Finding a Focus

I'm almost finished with Matthias Becher's Charlemagne. After reading that, I think I will go back in time and read up on the Anglo-Saxons. I love their art and would like to become more immersed in their language and culture. I could see myself specializing in this area. Magic would be another area of interest for me as well as ecclesiastical culture and how they use mysticism to convert and keep followers.

Charlemagne

Currently reading Matthias Becher's book on Charlemagne. It's a very interesting read, but where are the footnotes?

A Part-Time Life, as Hours Shrink and Shift - My Two Cents

I just finished reading an article on today's New York Times, titled, A Part-Time Life, as Hours Shrink and Shift. I was so disgusted about how unfeeling some companies have become that I had to vent and write about it here. Not only is there a shift from hiring full-time workers to part-time workers, but some of these part-time workers are not even given steady hours. Scheduling programs like the ominous sounding, Kronos, can calculate how many employees might be needed in a given day for any specific hour, right down to quarter hour increments. The result is that an employee's shift may be cancelled at the last minute. The other scenario, where they are called to come in at the last minute without regard to the arrangement of their lives outside of work, can be equally stressful. Some of these employees want to work full-time and would be willing to work extra hours. As retail consultant and managing director of the Strategic Resource Group, Burt P. Flickinger III, points out, "Many part-time workers feel a real competition to work hard during their limited hours because they want to impress managers to give them more hours." But is their dedication acknowledged and rewarded? In some of these cases, instead of giving hardworking employees the hours that they need, they simply hired more employees. Part-time employees are not expected to receive benefits and as one manager puts it, "By the time they get to the second half of their shift,  they don't have the same energy and enthusiasm. We like to schedule people around four- to five-hour shifts so you can get the best out of them during that time." Talk about taking advantage!  I can't help but think of vampires sucking the blood from innocent victims.

What sort of world do we live in when things like this are allowed to happen? I hope that it will not be a trickle down effect where ruthless companies create employees who, in their need, become embittered. I don't understand how, but the whole system seems rather twisted. Workers who interact with guests/customers/clients keep the company in business yet are the ones who are most harmed. Front-line workers who are productive and do their best to keep their jobs make the least in comparison to their managers and everyone above them. Not only do they earn less, they usually also receive less vacation time and benefits, in comparison with management whose time is often spent in meetings. Managers who are employed full-time, compensated at a higher rate per hour than front-line workers and receive more benefits (although they may be less productive) are the ones who drain money from the company. The front-line workers are the ones being taken advantage of and there is little that they can do to better their situation.