Your Most Disturbing Realizations

[2jakes]

That's life!

Thank You!

 

[HudsonHawk]

Not in this part of southern California.

As we day down South...you don't have to shovel sunshine.

 

[GHT]

Yeah, but NOT getting old isn't necessarily the best option.

Agreed, and compared to the rest of your life, it doesn't last long.

The realization that I'm a visitor in a world composed mostly of young people with attitudes, places, & technologies beyond my complete understanding.

In the social circles that I mix in there are lots of young people, as well as many others from every generation. At a dance about a week ago, a young lady grabbed my hand: "Dance?" She asked, well told more than asked, so there I was, a few weeks short of seventy, dancing with a young lady of about twenty five. At the other end of the spectrum there's a guy who goes to these events who is still very energetic on the dance floor, and he's 93.
But I do agree with technology, it goes right over my head. In the days of video tape I struggled to master the ability to set a video recorder. In the days of digital it might well be another language, probably fluent gibberish. My wife picks up the remote control, zaps the recorder, this menu comes up on the screen, then another and another. She's clicking, selecting, moving and deleting with a dexterity that both impresses and baffles me. A recent report by one of the cell phone companies claims that smart phone owners check their phones an average of 253 times a day. I read that twice in case it was 253 times a week. In the morning, when I do remember, I look at the screen. My reaction to no calls and no messages is: "Thank goodness for that." The phone then goes to sleep in my pocket unless it rings or bleeps a text. The fact that I never go online with it means I'm not plagued by adverts or nuisance calls. Another reason that I don't go online with it is because I don't know how, nor do I really want to.

 

[Zombie_61]

Technology doesn't necessarily baffle me, but the "need" for most of it does. For example, the last few times I've had to upgrade my cell phone the sales person droned on for 15-20 minutes about how you could do this, that, and the other thing, with whichever model they were showing me. When they finally wound down their sales pitch, I calmly asked, "Yeah, but can I use it as a phone?" and they looked at me as if I'd suddenly grown a second head. I don't know what 95% of the garbage on my current phone does, and I don't want to. More so, I feel sorry for those people who are convinced they need all of this nonsense or, worse yet, those who actually do need it for whatever reason. I've always thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier, but in recent years it just seems to make everything more complicated.

 

[2jakes]

When I was a kid, a telephone had one purpose & was primarily for adults.
As a teenager, I don’t recall staying on the line for long periods talking to a
girl. Actually I don’t recall talking to girls until much later. I was very shy.

I have a cell-phone because it’s convenient when I need to get a hold of someone
or making an appointment when I’m not at home.
But the majority of the apps with very few exceptions are simply boring.
Probably if I was a kid it would be a different story.

 

[KY Crusader]

This revelation actually cost me a career (or two): NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE MAY TELL YOU, no one at work EVER wants to hear the truth about something if it rocks the boat. Young folks take note! Take your cue from The Godfather, and "never tell anyone outside of the family what you're really thinking."

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
Sometimes people truly believe themselves when they say they wish to hear what others in the organization think, however uncomfortable those thoughts might be. But I've rarely known it to be actually so.

Recently I've crossed paths with a person who professes a dislike for "yes men." But if anything in this person's character stands out, it's the need for affirmation.

So yeah, the lady doth protest too much.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I have a cell-phone because it’s convenient when I need to get a hold of someone
or making an appointment when I’m not at home.
But the majority of the apps with very few exceptions are simply boring.
Probably if I was a kid it would be a different story.

I think there is definitely a "generation gap" issue at work here. Many of us here are old enough to have lived in an era before color television sets became ubiquitous, let alone VCRs, the Internet, cable/satellite TV, cell phones, DVD/Blu-Ray players, a multitude of electronic devices, and so on, so we're able to perceive such devices as mostly unnecessary. But if we'd been born within the last 15-20 years, we'd probably be right in the thick of it shoulder-to-shoulder with the Instant Gratification generation.

This revelation actually cost me a career (or two): NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE MAY TELL YOU, no one at work EVER wants to hear the truth about something if it rocks the boat. Young folks take note! Take your cue from The Godfather, and "never tell anyone outside of the family what you're really thinking."

Amen to that. About five years before my last place of employment closed it's doors, the company was taken over by a large foreign corporation. Not long after the takeover the new owners sent a few representatives to familiarize themselves with the facility and the people who worked there. I made the mistake of giving them my honest opinions when asked so, when the time came for them to close the doors and relocate the employees to their other facilities in the area, they didn't work too hard to find a place for me.

 

[GHT]

Take your cue from The Godfather, and "never tell anyone outside of the family what you're really thinking."

That is one of the reasons that you have never seen me tweet, or put something up on Facebook. There was a very disturbing report recently that not only do banks, mortgage lenders and credit card companies keep a daily watch on what you spend, how often you spend and where you spend it, but now they trawl through any social media remarks that you have made, creating a profile on you that they can use, or more sinisterly, sell on.
The best way to tell someone in an organisation something they don't like is to turn the spotlight on them. Following a spate of petty thieving, I had a visit from our security manager along with my regional manager. It was a meeting to discuss what we could do and so on. When the meeting broke up and the security manager left, my regional manager and I were having an informal chit-chat about stealing and cheating in general.
"I can't stand these little cheats," he ranted, "everyone is implied until the culprit is caught." He's a real caustic sort, and often jumps down your throat just because he likes to give you: The big, I am, act. I caught his eye and said: "You don't like cheating, like when you are having sex with the second Mrs Smith and the first Mrs Smith doesn't know." He had been caught with his trousers down and now I had hit him with a second salvo for the same peccadillo. He left my office, slammed the door, got in his car and drove off.

 

[Fading Fast]

As a long-time Fedora Lounge member, my love of the Golden Era and respect for many traditional values and technologies are well documented - and if someone doesn't want a smart phone, I certainly see nothing wrong with that - but for me, the smart phone is simply a combined telephone and computer with internet access. So I can do things that seem reasonable to me when I'm out like checking the weather, using the map feature to find places, using the transit apps to identify the best subway and schedules, locating a store or service I might need, checking my work email (like it or not, there are different expectations in different businesses and mine expects fairly constant monitoring of email during business hours), reading a book on it when riding on the subway (don't have to carry a separate book), making notes of ideas or things that come up, and, of course, using it as a phone.

If these things aren't important to you, I completely understand that, but none of these uses and conveniences seem crazy to me. The smartphone might be one part of a technology revolution that has battered many businesses (it basically destroyed mine to the point that I had to re-invent my career) and ways of life, but since the smart phone isn't the cause and the digital genie ain't going back in the bottle, I see it as just a handy tool to make by day to day easier. I try very hard to use it in a respectful manner - not talking loudly in public places (especially when inside), not walking into people or being unaware of my surrounding when using it - and have come to really love having its access to information and reduced need to carry books, etc. More than the computer, it is the one device that continues to amaze me with its always expanding capabilities - especially considering its small size and portability.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I think, the whole problem of todays sensory-overloaded kids are the flatrates for mobile-www. With that, the border to the "general-psychosys" is exceeded.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...0b178d92f864b9535b3c827110e2a958o0&ajaxhist=0

 

[Edward]

As a long-time Fedora Lounge member, my love of the Golden Era and respect for many traditional values and technologies are well documented - and if someone doesn't want a smart phone, I certainly see nothing wrong with that - but for me, the smart phone is simply a combined telephone and computer with internet access. So I can do things that seem reasonable to me when I'm out like checking the weather, using the map feature to find places, using the transit apps to identify the best subway and schedules, locating a store or service I might need, checking my work email (like it or not, there are different expectations in different businesses and mine expects fairly constant monitoring of email during business hours), reading a book on it when riding on the subway (don't have to carry a separate book), making notes of ideas or things that come up, and, of course, using it as a phone.

If these things aren't important to you, I completely understand that, but none of these uses and conveniences seem crazy to me. The smartphone might be one part of a technology revolution that has battered many businesses (it basically destroyed mine to the point that I had to re-invent my career) and ways of life, but since the smart phone isn't the cause and the digital genie ain't going back in the bottle, I see it as just a handy tool to make by day to day easier. I try very hard to use it in a respectful manner - not talking loudly in public places (especially when inside), not walking into people or being unaware of my surrounding when using it - and have come to really love having its access to information and reduced need to carry books, etc. More than the computer, it is the one device that continues to amaze me with its always expanding capabilities - especially considering its small size and portability.

THere's a phrase I learend in a Human Geography class when I was twelve: appropriate technology. I have found it highly applicable through life. I love technology when I have a use for it, but I'm wary of loving technology so much that I invent a use for it. Like you, I find a smart phone a tremendously useful device. Actually, mine gets used a lot at home as well - as a form of mini tablet, when I need to look something up in front of the TV or whatever... sometimes it's just more convenient than starting up the computer. Especially if I need to check a work email out of the office or over the weekend - sometimes, if I start up the main work machine, I'll end up being busy for hours with work stuff on a Saturday.

I love texts - I can still remember sitting in the pub one night, long before phone companies started advertising such things, when a friend showed me how they worked. It was a reveleation. In the days before cross-network call plans it was such a cost saver - even now, it's often much easier than getting caught in a long phone conversation.

With the arrival of video on demand, I now actually use my phone (a fairly large 5" screen) to watch TV in bed...

The main thing, though, that my field telephone has replaced is the actual landline telephone. The sole remaining reason I have a landline is because I need it to get online at home (I didn't have one at all for the first two years I lived in my flat, and I didn't miss it other than for the web). Once mobile broadband gets cheap and fast enough, I won't have a landline any longer. The only thing I'd miss would be the conveninece of being able to lift it to call my mobile when I misplace the latter....

Technolgoy, though, really all depends on what you want or need it for. There are a lot of common technological services and products I just don't use because I have no use for them.... I love my ipod for taking music on the go: vastly superior to the old cassette Walkman. But if anyone thinks I'm gonig to go over to buying my music via download, they'll have to prise my vinyl and my CDs out of my cold, dead fingers first.

 

[LizzieMaine]

^^^^^^
Sometimes people truly believe themselves when they say they wish to hear what others in the organization think, however uncomfortable those thoughts might be. But I've rarely known it to be actually so.

Recently I've crossed paths with a person who professes a dislike for "yes men." But if anything in this person's character stands out, it's the need for affirmation.

So yeah, the lady doth protest too much.

Whenever I hear someone say "my office has an open door policy," I do everything I can to avoid that office.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've had many bosses over the years and, with one exception, there is an inverse relationship between those who say they want to hear "your honest opinion," "opposing views," or that they want "you to challenge me," etc. and those who truly do. Again, with one exception, the ones who told me to be honest, only wanted to hear their own opinions or the company line echoed back to them. I have had a few bosses who really wanted the unvarnished truth, but they never made a big show of it and they would also be direct and say things like, "yup, great idea, but I'll be shot if I bring it up at the Board Meeting," or "yes, that makes sense, work up a plan and let's go forward that way," and, then, they'd give you the credit when / if it worked. Unfortunately, the later has been the rare boss, the former, quite common.

 

[KY Crusader]

Whenever I hear someone say "my office has an open door policy," I do everything I can to avoid that office.

Sound judgment, that!

 

[GHT]

As a long-time Fedora Lounge member, my love of the Golden Era and respect for many traditional values and technologies are well documented - and if someone doesn't want a smart phone, I certainly see nothing wrong with that.

No need to be apologetic, I would probably use the facilities more, if I could learn how. Previously gizmos and toys came with an instruction booklet, or sometimes a pamphlet, my Apple phone had a slip of paper that said, and I kid you not: "THE INSTRUCTIONS, (IF YOU NEED THEM.) It went on to give you a website, so if you are not online that's you screwed, but it was the, if you need them, that got to me. The world and his dog can do it, so join in dumbass.
Most other ignoramus' just don't bother with the technology at all, and I do find that a little cajoling can help. Something that I wanted to buy online needed my email address. I've never set one up. So, looking up the phone number, I called the firm, played the Stan Laurel: Sorry I'm not too smart, and could I send you a cheque? As always, it worked. I even did that when I bought the Stetson from the US. Sent them an international money order. My approach has brought a smile to some. We went to a friend's garden party last summer, they were quite robust about RSVP, needed to know how many they were catering for. "Did everyone respond?" I asked the hostess, "Oh yes," she smiled, but you were the only one to send a card, I knew you would." Seeing me looking perplexed, she treated me to a tender kiss and whispered in my ear: "Facebook darling." "You won't be surprised to receive a thank you card from me then?" I whispered back. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't," she said smiling and hooked her arm through mine as we went to see the other guests.

 

[LizzieMaine]

 

[GHT]

They might have a problem with a phone that has no rotary dial, buttons or any sort of automated contact. Number please!

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've had many bosses over the years and, with one exception, there is an inverse relationship between those who say they want to hear "your honest opinion," "opposing views," or that they want "you to challenge me," etc. and those who truly do. Again, with one exception, the ones who told me to be honest, only wanted to hear their own opinions or the company line echoed back to them. I have had a few bosses who really wanted the unvarnished truth, but they never made a big show of it and they would also be direct and say things like, "yup, great idea, but I'll be shot if I bring it up at the Board Meeting," or "yes, that makes sense, work up a plan and let's go forward that way," and, then, they'd give you the credit when / if it worked. Unfortunately, the later has been the rare boss, the former, quite common.

The one thing I've found that bosses hate worse than being told the truth is not delivering the goods. To that end, I've found it much more useful to be honest and upfront. If I tell the boss something can't be done, I might get chewed out. But if I tell them it can, when I know it can't, I'll get fired.

 

[tonyb]

The one thing I've found that bosses hate worse than being told the truth is not delivering the goods. To that end, I've found it much more useful to be honest and upfront. If I tell the boss something can't be done, I might get chewed out. But if I tell them it can, when I know it can't, I'll get fired.

True, dat. I've found that people in general and employers in particular are much more receptive to unpleasant news when it is delivered by a person with a history of consistently doing right by the cause.

How to hold on to a job? Be difficult to do without.