Tuesday, January 03, 2006

"No Problem!!"

Today I saw a sign,  “Good Credit?  Poor Credit?  No Credit?  No Problem!!”  Of course, the sign was advertising one of those payday loan places (I have to be careful what I say about those places…I have a nephew who owns one) where you can bring in a post dated check, car title, or whatever, and get a loan for a few days.
If you recall the Cosby Show, one of Theo’s great lines was “Hey, Dad.  No problem!!” when faced with poor grades or some other teenage crisis.  He always had some kind of plan to convince his dad that poor grades, etc. really wasn’t a problem.
I don’t know about you, but I think there may be too much “No problem” attitude in the world today.  I’m not a doomsday person, and I think that in many areas we’ve taken great strides…environmental, social, medical, and so on.  But there are issues, I think, with some of the basic “stuff” of society.
Courtesy, morality, duty, selflessness, honor, deference, and consideration are all up for grabs, it seems.  We don’t know that we should let people out of an elevator car before trying to barge into that same car.  We don’t patiently wait while a grandma slowly writes out a check in the grocery check-out line.  We pull in front of another car instead of sliding in behind them when changing lanes, slowing down, and turning, thereby forcing that car to slow also.  We don’t walk on the right side of the aisle, sidewalk, or hall.  Instead, we barge down the middle or the left side.  Ma’am and Sir seem to be anachronisms.  Bare midriffs, tank tops, and underwear displays in public are blithely accepted.
My background is human resources.  I’ve hired hundreds of people and terminated more than one.  I don’t know about anyone else, but the things I’ve just talked about are, to me, much more important in a hiring (or firing) decision than any resume.  These qualities, or lack thereof, betray an underlying attitude that fancy resume paper and slick interviews cannot hide.  If the shoe fits….

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The English Major couldn't tell me what "achronism" means, so I had to look it up. Anachronism is "One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time." In case anyone else was wondering!

Anonymous said...

Good on ya, Scott, for looking it up. Too many people don't take the time or make the effort. Now see if you can work it into a conversation somewhere . . .ha!

Wild Flower said...

You can be sure that you will not have to look up any words on MY blog...