New Year reflections.
Yes, two days late. I've been sick. Been another one of those years, hasn't it? My grandmother's passing, one job in the house. Still, on a personal level, mixed at worst. The drama level has declined noticeably, I've got a nice place, I have a job, and so on.
I'm looking forward to Inauguration Day more than anything else right now...it's long past time for the current crop of SOBs to be gone. And I can't help but hope, and honestly expect, that it will throw some confidence into buyers and lenders alike. It's gotten brutal out there. And, yes, it shows up at work. The customers are scouring for bargains like their life depends on pinching the last penny in half, and we're getting pinched ourselves, with corporate coming down on the stores like a million-pound shithammer, demanding ever-closer compliance with their inane and random strategems, and more effort all round, as if our fatigue was a valuable commodity. And, of course, the two remaining managers, the one smart and sympathetic one having gone North, pass the pressure right on down under some kind of impression that shame, fear, and irrational obedience are the magical keys to success.
I just hope things are better in 2009.
I'm looking forward to Inauguration Day more than anything else right now...it's long past time for the current crop of SOBs to be gone. And I can't help but hope, and honestly expect, that it will throw some confidence into buyers and lenders alike. It's gotten brutal out there. And, yes, it shows up at work. The customers are scouring for bargains like their life depends on pinching the last penny in half, and we're getting pinched ourselves, with corporate coming down on the stores like a million-pound shithammer, demanding ever-closer compliance with their inane and random strategems, and more effort all round, as if our fatigue was a valuable commodity. And, of course, the two remaining managers, the one smart and sympathetic one having gone North, pass the pressure right on down under some kind of impression that shame, fear, and irrational obedience are the magical keys to success.
I just hope things are better in 2009.