The name does matter

Interesting result of a survey done in Australia regarding job applications. About 4,000 identical job descriptions were sent out to employers, the only difference was the name of the applicant. Not too surprisingly, those "applicants" that had obviously woggy names were less likely to be contacted than those with nice safe Anglo names. I heard a representative from an employer group saying that this was nonsense etc.
And then there is the ongoing situation which has developed recently in Sydney, with young Indian students feeling that they are being targetted by thugs when they try to get home after leaving their late-night jobs. Seems that quite a few of the Indian students who are studying here - and hoping to get permanent residency - work in late-night convenience stores and some are being attacked in the early hours of the morning.
How are these things related? I think they both have something to do with racism.
It was interesting to see the knee-jerk reaction from the police and politicians when the first of these Indian incidents happened. A molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of a house where some of these Indian kids lived, some of the kids got burnt, quite a bit of damage done. Then more news about Indian students being attacked after their shifts at these convenience stores. Then some protests by Indian students about how they want protection. All great fodder for the media.
The police and pollies state that these incidents are not race-related, just some bad luck, but it's hard to believe it. When you do some reading, you find out that these incidents at Harris Park involve the Indians and the Lebanese. HP was a predominantly Lebo suburb, but now it is changing into an Indian area, with the Lebos moving out into other suburbs. The Lebanese youngsters have never seemed to have a problem with responding physically to perceived injustices, and the Indians have a history of responding publically and loudly when they feel threatened and abused. Both sides seem to quite enjoy a bit of biffo, and none of the skirmishes seem to involve youths loaded with drugs or alcohol. Seems to me to be a rather straightforward case of testosterone and fear.
The idea that Australia is not a racist country is absurd. All countries are racist because all countries are full of people and people are racist by nature - full stop. If there is a country on this small blue-green planet which has managed to "deal" with racism, I'd very much like to know where it is located. To deny the existence of racism does nothing to help reduce it, or to control it, or to help make people aware of these feelings which lurk in each one of us.
I am reminded of something said by Larry King, the US talkshow host. It was a story which he told about himself, which I thought was insightful and brave. He thought of himself as a modern, educated, "tolerant" (hate that word) man. His daughter had gone out with black men, he had black friends, Larry was not a racist. There he was, sitting in the waiting room at an airport, waiting for his flight, when he saw the flight crew walk through the checkout. He noticed that the captain was a black man, and this thought immediately went through his head, "I wonder if he is qualified?"
This has always stuck in my head as a brave and insightful comment for anyone to make. Larry acknowledged the racist thought, which had been made before he could consciously control it, but the important thing is what happened next. Then his rational brain kicked in: of course the captain was qualified; he knew many black people who were highly trained; his original mad thought was nonsense, and he saw it for what it was - some weird part of his primal brain which had vomited up this racist bullshit. Larry probably laughed at himself in a self-conscious way, but then had the grace and bravery to offer up this story about himself to a public audience. This is a classy thing to do, and I've never forgotten it (a story which I might well have heard some decades ago now).
To have a racist thought isn't a crime, either to yourself or to the rest of the world. But, acting on that madness and then seeking to justify it, is. It's a crime to your brain, your education, and your species. This whole area deals with a very murky and primal part of who each one of us is, and I'm not surprised in the least that politicians try to avoid it like the plague. I think you would be on a hiding to nothing, with any attempted discussion quickly degenerating into insults and lots of emotional posturing. Who would want that?
No doubt things in Harris Park will quieten down over time. The media's attention will turn to other events and some of the youths will get bored and resume their normal lives. But the cause will remain, barely covered by a thin veneer of civilized behaviour.
For those of you with woggy names, lots of drive and ambition, perhaps some history of exploitation which you have inherited from your parents or their homeland, the thought that "someone" hates you because you look different is going to be hard to lose. Hang in there. If you can manage to focus all that energy into a career or your personal development, you might well astonish us all yet! Hate is a nil sum game.

What Color Is Your Parachute?

I'm reading a book at the moment called "What Color Is Your Parachute?", a best-seller by a guy called Richard Bolles. 9 million copies sold! Apparently, the world's best-selling job-hunting book. I've only just started, so I'll let you know my thoughts in another post. Having had a quick flick through and read about 100 pages, it strikes me as being a serious read, with quite a lot of exercises to be done along the way.
I have been lent this book by my sister, Susan, who seems to have a vast library of similar material. It felt a bit funny when Susan mentioned the book, since someone that I used to work with at Bunnings also suggested the book to me. What a character he was. Vastly over-educated and over-qualified, this guy had the job of updating prices in the store. The Bunnings store I worked at had about 45,000 products, so I usually saw him with pages of stickers, desperately looking for the one brand of light bulb which needed an updated price sticker put on it. Not a job for the faint-hearted. I never really found out why this guy was working there at that job, but I suppose he had to, for one reason or another. Same as me, come to think of it.
We had some funny conversations during the 9 months that I worked there. He was a sarcastic bastard, so we hit it off right away. During one of these chats he mentioned this book, as one that had been a help to his daughter, when she was searching for some direction in her career. The name stayed in my mind, but of course I didn't get the book. Now I don't have an excuse not to read it.
I have a natural aversion to self-help books, and the booming self-help industry in general. The image I keep seeing is of those annoying American self-made gurus, with their perfectly capped teeth, their unrelenting optimism, and their tanned millionaire smiles. Being an "olde world" personality, I find all this brouhaha to be pretty nauseating. Perhaps this book will be different.
If this book can help me focus on a career path which I find challenging and interesting, then it will be a fabulous find. My part-time, 3 days a week job which I have now is OK, but certainly not something which I would look at doing for any great length of time.
It would seem that further staff changes have been made. The person who was the operations manager would now appear to have been demoted to the rank of relief manager, which is really pretty close to what I do. No idea why this has happened. Nothing was announced, although I'm sure the person concerned is not a happy camper right now. She has been at this company for some years, so I suspect that there was a major to-do, possibly with the son of the owner, who would now appear to hold the position of general manager/operations manager/sales and marketing manager - good luck to him. My guess is that he's in his early 30s. I'll give him 3 years before he has a breakdown of some sort.
I must also report that the rubber ducky which I mentioned in an earlier post was stolen shortly after I wrote that post! What a bummer. Football fans are suspected, since there is a footy stadium not far from where I work. My wife bought a package of 3 replacement ducks, and I'm happy to report that one of them is occupying the bucket which was home to the original one. We shall not allow footballing bastards to win over the duck!
In other news, work continues on the web site, although it's slow going. My computer guru is sorting out the shopping cart system now. I'll be using the PayPal system for online payments. Trying to work with Westpac (my present merchant bank) was turning into a nightmare. They wanted me to sign a 3 year deal with lots of fees; to have approval on what items I sold (if anything I sold might be considered naughty, then they could terminate the contract); to have a lot of conditions attached to the agreement - urgh. Forget it. I'll go with PayPal. They are a bit more expensive, but so much more straightforward!

Office politics

One thing I have had little experience in until recently has been working in someone else's business, as an employee. Being self-employed for 15 years, it's easy to forget some of the finer points of being a "team member", like the petty and stupid world of office politics. You don't have to work in an office cubicle to experience it. I suspect that all businesses have their fair share of this destructive nonsense.
The company that I work for 3 days a week has branches spread across Sydney, so it's rare that people get to see each other much, if at all. Most of us work on our own, with occasional phone calls, emails and visits from the people at head office. This is quite unusual. We work face to face with our customers, keep the facility looking clean and tidy, and do all the usual reporting to head office. Such a business requires staff to have some emotional maturity, professionalism, and to be self-motivated. It is impossible to micro-manage such a dispersed workforce, which is one of the things I like about what I do: I have some room to move without someone always looking over my shoulder (which has been my experience in other jobs I've had in the past 3 years).
One of the longer-term employees was recently "terminated" - a large, male, former football player. I had met him twice, I think, when I was working at another branch. He seemed to be a roving manager, going where he was required for a few days at a time. He gave the impression of someone who was fond of a beer and who knew a fair few swear words - a good Aussie bloke.
There has been no formal announcement of his departure, although, of course, everyone knows. He even sent a "see you later" email to all the branches, which I thought was quite unusual. All I really know about him is what I have heard occasionally from other staff, and a few customers. His manner might have been a bit abrupt with some of our late-paying customers. It would seem that way from what I've heard. One guy came into the branch where I now work and asked if I was this person. I said no, I'm Michael. Which was possibly just as well, since the customer looked angry enough to have caused a real scene if I was the person he thought I was. This very angry and large man then told me the whole story of what had happened. He felt better afterwards, and we even had a bit of a laugh about a few things. I suspect, although I don't know, that this man had then contacted head office and made a complaint. This might have had something to do with the termination. There are other stories, too.
It's not easy being an employer. You want to be able to forget about your staff and get on with the important thing of running your business. So much of what you hear from staff sounds like moaning and bitching: silly, seemingly-irrelevant things which just chew up large parts of your day. You quickly lose respect for these whingers and stop really listening to what they have to say. It's all so understandable.
But, it's also stupid.
In any service industry, where your staff are dealing with customers (is there an industry which doesn't?), your staff are the most important part of your organization. Forget all the bullshit about "the customer comes first" or "the customer knows best", if your staff aren't engaged in what you are trying to achieve, then you have failed, period.
Staff who feel that they are involved and appreciated for their efforts will create a better return for their employers than any number of impossible-to-meet sales targets. Give them a sense of ownership, make them accountable for what happens in their department, and you'll soon sort out the ones who will prosper and the ones who don't want that level of involvement.
In my particular job, you need some genuine empathy with people. A part of what I do is look after customers who are behind in their accounts. I make phone calls, send SMSs and emails, post letters. This isn't any fun, but it's an important part of the process, and customers understand that. After a while, you get to know the people who are always late with their payments. Some are just hopeless at remembering, but most are unable to pay. The times are tough for them: tradespeople scrounging for work; health issues; family breakdowns - the list goes on. It is frustrating to send SMSs and emails, to leave messages, and these people never seem to respond. It's the ostrich mentality - stick your head in the sand and everything will be OK. Unfortunately, that never works for long.
People who don't pay will have their goods auctioned so that we can rent out their storage units again. This is a clearly defined procedure, which has real legal consequences. We are required to give notice to these clients about the consequences of their continuing non-payment, which is entirely as it should be. Auctions don't happen often. Usually the recalcitrant client pays up on the verge of the lock being cut off the door of their unit, but not always.
It is easy to become rather indifferent to the plight of these customers, and I suspect that this might have been the case with the terminated ex-footy bloke. He had probably heard the same old lies for too long (the cheque is in the mail; I'll pay off $200 tomorrow etc.). I hope that he'll move onto something more enjoyable. In the meantime, gossip will continue about the real cause of his sudden disappearance; head office will say nothing; and no-one will learn anything useful.
Does this sound familiar?