I wanna be your good friend. What do you think?
Another day of work down. This one went by smoothly enough, at least in terms of productivity: it was my second closing shift and I got a lot done. Marc, who started just after me but has been hanging around the store for years (two of his best friends are long-time employees), even commented on how quickly I'm gaining confidence and assuming the role of manager.
It was just the whole issue with hours! I anticipated picking up well above thirty (the assistant manager, Chris, made the schedule when the main manager, Jesse, was on vacation), but Jesse--who has never really worked with me--got back and slashed my Friday shift, dropping me down to twenty-seven for the week. Worse still, I have only twenty next week. I don't think it's anything against me personally, especially seeing that my coworkers were all assigned drastically less hours than they have this week, but it was truly a downer to find out that I wouldn't be picking up as much cash as I thought I might be. I really don't mind working a lot, and I could really use some extra money. I have lots of media to back up, see, and blank CDs aren't going to cut it :(
Actually, I hope my lack of hours isn't based at all on the fact that I haven't sold as many MVP MEMBERSHIPS as Jesse probably wanted. Maybe I'm a bit more...honest than some of the other people I work with. There're a few catches to it, and I tend to present them now rather than have people find out later, after they've already paid. I'm such a horrible salesman :( I guess I should probably try to deceive people a bit more skillfully if I want to truly excel.
Anyway! I told Chris that I could really use hours and urged him to contact my cell if he ever needed someone; besides seeming willing to do that for me, he suggested that I call Dennis, the district manager, and ask for additional hours at other stores. It's something to consider, definitely, but I don't know where I'd be willing to drive. The Royal Oak store is about three miles farther than the Clawson store, which is already a bit farther than I'd ideally like to travel. I guess a few more miles each way is worth the extra money I'd make in getting those hours, though! Okay, then, it's settled: I'll ask for Dennis's (yes, I did use that additional 's,' and I'm proud of it) number the next time I'm working. Or maybe I should just go in tomorrow and get it! HAHha I'm so ambitious.
Apart from that downer of having less hours than I want (I'm aiming for a minimum of twenty-five a week), I had a rather nice night. My mom brought me Subway--very nice of her to buy it for me and drive all the way down to the store--and working with Marc is great. He's one of the most polite, unassuming people I've had the pleasure of working with in recent memory. We discussed anime, poisonous donuts, and kidney stones to our hearts' content.
Getting back to deceit--and more centrally to morality--I was reading some Epictetus earlier for my ethics class, and the guy has some interesting things to say. I disagree with some of the things he says, but I think they have some value. He was apparently a Stoic, and I'm guessing this means he lent much more credibility to perceived reality (and the logical steps to make the most of such a reality) than to whim, fancy, or emotion.
Take, for example, the following quote: "If you are struck by the appearance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself against being hurried away by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time: that in which you will enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and reproach yourself after you have enjoyed it; and set before you, in opposition to these, how you will be glad and applaud yourself if you abstain. And even though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed that its enticing, and agreeable and attractive force may not subdue you; but set in opposition to this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so great a victory."
It's hard to argue that such a method of approaching temptation could actually result in harm relative to the specific situation to which it pertains, but living in such a way seems almost repulsive to me. I go back and forth on things more often than I'd like to admit, but even I like to make the occasional impulsive decision. There's something to be said, I think, for instinct and the thrill of being surprised by good and bad consequences that may come your way. It may not be especially prudent to be that way, but a life without excitement and romance, I think, would be pretty dull.
Speaking of which, I wonder whether this Epictetus was one of the early proponents of that whole "think about the pros and cons" philosophy so many today endorse. If not, the tone of that quote of his certainly made it seem so.
One of the quotes I liked: "As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world."
I've thought this for a long time, at least if it says what I think it does. Basically, the message is this: no one actually intends to be anything other than good and righteous; it's just that some are shortsighted and thus don't take especially great aim at said goal. Rather than immediately rebuke a person for what you perceive as evil, it seems like a better idea to try to understand his viewpoint. Maybe if you're standing where he was standing, it's very easy to see how he took aim at humanity's common mark in the way that he did. That may not make him right, but it certainly takes away from the intense hostility that comes with such misunderstandings.
My favorite, though: "If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?"
This is clearly something on which I have to work personally, but it's a message I can't help but agree with. Epictetus' Stoicism focuses mainly on truly capitalizing on situations over which we have direct control, and this is a good example of somewhere I believe it can pay off. We can't control what others say (especially highlighting this is the phrasing of the quote: happens to attack instead of just attack, therefore making the actions of others a mere circumstance), but we can certainly control what those words mean to us, and why let such words burden us? Rather than let others perceive and judge for us, we have the power to do both things ourselves, thereby rendering us completely capable of deciding such matters without outside help. Good stuff.
Oh yeah, and this song is adorable. There's lots of pitch shifting in the background and it makes Sawao sound like he's harmonizing with lots of Engrish kids.
It was just the whole issue with hours! I anticipated picking up well above thirty (the assistant manager, Chris, made the schedule when the main manager, Jesse, was on vacation), but Jesse--who has never really worked with me--got back and slashed my Friday shift, dropping me down to twenty-seven for the week. Worse still, I have only twenty next week. I don't think it's anything against me personally, especially seeing that my coworkers were all assigned drastically less hours than they have this week, but it was truly a downer to find out that I wouldn't be picking up as much cash as I thought I might be. I really don't mind working a lot, and I could really use some extra money. I have lots of media to back up, see, and blank CDs aren't going to cut it :(
Actually, I hope my lack of hours isn't based at all on the fact that I haven't sold as many MVP MEMBERSHIPS as Jesse probably wanted. Maybe I'm a bit more...honest than some of the other people I work with. There're a few catches to it, and I tend to present them now rather than have people find out later, after they've already paid. I'm such a horrible salesman :( I guess I should probably try to deceive people a bit more skillfully if I want to truly excel.
Anyway! I told Chris that I could really use hours and urged him to contact my cell if he ever needed someone; besides seeming willing to do that for me, he suggested that I call Dennis, the district manager, and ask for additional hours at other stores. It's something to consider, definitely, but I don't know where I'd be willing to drive. The Royal Oak store is about three miles farther than the Clawson store, which is already a bit farther than I'd ideally like to travel. I guess a few more miles each way is worth the extra money I'd make in getting those hours, though! Okay, then, it's settled: I'll ask for Dennis's (yes, I did use that additional 's,' and I'm proud of it) number the next time I'm working. Or maybe I should just go in tomorrow and get it! HAHha I'm so ambitious.
Apart from that downer of having less hours than I want (I'm aiming for a minimum of twenty-five a week), I had a rather nice night. My mom brought me Subway--very nice of her to buy it for me and drive all the way down to the store--and working with Marc is great. He's one of the most polite, unassuming people I've had the pleasure of working with in recent memory. We discussed anime, poisonous donuts, and kidney stones to our hearts' content.
Getting back to deceit--and more centrally to morality--I was reading some Epictetus earlier for my ethics class, and the guy has some interesting things to say. I disagree with some of the things he says, but I think they have some value. He was apparently a Stoic, and I'm guessing this means he lent much more credibility to perceived reality (and the logical steps to make the most of such a reality) than to whim, fancy, or emotion.
Take, for example, the following quote: "If you are struck by the appearance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself against being hurried away by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time: that in which you will enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and reproach yourself after you have enjoyed it; and set before you, in opposition to these, how you will be glad and applaud yourself if you abstain. And even though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed that its enticing, and agreeable and attractive force may not subdue you; but set in opposition to this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so great a victory."
It's hard to argue that such a method of approaching temptation could actually result in harm relative to the specific situation to which it pertains, but living in such a way seems almost repulsive to me. I go back and forth on things more often than I'd like to admit, but even I like to make the occasional impulsive decision. There's something to be said, I think, for instinct and the thrill of being surprised by good and bad consequences that may come your way. It may not be especially prudent to be that way, but a life without excitement and romance, I think, would be pretty dull.
Speaking of which, I wonder whether this Epictetus was one of the early proponents of that whole "think about the pros and cons" philosophy so many today endorse. If not, the tone of that quote of his certainly made it seem so.
One of the quotes I liked: "As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world."
I've thought this for a long time, at least if it says what I think it does. Basically, the message is this: no one actually intends to be anything other than good and righteous; it's just that some are shortsighted and thus don't take especially great aim at said goal. Rather than immediately rebuke a person for what you perceive as evil, it seems like a better idea to try to understand his viewpoint. Maybe if you're standing where he was standing, it's very easy to see how he took aim at humanity's common mark in the way that he did. That may not make him right, but it certainly takes away from the intense hostility that comes with such misunderstandings.
My favorite, though: "If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?"
This is clearly something on which I have to work personally, but it's a message I can't help but agree with. Epictetus' Stoicism focuses mainly on truly capitalizing on situations over which we have direct control, and this is a good example of somewhere I believe it can pay off. We can't control what others say (especially highlighting this is the phrasing of the quote: happens to attack instead of just attack, therefore making the actions of others a mere circumstance), but we can certainly control what those words mean to us, and why let such words burden us? Rather than let others perceive and judge for us, we have the power to do both things ourselves, thereby rendering us completely capable of deciding such matters without outside help. Good stuff.
Oh yeah, and this song is adorable. There's lots of pitch shifting in the background and it makes Sawao sound like he's harmonizing with lots of Engrish kids.