Moshkito

eph221
...
Moshkito I'm serious, you missed your calling as a writer!  

That was the problem ... I was  a writer and artist a midst a bunch of child molesters, rapists and generally dishonest folks in management next to me in other restaurants! We haven't even mentioned the money "borrowed" from petty cash, yet!

OMG moshkito...so many of those here..we honest pervs get grouped in with those fools all the time:D:D

Kalle Rantaaho
It seems to me the undertsanding about how average, everyday life actually is has somehow gotten corrupted.
So many, especially many of the ones with less resources/ambition for studies seem to think that it's "normal" to get through your life with some kind of gimmick. Becoming a Reality-TV star, playing Warcraft or webpoker as a professional, starting a really succesfull fashion blog that gets 10 million followers (plus the traditional ones, rock star or movie actor)...you name it. 
This kind of distractions are everywhere today. Kids have always had unrealistic ambitions, and it's ok,  but in the "old world" they were dropped down to earth much faster than today.
 
My son is in the game programming business, and partly due to that I've met/heard  quite a few young men whos total lack of realism is stunning. Also, very important, the hype around some of the great heros of computer world likes to present them as "ordinary, careless kids who just had and idea and became millionaires". It isn't emphasized anywhere, that practically all of them were/are in good universities studying hard when they got their ideas. That goes with the creators of Angry Birds, Max Payne and some others here in Finland as well. The guys mostly have high(est) level university education in economics and computer science etc. They haven't gotten where they are just drawing monsters in the bedroom.
 

 
Bingo! I've always said that the current culture of social media/celebrity obsession has had a huge negative influence on the current young generation. They watch reality TV and they see completely and utterly untalented d-bags elevated from nothing into positions of fame and wealth and they presume that the same thing is available to them, without ever stopping to think that such a life course is only available to one in a million people. You've always had a similar kind of thing in the inner city hoods wherein a lot of kids grow up thinking that basketball and rap music are viable career paths because of the number of basketball players and rappers who started life in underprivileged conditions like them. But for every multimillionaire rapper there are thousands of wannabes who end up pounding the streets trying to sell amateur rap CD's to tourists. 
 
Not only that but reality TV is making people more and more confrontational. They see these fake confrontations set up for the cameras in which nothing is going to get too out of control because there's a production team and security staff on hand, and they start behaving like that in real life with the predictable consequences. I've noticed a lot of girls have adopted this head wobbling, finger wagging, hand on hip affectation that they've seen on TV. It's really unpleasant. 
 
Funnily enough the young guy I ended up hiring for the position I wrote this post about turned out to be someone who has been catapulted to Instagram fame. He was featured in national newspapers and blogs and went viral on social media for reasons I won't go into to preserve his anonymity, and now has a million+ followers. Companies offer him free stuff to promote on his Instagram. Despite this, he's managed to keep a head on his shoulders and realizes that social media fame isn't a career path, so he's going into the police department in a couple of years and needs a solid job to keep him going in the meantime. I guess the difference is he comes from a good family and has had common sense instilled in him. 
 
I also have a young employee who is starting his education in game production at night school and has no delusions as to the amount of work it's going to take to get into the business. His first kid has just been born too so he's been thrust into the start realities of life at a relatively early age. These types of kids have always turned out to be the best employees for me. When you meet someone with their head on their shoulders these days, they're like gold dust.
 
Funny you should talk about game developers because a few years ago one of my clients was a legendary game developer who created an extremely popular game series in the 80's which sold hundreds of millions of copies. I have no idea of his net worth but he funded his own trip into space for $30 million in 2008 to give you a sense of just how rich. And his games were programmed solo, in BASIC! No huge production team. Back then I think it was a lot easier to come up with a hit on your own, these days it requires a huge collaborative effort of technicians and artists to make something which meets modern video game expectations. But the rewards are there if you're prepared to make the effort and work your way up. I have a friend back home who, as a young stoner in the 90's, took a job as a game tester (yep, the ultimate stoner job) and worked his way up through the company into one of the country's top game producers. But it took years. For the vast majority of people, there are no shortcuts. 

craigb

 
Ok.  Fine.  I'll think about a different career path... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tech support scammer?

craigb
Funny you should say that James.  I just happened to log in remotely to your computer and noticed that you have quite a few viruses on there!  Now I can help you get rid of them...

I am having many many wiruses on my dextop!! O blimey!

Crap! So what do I do, forward you my bank details and mother's maiden name?

Jesse Screed
Now I'm depressed.
 
Why even try anymore?  There's no hope anywhere.
 
Jesse Q. Screed

Proof that there's still hope! 
 

Guitarhacker
Sometime when I have the time... I'm supposed to be somewhere else 2 minutes ago.... but I'm the boss so I can be late...... I will tell you about my adventures as an employer and why I work mainly alone.
 

 
I have some similar stories from when I ran a signmaking company...50% of the stress of that business came from the employees. I swore I'd never hire anyone when I started my gardening business in Scotland.
 

 
I have a crew I'm supposed to meet here very shortly.... (actually 3 minutes ago now) who are cleaning out my old farm house.  Mexicans.... they will no doubt, be on time, work their tails off, and be thankful for the opportunity to make the money. I left the door open and instructions with their crew chief so they can get started while I'm here typing this response to you.

Ditto for the Eastern Europeans over here, they have an undeniable work ethic. The only person I would have employed in the last 12 years is Hungarian.

 Human Resources is an oxymoron.
 
 There have been stories of when people were being interviewed that were asked for their facebook password. Some states are considering laws against this invasion of privacy.  Many working professionals have dumped social media.
 
 To work in public education after spending an hour or two filling an online application next comes the Gallup "survey". Many have warned to answer them as politically correct as possible.
 
 

kitekrazy1
 There have been stories of when people were being interviewed that were asked for their facebook password. Some states are considering laws against this invasion of privacy.  Many working professionals have dumped social media.

I think you'll just find that they changed their name on their Facebook and Twitter and set everything to "private." I have a few Facebook friends like that. One guy I know goes by a girl's name on Facebook and has his gender set to female. Of course he doesn't use his real profile pic either. Honestly in this day and age I'm always amazed by people who leave all their social media stuff public. 

Love it!!! 

Siluroo
 
 
 
Personally I think that if an employer enforces a dress code then they should be finacially held liable in future for any medical claims that are a result/partial result of such a requirement, ie, should be sued for damages.

 
What if a building contractor didn't enforce the wearing of safety equipment such as steel-toed boots and hard hats? Should they be sued if someone was injured through not wearing such?

You're really just talking about shoes, aren't you? I really cannot imagine any other 'enforced dress code' that would do you medical harm over time.
 
Here's what I'd do - if I was required by the company I work for to wear a certain type of shoe, and they supplied me shoes that hurt my feet, I'd buy myself some shoes in the same style that fitted properly. In other words, I'd take responsibility for my own well-being.
 
Anyway, that's enough imaginary scenarios for one day. I hope your surgery goes well.