Observation

In college I waited tables to make ends meet.  I worked short hours, had decent pay and learned a few lessons about people.  For instance, if a person said that they were a great tipper, they weren't.  I can't think of a single time in my life that I've heard a person say they tip great, or even good, that I have ever seen them actually leave a medium sized tip.

The same thing happens with celebrities.  Important and self important people often have people who work for them as personal assistants.  A celebrities personal assistant serves a function that in Victorian times was recognized as a "servant".  The servant's job is to ensure the masters happiness.  There is nothing wrong with that in and of itself.

Why anyone would take such a job in modern times is a bit of a mystery.  Perhaps working with the rich and famous is its own reward.  Maybe the notoriety is appealing to some people.  I don't know.  What I do know is if the servant is asking me, "don't you know who this is?" and doing so in a tone of voice that conveys contempt, their boss isn't all they think they are.

I've met a handful of the rich and famous.  Some of them are very nice, classy even.  Bash the Bush's all you like.  Barbra is a super lady and very engaging.  Bill Cosby has been taking a lot of heat recently for things he may or may not have done forty years ago.  I met him once, shook his hand and made a little small talk with him back stage at a performance he was giving.  He looked a little sad, but was very pleasant to a mere mundane such as myself.  Latter I learned that his son Ennis had recently been murdered.  Somehow he managed to keep it together and treat the masses courteously.

This last week I had another celebrity encounter.  I hope I do not have another like it.  Posting the names and details of the incident would violate my employers social media policy and likely get me fired, so I won't.  I've got a job interview this Thursday, so maybe I can soon.

I've added to my personal list of truisms this week.  If someone asks "don't you know who this is", the person in question probably isn't worth knowing.  If they promise you a significant portion of a months pay to get you to go out of your way for them, you better get it in writing.

BJ-Thursday

 

Happy Thanksgiving My Friends

 

 

T-Shirt Slogans

"That's It! I'm Calling Grandma!" (Seen on an 8 year old)

"Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up"

"Procrastinate Now."

"My Dog Can Lick Anyone."

"I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts - Do You Want Fries With That?"

"FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. It comes bundled with the software."

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance."

"Time's fun when you're having flies...Kermit the Frog."

GFF--Good Cop

Cops get a bad rap, mostly because they deserve it.  More and more it seems like todays cops are little more than bad guys with a solid pension plan.  Good men still go into law enforcement, like Georgia State Trooper Nathan Bradley.

A Good Man Doing a Tough Job

Trooper Nathan Bradley had the difficult job of knocking at the door of a family home in Newborn to report the car crash that had killed both parents on October 31. Crystal and Donald Howard had gone out to get more face paint for the kids— ages six to 13 — before taking them Trick or Treating on Halloween.

The couple’s four children appeared at the door dressed in their costumes, and with no adults there, Bradley couldn’t bring himself to tell the kids about their parents. Instead, he decided to save their Halloween.

He took them out for dinner to each of their favorite places, radioed headquarters and rallied his fellow troopers who ended up throwing an impromptu Halloween party. A sleepover at the State Police barracks kept them busy until their grandmother could drive up from Florida, seven hours away.

Only after giving the kids happy Halloween memories, and with the grandmother finally there, was the painful news broken to the children.

Trooper Bradley is a class act for how he did what he did.

Now for the rest of the story:

He set up a GoFundMe page for Justin, Amiah, Daimean, and Trayvion, hoping to raise $7,000 so their parents’ remains could be sent to Florida, near their new home with grandma. When the total started skyrocketing, Bradley asked that anything beyond that amount to go toward a college fund.

Nine days later, more than 12,000 people have donated nearly a half million dollars to the Howard orphans.

HOOORAH for Nathan Bradley.  We need more cops like this one.

BJW--Today...

 

Today, I uploaded a photo of myself at the beach on Facebook. The first comment it got was "Wow!! If I was 20 yrs younger, oh boy ;)". Yeah, thanks for that, grandpa.

Today, I was in the shower, oblivious to the outside world, when four police officers who had apparently been banging at my door, entered by force. They were doing a bust on a weed farm and got the wrong house.

Today, I found out that my 2-year-old brother is afraid of his own penis. Whenever he doesn't have a diaper on, he screams, cries and yells, "Ew".

Today, I had a job interview. I have a nervous tendency to rub my foot against the bar under the table. After the interview I noticed I had been rubbing my foot against the interviewer's leg.

Today, I found out that every single picture that I have ever sent to my boyfriend, his father has also received. Every. Single. One.

Today, I locked myself out and had to enter my house via the back door. Thinking I was an intruder, my 7-year-old daughter slammed a metal rake into the back of my head. Nice to know she can take care of herself.

Today, my English professor accused me of plagiarizing a poem I submitted, because she'd read it online earlier that day. The poem was mine; I posted it after writing it for her class, and even after logging into the site to prove it, she reported me to the school.

Today, my boyfriend picked me up to take me on a date. Just as we were about to drive away, my dad ran out of the house in his underwear and started yelling that he'd kill my boyfriend if I wasn't back home within the hour.

Today, I was at the book store when a book caught my eye: Overcoming Anxiety For Dummies. I wanted to look through the book but I was too nervous to pick it up, thinking everyone in the store would look at me.

Today, I went to the mall and had to parallel park. It took me 10 to 12 minutes of maneuvering before I got into the slot. When I turned off the car and got out, there were 8 people laughing hysterically and clapping for me.

Today, I realized the benefits at Burger King are better than at my company. I'm an engineer, have three degrees, speak three languages fluently, and work at a multi-billion dollar company. The guy flipping burgers has better health care and more corporate 401k contributions than I do.

Today, I ran into my boss outside of work. She smiled, and started trying to have an in-depth chat with me. I wouldn't have minded, if it weren't for the fact I ran into her at a club, whilst they were having an S and M theme night. And we were both fully dressed up for it.

Today, I suggested that my mother download Skype so we could video chat while I'm studying in London over the summer. After I had explained how it worked and that it was free, she said "Well...you'll only be gone for a few months. It's not really worth it.

Today, trying to be nice, I sat with the lonely kid at lunch. While eating, he started laughing and showed me his hit list. I was at the top.

Thought on College Financing

You have no doubt seen pics like this one from last week.

I won't say anything about 6 students not being 1 million, or make any comments about the fact that the one guy in the pic not having enough game to tag any one of the five chicks that he no doubt was trying to impress.  I can only wonder if the other kids at this college were too busy spending time in the library or at their part time jobs to participate in the rally.

 Ya gotta love the Marines, they even try to protect the internet from stupid.  Not that anyone could win that war, but I admire him for trying.

The way to solve the problem with the high cost of college is very simple, get the government out of it.  I mean all together.  No federal grants to the colleges.  No federal student loans for the kids.  No federal involvement of any kind.  Of course that's not gonna happen but still its the best solution.

The best way to raise the pay for American  jobs is to kick out illegals and jail people who hire them.  Again not going to happen.  Still its the best solution, assuming that solving the problem is the goal.

The best way to do a lot of things is never going to be on the table as far as the politicians are concerned.  The second best way to help college kids with tuition and debt costs is responsible underwriting.

Back when I was a banker we had to do something called underwriting.  Basically underwriting is a process of deciding if a loan is a good risk or not.  Every kind of loan has a standard of generally accepted parameters that indicate if the loan will be repaid as agreed.  It's time to underwrite student loans the same way.

Here are some criteria that should be evaluated before granting a loan:

• Will the loan cover general studies or prerequisites?  It shouldn't you can't get a job by taking those classes.  No it doesn't matter that you have to take those classes to take the classes you need for your major. Either the student should pay for the class, or the college should find a way to make that class more affordable or eliminate it as a requirement.
• What are the post graduation job prospects for a person with the major that the loan is being written for?
• What are the odds that someone will actually hire the person we are lending money to if they graduate?
• What is the likely income that a person with this degree will be hired for?  If it is too low to meet normal living expenses and repay the debt, then no loan.

There are many more underwriting criteria that could be added to a responsible underwriting matrix for student loans, but you get the idea.  Student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.  The size of the loan can exceed the cost of a McMansion but no one is taking a good hard look at whether or not the kid could actually pay the thing back or if they can even get a job doing whatever the degree is supposed to get them a job in.  

Every other kind of loan you can get has requirements you have to meet before you can get the loan.  Want a car?  Do you have good credit, a job and does that job pay you enough to make the car payments after meeting your other expenses?  Want a mortgage?  Same requirements, plus some.  Why?  Because the lender wants to get their money back.

Student loan?  No credit, no down payment, no chance in hell of getting a job with that degree?  No problem!  Here's a cool $250,000.  It's all for the college of course, with a little beer and condom money on the side.  By the way you have to pay it back no matter what.  No other kind of loan works like this.  If I as a lender did this to anyone in any other lending situation it would be considered unconscionable and possibly unenforceable when it came time to collect repayment.

Underwrite the loans.  Will this keep some kids out of college and out of courses of study?  Yes.  So what?  If a kid wants a PhD in tiddlywinks, I'm cool with it.  Just don't pretend that he's going to be able to pay back a loan with that degree.  Don't give him the loan.  Let his parents or scholarships or whoever wants to pick up the tab.

Know what else will happen if kids can't just sign their name and rack up a ton of debt for school?  Colleges will have to get very competitive to attract students.  This means they will have to offer better programs, enforce stricter recruiting standards or lower prices accordingly.  Get the government out.  Let the market in.  Everybody wins.