Those who fail to learn from history

I watched with horror, sadness, and anger when I saw the story of the Bangladesh clothing factory fire. Horror and sadness at the tragic way in which so many perished. Anger with the fact the so many people died due a lack of extremely basic facility design/emergency planning.

This was an eight story building. Reportedly the company only had building permission for 3 floors. There was one exit in the entire facility. It was an open stairwell design which funneled the fire like a chimney up through the building.

The U.S. itself had a tragic garment factory in 1911- the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. You'll notice quite a few parallels between the two events. Out of this tragedy came a focus on and codes for worker safety as related to fires. It makes me absolutely irate that people are still dying unnecessarily a century later for lack of adherence to knowledge that has been common for so long. As Winston Churchill said "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." He is tragically right in this case.

Two Tales of Thankfulness

Thankfulness is something we should strive to practice yearlong, not just at Thanksgiving. We are better people we are grateful people.

I wanted to share two recent events with you that caused me to be thankful.

Event #1
Shortly before I went to Seattle last month, one of my coworkers (I still don't know the person's identity) placed a small picture on my desk. It's a silhouette of a women in a hammock on the beach. My love of the beach is well known,  and I said that's what made it so appropriate.  I was commenting on how great the ocean is was when one of our temporary associates said something like "I hope to find out someday." This person is an adult with kids in their late teens. I couldn't believe what I had heard. I had to clarify. I asked "You've never been to the beach?". She said "No." I was telling a coworker about this, and she mentioned that some people just don't like to travel. I stated that I was pretty sure that wasn't this reason, I was pretty sure it was financial.

Now, I had been kind of bummed about not finding cheap airfare that would allow me to go to the beach for the second time this year. I was pretty ashamed. Oh Lord, what an ungrateful wretch am I.

Event #2
We celebrated my sister's birthday two weeks ago by going out to dinner as a family, then going to her house later for cake. As I was driving to her house, I was struck by how blessed my family is. We were able to go out to dinner for her birthday. We're all employed and healthy. I was thankful.

There you have it, two tales of thankfulness. Obviously I'm much prouder to tell about the second one, but I was very thankful in each one.

Another Reason I Don't "Like" Facebook

My lack of enthusiasm for Facebook is something that is no secret among those who know me well. There are several reasons, but last week I added yet another.

We had an incident involving Associate X. Later in the week, one of my neighbors asked me "What happened to Associate X?" Now, my neighbor knows X and I had the same employer and that I work in HR. I told my neighbor I couldn't go into it. He pressed, I repeated my answer.

The rest of the conversation went like this:

Me: "Why don't you ask X?"
Neighbor: "Because then I'd have to talk to him"
Me: "Then how did you find out"
(Me thinking it at the same time as he said it) Neighbor: "Facebook"

It seems X's wife had posted enough about the situation to make people ask questions.

Really? Who would do this? I asked a couple of people, and they told me they could totally see this happening, if for nothing else than to generate sympathy.

Yet another reason I don't like Facebook: it puts information in the hands of people who otherwise wouldn't have it and makes my life more difficult.

Stress can make you a mess

I mentioned how glad I was when my "sort of boss" got canned a couple weeks ago. This week it dawned on me how good it's been for my health. My stress level had been quite high having to put up with him and some other work situations. I had frequent headaches at work, my face was starting to break out, and even my hair didn't look as good as it normally does.

After over a week off for vacation and two weeks of him being gone, let me tell you how much better I feel. Headaches? Gone. Face? Skin is soft and smooth. Hair? Back to its nice normal self.

I know I had a mild case of stress effects. I can see how stress could really make a person a mess.

Choice Wins Again

I've written previously about how giving people choices can often lead to your getting your desired outcome with less headaches. I saw this in action again this week.

We celebrated my sister's birthday on Tuesday. I asked my 3 year old niece if she wanted to be in a picture I was taking of her uncles (my brother & brother-in-law). She said "No". I said "ok" and let it go. When I went to take the picture, guess whose smiling little self was standing right next to my brother-in-law?

I could have insisted she be in the picture to start. However, that would have probably led to lots of screaming from her and no fun for anyone involved. It was her choice though, so she decided to do it. Like her aunt, I can tell she much prefers to choose to do things than have others tell her what to do.

The XYZ 20

New hires at my company (XYZ) tend to gain weight. We even have a name for it- the XYZ 20, sort of like the freshman 15. We warn people about it. It's not inevitable, but they will have to make a concerted effort not to become more girthy (one of my coworker's words. I love it.)

Two recent examples of the XYZ 20 in action:

Example #1
Associate A was hired in early September. At the beginning of last month he stated he's gained 10 pounds. I helpfully informed him he was halfway there.

Example #2
Associate B started in mid-June. Two weeks ago a coworker came to my desk and said "I think B's already gained the ILA 20". Now mind you, B's desk is less than 20 feet from mine, he was there at the time, and the person didn't exactly whisper it to me.

The XYZ 20: it's real, and we notice when you find it.