earlier?..CHECKED AGAIN. I know that I don’t know everything, but I remember more than I forget, so my progress is good, and more often than not, I might be the smartest guy in the room…which is almost always also the room I am leaving as quickly as possible. I live to learn, constantly. The scope of what I know isn’t really squat, but it is enough that I’ve pulled off managing IT for **arbitrary number** WHOA over 50 companies…(I went ahead and counted…and stopped counting at 50 😉 So it could be supposed I know something about that stuff. I would certainly suppose such, but I also know how to use oil pastels on canvas and how to smoke the perfect pork loin. I also know how to use a radio, and 15-20 years ago I could have pulled off some higher math while simultaneously knocking down a bottle of Grand Marnier. I know that betting/prompting a drunk friend to write a virus in minute on my roomie’s computer would probably have gotten me kicked out, still did it…but I know not to do such things anymore. I also know that everyone everywhere should act like they are wearing a cape more and act like they wear a uniform less. The world needs more role models, and I know I am obligated to try and be better.

In summation, I helped a friend stay alive tonight, I got a lot of work done, had an great conversation with good people this evening, and ended the evening with reading a great book rather than engaging in an argument on Twitter about shit that doesn’t matter anyway. Yep, another unique amazing day.

I know I am a dork. Be excellent to each other.

-T