"Toys have the power to evoke compassion"/ "Volunteering becomes a lifesaver"

Jan.17, 2017 "Toys have the power to evoke compassion": Today I found this article by Craig and Marc Kielburger in the Edmonton Journal.  I guess making toys can be deep and meaningful:

There could be more at stake in the toy aisle than we realize.

The 2016 holiday rush capped off a record year of approximately $26 billion in toy sales in the United States alone. (That’s a lot of Rogue One action figures.)

Meanwhile, toymakers have stepped up to meet demands for more diversity. Take Mattel’s Barbie line, featuring seven skin tones and more realistic body types, or Lego’s set featuring a Minifigure in a wheelchair, both released last year.

We know that research links children’s toys and media choices to their self-esteem. Characters who look more like they do, rather than imagined ideals, help kids build confidence, the foundation for leadership skills.

But here’s the kicker: Seeing toys that look like others (a different race, for instance) nurtures compassion.

If playtime is linked to self esteem, leadership and compassion, could diverse toys help create the next generation of activists?

“(Diverse) dolls give kids a more robust and healthy sense of the world and of themselves,” says Samantha Knowles, director of the award-winning documentary Why Do You Have Black Dolls?

Homogeny can have the opposite effect.

Watching TV has been proven to boost self-esteem in white boys, who identify with an assembly line of white male protagonists, but lowers self-esteem for girls and children of colour, who usually see themselves in supporting or negative roles. Kids connect with characters who look like them, even if those characters are sidelined.

But during playtime, your kid is the casting director. A toy they can identify with makes them the hero of their own story, and could overcome what we call activist’s block, the selfdiminishing excuse we hear often: “I’m just one person. What can I do?”

When you’re seven years old, an action figure modelled after you is empowering. You are less alone.

“It sends a subtle message that you matter and that what you look like matters,” Knowles says. “Someone took the time to make something in your likeness.”

Better yet, give kids a toy that looks like someone who might be unfairly represented otherwise.

Studies show that diverse dolls help kids become more empathetic and comfortable discussing not just race, but the way stigmatized groups are treated differently. This is a conversation that North America could use some help with.

“It’s one thing to say, ‘This is what race is.’ It’s a more subtle, more powerful thing to give them toys and let them learn,” Knowles says.

A kid’s toy box is his or her tool box for crafting new narratives, so it matters what you fill it with.

Any kid should be able to rehearse their first UN speech with a Barbie who shares their skin tone or imagine their Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough with a Lego scientist who shares their gender.

Toys can also help children recognize the stories they share with others who are different, and provide an imaginative space to see themselves as heroes.

Not just death-defying action heroes, but the kind of hero who has compassion — one who stands up for others.

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/ottawa-citizen/20170117/282162175914606

Jan. 9, 2017 "Volunteering becomes a lifesaver": Today I found this article in the Globe and Mail.  This is among a few other articles about transformation and moving beyond New Year's resolutions: 

Carl Wiese, 64, began volunteering as a meal-delivery driver for Humber Community Seniors’ Services in Toronto nearly 10 years ago. He says it saved his life.

After 17 years, my marriage fell apart. That’s when I started getting real health problems. I was so unhappy and depression took over.

I was also getting terrible irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea every day, and aches and pains all over my body. I used to go hiking in the woods, for instance, and I’d walk for 20 miles.
Now, I was at the stage where if I went a quarter of a mile, I was so sore and out of breath and tired and aching. Eventually, doctors decided that was fibromyalgia.

I had been doing a little bit of volunteering at the Toronto Wildlife Centre, but it was becoming difficult for me to get there. From my home, it was two buses and a long walk. And I just couldn’t walk any more.

I remembered my mom used to get Meals on Wheels whenever I went out of town on business. As a driving instructor, I would travel right across Canada for companies like DuPont, Kodak, Procter & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard. One day, coming home from the wildlife centre, I saw a sign on the window at Humber Community Seniors’ Services: Meals on Wheels drivers needed. And I thought, “Gee, my mom used to love that so much, I should go and try it.”

Before I started volunteering at Humber, I had reached a point where I didn’t want to take my own life or anything, but I just wished I could just die. I was so unable to do all the things I so loved doing.

The day I went in, everything started to change. I do believe it saved my life. Two amazing things happened. The first was the emotional support. The staff there were so supportive. And going to each house delivering the meals, I started to realize, “Wow, I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was.”

These people were inspiring me because they’re fighting their battles and doing so much to keep themselves alive. So I started thinking, “I’ve got to look after myself better.”

One of the most important things was seeing the meals I was delivering and going, “Gee, that’s not how I eat.” McDonald’s, Harvey’s, Wendy’s was a typical dinner, especially once I became single again.

So I started eating the same foods Humber serves, and boy, oh boy, each year, I got a little better and a little better. I ate more fruits, more vegetables. Now I never buy processed food, I buy fresh only. And now I’m in pretty good shape. I still have a bit of trouble walking distances or carrying anything, but it’s much better than I used to be.

In the beginning, I was only able to volunteer one or two days a week. Now I go nearly every single day. I love doing the meals and if I can’t make it, I miss it.

Mostly, it’s just the people. Meeting people, talking to people. You know, when they open their door and say, “Hi Carl, how have you been? I’ve missed you.” That makes you feel good. It makes you forget about your tummy ache and your headache.

As told to Wency Leung

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/moving-beyond-tired-resolutions-five-true-tales-oftransformation/article33531930/

My week:

Feb. 14, 2017 Work: 2 days ago my boss G at my 1st restaurant job asked if I can come on Feb. 14.  I was able to.  Today was so busy this morning and afternoon.  Then it was busy to set up for tonight because there are so many reservations.

‘Hot Mugshot Guy’ Is Actually Working — as a Runway Model: I found this on Yahoo news.

Jeremy Meeks has slowly been making his way into the fashion world since being released from prison in March 2016 after serving over a year, and Roitfeld isn’t the only fashion icon he’s met with. Meeks, who has signed with White Cross Management, spent some time with Anwar Hadid — Gigi and Bella’s younger brother — over the summer.

The comments:

Mike

Typical American pop culture ... take a thug and glorify them.

MCL

Goes to show you, that in the U.S.A.....crime does pay!

Sean C

Good for him and good work to the fashion industry willing to give him a chance. I hope he is very successful in his new career. We all have skeletons, some worse than others, but if your skeletons got out wouldn't you want to be forgiven and be allowed a chance to correct your mistakes? And who would expect that the fashion industry would be the ones to embrace him? Makes you think they are not as snobbish as they appear.

My opinion: I thought this was it kind of inspirational that he went from jail to runway.  I would say he is good looking in the face, but he has too many tattoos.

https://ca.style.yahoo.com/hot-mugshot-guy-is-actually-working-as-a-runway-model-173514087.html

Feb. 15, 2017 Job search complaints: I am really diving into my job search.  I need to write about it to deal with it.

Work- at home scams: There are so many work- at- home scams, it's hard to find one that isn't.  There are Pizza 73 telemarketer jobs that you can work from home.  It's been awhile I read about a job ad like that.

I would really avoid looking into work- at- home job ads because it's hard to find a legit one.

Job scams: I can look for a regular admin assistant job, and I get emails to apply for some.  However, it seems kind of like scams, but not as many as work-at-home.

I'm sure there are some of you guys who are sick of my weekly emails/ blog posts asking: "Is this a scam?"

I'm sure you guys are saying: "Look it up on the internet first and then if you still can't tell, then ask your friends.  Don't ask your friends first."

Job security: I have mentioned this before.

Call Centres: They pay a couple bucks higher than min. wage, but the job security is not that good.  I got laid off from Call Centre #1 and #3.  Call Centre #6 gave me work for a few months and then I didn't get work.

I worked at Call Centre #4 in 2010.  They dismissed me after 1 day because I didn't get enough surveys completed.  One of my friends works there last year, and she told me she didn't have any shifts for a month.

Restaurants: It is competitive.  I was working at my 2nd restaurant job.  The manager owned 3 restaurants and she had to close one of them down last year because there weren't enough customers at that location.

Retail: These days there isn't really a lot of job security in this, especially clothing stores.  There are so many clothing stores closing down in the last few years.

HMV Canada closing down: I have applied there before.  I did a job interview there in 2008.  I was a very good fit for the job in my teens and early 20s.  I love music, TV, and movies.  I was really interested in entertainment.

Now that the store is closing down, I will never be able to work there.

However, I can't be too sad.  I like working in restaurants more.

Bookstores: Hollie Shaw in the National Post wrote about how Indigo is going very well and HMV is closing.  Indigo is selling more than books.  They sell lots of home décor and toys.  That's why they're still here.

2007 flashbacks: This reminds me of the summer time when I was hanging out with my friend Heather.  She said she still likes having a cd instead of listening to an iPod.

This also reminds of Professional Writing in college.  My teacher Doug complained about how he didn't like going to a bookstore and they're selling yoga mats and potpourri.

I'm sure some of you guys are laughing at this part.

Jordan Axani on The Social: I wrote about him before, but I got his name wrong like Axon. 

"Jordan Axani planned a trip with his girlfriend, but they split. He's offering his ex's tickets to any woman with his ex's name and a Canadian passport."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQBqQLXGtIA

I wrote about him as a look alike:

Host: So who do you want to play you in a movie?
A woman in the audience yells out: Matt Damon!
The audience laughs.

My opinion: I was going to say that.

Axani: I was going to say Sean Connery.

http://www.jordanaxani.com/

Taylor Swift look-alike: Here's another one:

https://ca.yahoo.com/style/this-taylor-swift-look-alike-will-blow-your-mind-205536926.html

The benefits of reading: Today I'm putting up articles I cut out this from the Edmonton Journal on Jan. 27, 2017.  It was an advertisement.  However, I found a similar article on this site with the same kind things listed:

Reading gives muscle to your memory.

Reading improves empathy.

Reading can encourage life goals.

Reading about someone who overcame obstacles may motivate you to meet your own goals, Ohio State University researchers found. If you’d like a raise, following a character into the boss’s office may give you the courage to make the same request. The more you identify with a character and experience the events as if they were happening to you, the more likely you’ll be to take action.

My opinion: I can say that about reading news articles about real people.  I do feel empathy.  Do you feel it when I send/ post those "deep and meaningful" job articles?


http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/benefits-of-reading/

Feb. 16, 2017 Restaurant job interview: This was last weekend.  It was an East Indian food restaurant.  I looked it up on the internet and saw the nice photos of the food and the restaurant.  I thought it was a place to sit and eat, and not fast food.

A job interview is like an information interview.  I went to work in the morning and took a cab to get the location.  They were going to open a new location next month, so I had to go to this location for an interview.

I got there and filled out an application.  It turns out it was a fast food place that was opening at a mall, but you can't tell from the website.  The restaurant I was interviewed at, was not fast food- looking.  It was very nice and not like McDonald's at all.

They give the schedule out every 2 weeks, so I can plan my life.  I get cash tips and tips into my paycheck.

It has been about a week, and I called the guy who interviewed me.  He told me HR was going to call me.  Looks like I didn't get hired.  That's fine.

Feb. 17, 2017 Fit for the job: I remember this TV show Daria.  They had a TV movie called "Is it College yet?"  I found the video (4min in).  I have the DVD.  Quinn is out to dinner with her friends.

Stacey: I know Quinn, why don't you get a job here?  There are lots of cute guys and hostesses get to dress up and wear hoopy earrings.

I was a teenager when I saw this.  I thought that was a really good fit for Quinn.

"A few good men"/ Happy Love Day!

Jan. 16, 2017 "A few good men": Today I found this article by Erin Anderssen in the Globe and Mail. 

This is my 150th job email/ blog post since I started posting these articles since Jan. 2015.  This is my 6th "deep and meaningful job" email/ blog post this year.  I posted the first one around 2015.  This is the 7th "deep and meaningful job" email/ blog post in the whole blog.

In the classroom at Ottawa’s Algonquin College, at a bed by a window, Morgan O’Dell, 19, reaches out a tattooed arm to delicately wash the nether region of a floppy-haired mannequin. O’Dell’s classmate, Hamza El Hilali, 24, steps in to keep a white blanket in place, to guard their “patient’s” privacy. Her name, they have been told on a slip of paper, is Miss Howard, she has weakness on her left side, and their assignment is to take turns practising giving her a partial bath, working as if their plastic patient were a real person.

O’Dell and El Hilali stand out in the room, two of a handful of male students in Algonquin’s one-year personal-support worker program, which is dominated, as is the profession, by women.

Indeed, El Hilali says his friends were baffled when he chose the program. But he was drawn to the field after seeing his mother care for his grandparents. He is the eldest, and his sisters are much younger, and the care of his own parents should “fall to me,” he says. “Gender doesn’t matter.”

O’Dell, with his bushy hair and tattooed arm, describes the same motivation: He is close to his grandparents, who may need his care some day. Also, he notes, there are jobs in health care. “There are better opportunities here.”

He’s right: As boomers age, and health-care workers retire, jobs in the field will open up. Debates about how to find the workers needed to staff the long-term care residences or to help seniors live longer in their homes – both a preferred and cheaper option – are increasing across the Western world, in countries such as Britain, the United States and Canada.

Yet there remains an untapped pool of workers, some 50 per cent of the population: men, who comprise still only a tiny fraction of the paid caregivers in Canada’s economy.

There’s been a big push by schools and governments to get women into the traditional male-dominated fields of engineering, science and technology, and for good reason: These are growing fields, women are a pool of untapped talent, and they should have equal access to these professions. But there’s been far less focus on moving men into caregiving jobs, which are still overwhelmingly held by women. In Canada, men represent around 6 per cent of registered nurses, and only about 3 per cent of health-care aides, also known as personal-support workers. These are the staff who cover daily needs such as bathing, dressing and, in the home setting, even cooking.

The failure to draw more men into these jobs is a missed opportunity. As boomers age, a more gender-balanced work force will better serve the increasingly diverse demographic of seniors requiring care. For young men with less education, unemployment rates have risen and wages have fallen – they need to look beyond disappearing manufacturing jobs for work. Meanwhile, gender divisions around caregiving persist, leading to care being undervalued. (Studies have found that, even in female-dominated professions, such as nursing, men still out-earn women.) There’s a reason why many personal-support workers don’t make much more (and some even less) than a cleaner. Meanwhile, providing care to a population living longer with more illness has become more medically complicated.

The presence of a few good men won’t fix this. But young men such as O’Dell and El Hilali are debunking a stereotype. “We shove care into a corner,” says Emanuela Heyninck, Ontario’s pay-equity commissioner, “because it’s seen as a female job, and it’s just not a skill that society is used to paying for.”

That has a trickle-down effect: If a job is considered women’s work, then men can feel and look out of place, then patients, raised in that same society, are more likely to prefer women to provide intimate care, to assume a feminine touch is required. Low pay, low status, lousy hours only make the prospects less appealing – to men and to women.

Workers, for instance, are often asked to work casual hours, or split shifts, making their already low income more precarious. This leaves some personal-support workers piecing together a collection of part-time jobs that may not come with benefits. Recognizing this issue, some provinces have recently raised the minimum wages of support workers – in Ontario, it is now $16.50.

“It’s a great first step,” says Deborah Simon, the chief executive officer of the Ontario Community Support Association. In addition to better pay, she says, people need to recognize the contribution that personal-support workers make to daily living. “Some people assume they are there for cleaning services,” says Simon. “They are trained way beyond that.” (Solving split shifts is more complicated, since the bulk of the work peaks at specific times of the day, particularly when patients wake up and when they go to sleep.)

Peter Kellett, assistant dean of the nursing program at the University of Lethbridge, studies gender and paid caregiving. On his office wall hangs an 1990s recruitment poster featuring a group of men standing in masculine poses – a martial arts black belt, a biker, a rugby player – who also happen to be (surprise!) nurses. The slogan, still used today, reads: “Are you man enough to be a nurse?”

Kellett believes this message is counterproductive, unintentionally reinforcing sexist tropes about caregivers. (What’s the reverse? “Are you woman enough to be an engineer”?) When he started nursing 20 years ago, he says, men were there to serve as muscle or security guards more than to provide comfort. Even today, he says, men in nursing are less likely than their female peers to hug patients, lest their actions be misinterpreted. “Society is moving much more slowly on gender than we like to think.” In reality, Kellett says, men take on the job for the same reason women do: “They want to care for people.”

This was the appeal for Marc Sebreno, 35, who graduated in July from Algonquin’s personal-support worker program. He was laid off from his previous job, driving a bus for Greyhound, and, with the advent of self-driving cars, he doesn’t figure those kinds of jobs are coming back. Looking for a new career, he thought about his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and the importance of good care in her life. “It aligns with my values,” he says. He would like to work in the community he says, because “it gives me more time to spend having a conversation or a laugh.” To offer that kindness to an isolated senior, or a cancer patient, he says, “it doesn’t matter if it is a man or a woman.” But at a few interviews he says his gender has been greeted with surprise.

In the classroom, O’Dell and El Hilali are finishing up Miss Howard’s bath. In response to a question about the mannequin’s new diaper, O’Dell quickly says, “Oh, it’s not a diaper. It’s a brief.” That’s a more respectful term, El Hilali explains. Together, they list of what they call DIPPS: dignity, independence, privacy, preference and safety. “Our job,” says El Hilali, “revolves on those principles.” Some day, a real-life Miss Howard will be grateful.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/aging-boomers-highlight-need-to-bring-men-into-caregiving-profession/article33617160/

Jan. 28, 2017 "Employees with soft skills are key to success, LinkedIn VP says": Today I found this article by Jonathan Lister in the Globe and Mail:

This column is part of Globe Careers’ Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about leadership and management. Follow us at @Globe_Careers. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/ leadershiplab.

As a business leader, if you’re focused on cultivating hard skills at the expense of soft skills and emotional IQ, you’re doing it wrong. Identifying employees with the right soft skills is crucial to building a strong talent mix and setting your team up for success, and yet leaders are struggling to find and nurture these skills.

Beyond compromising morale, there’s a financial risk to neglecting the right skills when building a team: Bringing in – and having to let go of – the wrong person can cost you six to nine months of that employee’s salary to replace them, according to a study done by The Society for Human Resource Management. So, which skills in particular should you be on the lookout for? Our research found the most important soft skills for Canadian managers are teamwork, problem-solving and communications.

Here are three reasons why hiring for and cultivating these skills among your employees will pay dividends long-term:

Keep your company nimble

The past few years have been hard for Canadian companies with the declining dollar and an uncertain economic environment. As we face the long road to recovery and the economic landscape continues to shift, it’s more critical for business leaders to lead by example and remain flexible in the face of the unknown.

The tools and hard skills you value most to deliver your product or service may shift, but building a team of adaptable problem-solvers with proven strategic chops will help you pivot as required and keep up with the pace of change.

Build better business relationships

In today’s era of constant communication where any misstep can go viral, it goes without saying that we must be especially conscious of how we’re communicating with colleagues, employees and clients. And yet strong communication skills are often undervalued in the workplace. According to the Mitchell Communications Group, miscommunication costs businesses $37-billion in the United States and Great Britain every year.

Your employees are the frontline of your organization and shape your customer experience and how your brand is perceived.

People want to do business with those they like and trust and it’s on company leadership to empower their teams to build these positive relationships or risk damaging your reputation.

Consider clarifying your company’s view on communicating internally and externally. Hire employees with the specific communication skills and experience that match your company’s views. Invest in training on collaboration and communication for your existing team.

Ultimately, boost your bottom line

There’s also a strong financial case for soft skills. Communication, interpersonal skills and time management were found to be worth an extra £88-billion ($144-billion Canadian) to British businesses. According to Joshua Freedman, a leading expert on emotional intelligence, business leaders and employees who rated highly in this category had more successful relationships with their teams, clients and customers, leading to improved productivity and sales.

As leaders, we need to ensure that we entrench an appreciation for soft skills and screen for these qualifications from the beginning. You might need an exceptional mobile developer or expert in systems management, but if they can’t collaborate or problem-solve, they probably aren’t the right hire.

Learning is a continuous process. Once you’ve built an emotionally intelligent, collaborative and strategic team, offering continued opportunities for mentorship or training, whether in person or through online courses such as LinkedIn Learning, can help continue this momentum.

The implications of doing so are clear – well-rounded individuals who possess both the practical knowledge needed to succeed and high emotional intelligence are integral to the long-term success of your business. Jonathan Lister is vice-president of sales and country manager at LinkedIn Canada.

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-ottawaquebec-edition/20170128/282024736982504

My week:

Feb. 5, 2017 The A Word: I was checking out what's on TV and this came on.  The episode was called "The Sleepover" and it starts off with a 5 yr old boy wearing his headphones and listening to music and singing.  He is holding a toy mushroom.  I thought: "Does he have autism?"

It turns out he does.  That's good to have a show about a character like that and how the family deals with it.

I know The Big Bang Theory has the character Sheldon who has Aspergers.

The Degrassi: The Next Generation has Connor who has Aspergers.

The A Word has a 1st season of 6 episodes and it has a second season coming out. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5311790/

Feb. 6, 2017 Autism: The beauty of having a blog is that I can see how often I wrote about a topic.  It seems I have written about it 22 times.  I have some more emails and blog posts saved into my drafts, but I have not published it yet.

I am looking at everything like there is a job.  There are jobs to help people with autism like special needs teachers.  There are high-functioning people with autism that do not need help.

Telus World of Science: I was looking for a job and this place was hiring.  I emailed one of my friends with a science degree.  She emailed me back:

"I have some friends who worked for them. They don't pay well, overwork you, and it's a toxic environment."

Benefits specialist: I wrote about this job interview before.  I was going through my notes, and it turns out I did a phone interview with them in 2015.

http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2017/01/the-difficulties-of-psychiatric-dental.html

Today I did another interview that was pretty similar to the one above.  The only things that were different was:

1. It was at another company.

2. The company was going to pay for the education to get the licenses.

However, I did another interview for an administrative assistant position at this company.

Feb. 8, 2017: The man who interviewed me was nice and thoughtful.  He said if the benefits specialist wasn't a fit for me, he set up another interview after that so I can talk to someone else at the company to be an admin assistant. 

He didn't have to do that, but that was nice.  I thanked him.

Tues. Feb. 7, 2017: It was busy.  The night before I got a call from one of my bosses An to come to work because one of the workers was sick.  I then worked there in the morning.

Kitchen helper job interview: After that, I went to a job interview.  It was average.  I then got home and was tired.

Wed. Feb. 8, 2017: Today I went to work again because the worker is still sick.  It was kind of busy and I was there in the morning and afternoon.

Thurs. Feb. 9, 2017: I went to work from 8am-1:30pm.

Feb. 10, 2017 Law of attraction: It's about what you focus on, you get more of.  I wrote about jobs like vet, mechanic, and personal trainer a couple of weeks ago.

Vet: Then when I was at my 2nd restaurant job, this guy who works there says his girlfriend is studying to be a vet.

Mechanic: I was at the bus stop and there is this guy who I haven't seen since Sept. 2016.  He told me that he was a mechanic for 8 yrs and then stopped.  He was only getting paid by the car and not the hours.  He can be at the mechanic shop for 8 hrs and not get paid by the hour.  A car comes and he fixes it and then he gets paid.

Personal trainer: The he told me he went to NAIT and studied to be a personal trainer for 1 yr and a half.  This was back in 2002 and he was getting paid like $7 something.  Back then the min. wage was $5.90/hr. 

He also worked at a warehouse and American Eagle Outfitters with his personal trainer job.

My opinion: I find that if you went to college to get a career, you should get paid a living wage.

The Globe and Mail: I found this:

Salary: The money starts at about $20 per hour for trainers hired on staff by fitness clubs and can increase to more than $100 per hour for those with their own personal training business. Some trainers who work with celebrities or professional athletes can earn hourly rates closer to what lawyers charge, up to about $400 an hour.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/life-at-work/i-want-to-be-a-personal-trainer-what-will-my-salary-be/article20070499/

I wrote the below for myself.  I just called them today and I didn't get hired.  That's fine.

Feb. 7, 2017 Kitchen helper job interview:

Pros:

1. Good pay: $13.50/hr.  30 min unpaid break.  2 10 min paid break.

2. It's 50 cents a day for a meal.

3. Full-time 6am-2:30pm.

4. It's in downtown, so it's easy to get to.

5. Health benefits after 6 months.

6. Work ends early in the afternoon so I can still look for another office job.

Cons:

1. It may be too much work if I work 48 hrs a week at both my jobs.

2. The manager's accents is kind of hard to understand.  Maybe miscommunication.  However, I will ask her to repeat and I will spell things out to make sure I heard it right.

3. It was kind of intimidating with all these cops.

Physical therapist: This is a deep and meaningful job.  It falls into the medical field so it's hard.

Educational Requirements

Before they are allowed to practice, physical therapists must have earned a graduate degree from accredited academic program in physical therapy. These programs typically culminate in a doctoral degree and take at least three years to complete. To gain admission to a physical therapy program, students typically need to earn a bachelor's degree, complete science prerequisite courses, gain volunteer or observation experience in physical therapy, submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, and maintain an acceptable grade-point average.

Massage therapist: This is a deep and meaningful job.  It's in the medical field, but it's only 2 yrs to become one.  I looked at the courses and there is science involved with the anatomy.

http://www.macewan.ca/wcm/SchoolsFaculties/HCS/Programs/MassageTherapy/index.htm

Feb. 12, 2017: Today is a Sun. and I worked all day.  I'm pretty tired.

Feb. 13, 2017 #GrabYourWallet: I found out about this movement last week when I learned that the big US department store Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump's products from their stores.  Was it Trump haters boycotting the store or was it because Ivanka's products were not selling as well?

"The #GrabYourWallet boycott began October 11, 2016 in the wake of the Trump Tapes when a brand strategist and a grandmother simultaneously realized they could no longer in good conscience shop at retailers that do business with the Trump family. Never having met, Shannon Coulter and Sue Atencio joined forces and announced on Twitter they'd be boycotting any retailer that carried Trump products, with the goal of motivating those companies on the list to stop doing business with the Trump family.

They published a short list of such retailers later that same evening and on October 14th, Shannon introduced the #GrabYourWallet hashtag -- both as a response to Donald Trump's infamous hot mic remark and a reference to women's epic consumer power. The hashtag and the movement exploded on social media and has been viewed over 700 million times. Since then, the #GrabYourWallet boycott has grown into a movement and central resource for the flexing of consumer power in favor of a more respectful and inclusive society. It's been reported on by The New York Times, Vogue, Washington Post, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, CNN, MSNBC, Nightline, and BBC among many other media outlets (see below). Notable figures who have amplified or supported the movement include Don Cheadle, Greg Louganis, Lucy Lawless, Roseanne Cash, Neko Case, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Reich, Pam Grier, and Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's). /// To get in touch, send an email to shannon (at) grabyourwallet (dot) org."

https://grabyourwallet.org/

"Pressure on Trump after North Korean missile launch": Today I found this article by Kanga Kong and Isabel Reynolds in the National Post in the Edmonton Journal:

"Reuters reported Saturday that Sears Holdings and subsidiary Kmart will discontinue online sales of 31 items from the Trump Home collection."


Trump's Inauguration: I didn't watch it because I don't like him.  If I watched it, I would get angry like if I was watching a paternity test on the Maury Povich show.

I'm sure some of you guys are laughing at this part.

News: When I read the national and global news and there is Trump, I skim and scan it really fast.

The same with the business section if he's in it.

Happy Love Day!: I got this from The Simpsons where this card company needs to create a holiday to make more money.  The Simpsons celebrate Love Day.

"Why your sales and marketing departments hate each other"/ Stop outsourcing customer service

Jan. 7, 2017 "Why your sales and marketing departments hate each other": Today I found this article by Ben Firman in the Globe and Mail:

The term “Smarketing” emerged at the turn of this century to describe sales and marketing groups that are fully aligned and integrated. Even though this is needed more than ever in 2017, Smarketing remains a concept and not a reality for most businesses. It is common for sales and marketing groups to exist in a state of co-operative competition that readily descends into finger-pointing and arguments about strategy, budget and resource allocation. When the contribution of each group is questioned and ideologies challenged, sparks fly to the detriment of the bottom line.

Many marketers have spent considerable time studying the art and science of their profession as part of a university degree, and concluded that a great marketing strategy trumps the importance of a salesperson’s role in a customer’s buying journey. This leads marketers to wonder why a bunch of glorified order takers, who have not been academically trained in their chosen profession, get paid much more than them, enjoy more perks and freedoms, and take the lion’s share of the credit when revenue targets are achieved. The most frustrating thing for marketers is when the sales team attributes poor sales numbers to the quality of the leads generated by the marketing group.

Unfortunately, the prevailing sentiment within many sales groups is that the marketing team is superfluous, spending too much money on events, advertising and brochures for little return. They are out of touch with what is really driving customers and their lack of frontline exposure leads them to get stuck in the weeds, championing initiatives that will have negligible effect on sales results. Their superiority complex is particularly galling because they are insulated from the pressure of having to hit measurable financial targets. Oh, and don’t forget, the leads they generate are weak.

While these perspectives are undoubtedly extreme, versions thereof bubble beneath the surface of most organizations that have grown sufficiently to have separate sales and marketing groups. The strategy of having two separate teams, led by autonomous executives with separate budgets and different performance targets, is inherently divisive.

The concept that marketing owns the top of the sales funnel with sole responsibility for creating customer interest, while the sales team waits to be passed leads from marketing, taking sole responsibility for influencing the outcome of the sales process from that point on, represents a deeply flawed strategy.

It should be unacceptable to have a culture where salespeople feel empowered to suggest underperformance is a consequence of poor marketing leads and equally unacceptable for marketing to ring-fence the leadgeneration process, focusing entirely on strategies that will generate inbound leads. Every business should have a highly targeted outbound strategy that involves co-ordinated outreach from members of both the sales and marketing teams.

That outreach should focus on mutually agreed target accounts or industry segments, using a variety of tools including digital advertising, video, e-mail, phone and social media. This practice is widely referred to as accountbased marketing or accountbased sales development.

The best sales and marketing professionals today are worldclass educators: They understand the importance of sharing valuable content that drives action and they aren’t afraid to reach out to targeted prospects to share that content and challenge the status quo.

The starting point is to reach organizational alignment around the industry segments, accounts and the profile of the stakeholders that should be targeted. Both teams must contribute data during this decision-making process and agree on an outcome. The most effective way to earn a prospective customer’s attention is to immediately deliver valuable insights that challenge their perception of the status quo and help them see a way to save or make money.

Those insights, including compelling third-party data and relevant customer stories, should be amassed as part of a joint marketing and sales initiative. The messaging must be consistent across both teams, and both teams should work together so those insights can be disseminated and reinforced at all stages of the customers’ buying journey.

The notion that sales and marketing people have widely different skill sets should be debunked. As the barriers between sales and marketing groups crumble, and these teams join forces to work on targeted account-based strategies, it will become increasingly important for members of both teams to develop skills and take on activities that were traditionally considered the purview of the other. This should be reflected in training programs and opportunities for individuals to shadow their colleagues in different teams and even job-rotation programs. As the lines between traditional sales and marketing teams become blurred, there must be a laser focus on collecting and sharing data across the entire sales and marketing organization, and holding all parties accountable for the activities and results that they must deliver.

Perhaps the ultimate sign a business has put the concept of Smarketing into practice will be that the sales and marketing groups are jointly held accountable to a shared revenue target, while in many instances sharing budgets and incentives. This will be a leap too far for many businesses in 2017, but this should be the year where a concerted effort is made to align both groups behind a strategy in which the value and contribution of each group is felt throughout the entire sales process.

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Jan. 18, 2017 "Why my company stopped outsourcing customer service": Today I found this article by Brian Scudamore in the Globe and Mail:

There comes a time when most entrepreneurs will consider outsourcing a portion of their business. On the surface, it seems like a smart move: you don’t have to recruit, hire, and train new staff. Instead, you leave the heavy lifting to your outside experts, saving time and money in return.

Outsourcing can be a solid option, but in my experience there is one thing no business owner should ever send overseas: customer service. People do business with brands they love – how can you be sure that someone who answers the phone in a far-flung country is giving clients the experience you expect?

A few years ago, we outsourced our overflow call volume for our Vancouver-based call centre to a company in Atlantic Canada. We trained them on our systems, initiated them into our corporate culture, and started sending 4,000 daily calls their way.

But even though they painted their walls the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? colours and wore blue wigs to work, something was missing. They just weren’t us. Conversion dropped over time and eventually the home office culture we tried so hard to recreate on the East Coast started to falter.

We’ve since reverted to keeping customer service 100 per cent in-house and have seen the benefits first-hand. Here’s why we won’t be outsourcing customer service again.

Outsourcing puts up a wall between you and your customer

It’s funny: businesses will spend big bucks on sales and marketing to find new customers only to turn around and outsource the critical one-on-one first contact. Why are so many entrepreneurs giving up the chance for a direct conversation with the people who matter the most to their business’ success? It’s a huge mistake to leave these valuable customer interactions to strangers – especially when a poor experience can affect your opportunity for referrals and repeat business, too.

Zappos takes the complete opposite approach, making customer interactions its top priority – even if that means talking to someone for 10 hours on the phone. But this hyper-focus pays off with loyal customers who keep coming back (not to mention PR better than money could ever buy).

Outsourcing makes it hard to build awesome culture

Outsiders will never have the same level of commitment to your vision – they’re hired guns who may not see the world the same way you do. If they’re in a distant call centre, maintaining the same level of engagement that your in-house teams develop by being together every day is impossible. Outsourcing creates a sense of isolation and disconnect.

That kind of disconnection has consequences outside the company, too. After all, great customer experience starts with creating a great employee experience. The more engaged your team is with its company and its co-workers, the more passionate it’s going to be, and that will shine through when they’re talking to customers.

Outsourcing robs you of a chance to find your next all-stars

The biggest risk of outsourcing is often overlooked: it robs you of the chance to train, develop and promote talent from within. Our goal, for instance, is to double our business every four years. But the reality is that you can only do that with exceptionally motivated people. When we’re hiring, we interview people for the job that’s open and the job they could develop into. We want people we can invest in, and who, in turn, will invest their time and energy into us. It’s simply not possible to identify or cultivate that talent when you’re working with contractors thousands of miles away.

Just look at Gwen D’Arcy, who started in 1-800-GOT-JUNK?’s call centre and is now the brand leader for our newest business, Shack Shine, and Rhys Green who is now director of field operations for You Move Me, our moving company. The people we hire for customer sales and support become an invaluable source of talent for all of our brands. In the trenches, they get to know the company inside and out, giving them a platform to quickly launch into other, more senior roles in the business.

Obviously, outsourcing can work for some things. We get our trucks made by another company because calling in the experts was our best option there. But if customer service and interaction is the backbone of your business, outsourcing is a bad call. You might save a few bucks – but ultimately, you’ll get what you pay for.

Brian Scudamore is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, which includes home-service companies including 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/why-my-company-stopped-outsourcing-customer-service/article33530241/