Did Tiger Show His Real Stripes?

I’m not a golf fan.

I can’t even name the top five golfers in the U.S. or even in the world. See, watching men and women hit a little white ball multiple times with the end goal of trying to land it in a tin cup just doesn’t have the same appeal of watching say … a hockey game. Personally, I rather watch guys slam each other into the Plexiglas than high five their overpaid caddy on the neatly trimmed fairways of Augusta.

So as I found myself watching Tiger Woods’ “apology/statement” this morning on TV, I found myself wondering what all the hype is about. So the guy cheated on his wife with strippers, or more specifically, stripper wannabees (Have you seen some of those women? Half of them look like the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore!)

Then I got sucked in.

In the Eye of the Tiger

I even felt myself “throwing up a little in my mouth” (to use a great quote from the movie “Dodgeball”) when he spoke of his wife’s great poise throughout this ordeal. What is she supposed to do? Swing at him with a golf club as parodied on Saturday Night Live (here’s the clip---very funny). All the woman is trying to do is hide from the media storm caused by her husband who apparently can’t keep his junk zipped up until he got home from the country club.

His overblown ego still came oozing through my T.V. I’m wondering how his MOTHER is sitting in the front row listening to all this. What did he tell her when all of these women were coming out of the wood work? Now that would be some good reality TV…

Back to Reality

I don’t care about Tiger Woods.

The man does not live in a normal, everyday reality like his fans who pay good money to watch him swing at a little white ball. He’s never had to deal with losing a job. Ok, so he lost some endorsements. But it hasn’t affected him at all. (In fact, he just bought a new yacht, the “Privacy II”). He doesn't live on the same playing field as the rest of us who have to worry about paying the bills, or say, taking care of a family member who is sick. He hires people to do that.

Maybe if he had to "man up" and take care of his family he’d recognize the blessings in his life and be grateful for being "Tiger Woods".

So, did Tiger show his true stripes this morning like his handlers had hoped? Absolutely not. His ego is still overinflated. I just hope Elin peels them off one by one in divorce court.

Whatever Happened to Professionalism in the Workplace?

As I write this I am staring at my email astounded at some of the responses I've gotten from simply posting my resume on Monster.com.

Hooters wants to hire me. (Now that's a whole new take on being a "Senior Communications Professional" don't you think?)

Several recruiters have emailed me with what they consider "... the perfect job for you!" which usually means one of three things:

1) They are trying to meet their month-end quota
2) They are trying to fill a job in telemarketing or claims processing

-or-

3) It's just one big scam.

Case-in-Point

Last week, I was emailed by a recuiter from Aflac (you know--the duck people...) telling me that they are very interested in what I have to offer their company and to please call them to set up an interview.

Ok, I thought to myself. What do I have to lose? So I did.

I called this recruiter (who, by the way, didn't have an Aflac email address but a Gmail one, hmm...I thought to myself...). She in turn wanted to set up an interview for 9:00 a.m. the next morning in Glen Burnie, MD (which is about an hour away from where I live). I was kind of taken a back that she wanted to set up the interview so quickly when in fact, she hadn't yet told me what the position entailed. I had absolutelty no information regarding a job title, job description and salary information. I wasn't even sure where the position would be located.

Sketchy at best, I thought to myself.

When I asked her point-blank which position I would be interviewing for, she replied with the fact that Aflac is a Fortune 200 Company and I should be for lack of a better term, "honored" that they were interested in my resume in the first place.

Ummm, ok? I thought.

She then continues to give me the sales pitch (yes, we've moved on to on red flag #2 now ...) and I was thinking to myself, "Why the hell not, I'll check it out..." and set up a time to interview. I had a persons name, but had no job title or knew what in fact they did for Aflac--I could've been meeting with "Big Foot" for all I know and, to top it off, the "only" time this mysterious person could see me was 6:00 p.m. on a Monday night (yes, we are now at red flag #3).

After we hung up, it bothered me that I still didn't have a job description (ok, maybe I'm not that fast on the uptake). I had no idea what position I was interviewing for, so I thought it would be a good idea to follow up and email her to ask for clarification of the job description. I stated that I was not in sales and that my background is in communications and marketing.

Rude Response #1

Her response: "They are a combination of big ticket marketing, account servicing and claims processing. Our marketing is directed at business owners only. This is probably the only chance you will have to work with a top fortune 200 company."

Ouch, I thought. (Not to nit-pick, but anyone else see the disparity in the voice? They/We...are we a little schizophrenic? Anyone?)

Still, I planned on going to the interview to check them out.

Rude Response #2

So Monday rolls around and it starts to snow in the afternoon. I email her and let her know, that due to the inclement weather, I'm not going to be able to make it to the interview. I emailed her in the afternoon, so she would have plenty of time to contact the appropriate people before 6:00 p.m. A cop-out on my part?

Sure, I'll call it that.

(Please note that I never cancel interviews. I think it does show poor taste and looking back, I should have never accepted the "interview" on the phone in the first place. After all, I've never even met this woman. I didn't go through a pre-screening process. I didn't have a one-on-one interview with her. All which are the usual mandatories when working with respectable recruiters.) Hindsight is 20/20 so they say and whoever "they" are...they're right!

That being said, here is her response:

"There is barely half an inch of snow falling. Would you like to reschedule, or is this your way of saying you are not interested?"

I'm laughing out loud now...

Now, if someone cancels an interview the employer might think that...but you don't email it in your response! I've had people cancel interviews on me directly (not even going through a recruiter) and all I've responded with is:

"If you'd like to reschedule a time, call me and we'll reschedule."

If you don't hear from them, obviosuly, they bailed. On to the next prospective applicant, right?

So at this point, I emailed her back a bitchy response:

"Excuse me? I don't want to reschedule now."

Rude Response #3

She instantly responds:

"I wasn't trying to be rude. I was asking your intentions. I am a professional who has been doing this for quite a long time. My question I asked was professional as I was trying to see what your intentions were as we have many, many, many applicants and I wanted to make sure that an applicant like yourself gets time with the boss. Due to the rude nature of your response, you will be removed from our direct marketing lists."

Damn!

Like I said, I've had job applicants just not show up for an interview. I gave her plenty of notification and at this point, am wondering, why is she so invested in her email responses? Really, time to let it go, right?

So I email her back, "Thank you. No further correspondence is required."

She instantly "corresponds" back to me: "I have already blocked you from all Aflac job-related corresponce."

At this point, I wanted to thank her for her time ... but I thought I'd better let it go! Part of me was afraid to see what she would say!

My Bad

Now, I did bail. My bad. But the reason I'm posting this is because I'm wondering whatever happened to professionalism in the workplace? Even if you have a difficult employee or co-worker that you have to deal with everyday, you would never antagonize them over email. Or would you? Is this standard protocal these days?

And to think I've never even met this woman. Nor do I ever want to...

By the way, a friend of mine sent me this website about working for Aflac:

http://www.indeed.com/forum/cmp/AFLAC/Aflac-is-SCAM-you-pay-them-work/t13238

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=21396

So much for profesionalism in the workplace.

My Sober Snowpocolypse

Over the past few days I have been forced to eat my words… and I gladly will.

I think I deserve to.

You may have remembered me mocking all of the D.C. yuppies closing down the downtown Whole Foods after the first report of the impending snow last week. Looking back over the past few days, I should have joined them!

Hey, hindsight is 20/20 people.

Not only has the D.C. region almost surpassed the snow fall totals of the frigid tundra of Syracuse, NY,this Winter (ummm...where is global warming when you need it?) I found myself snowed in and without power for two days (or to be more precise, as one of my neighbors reminded me, 41 hours to be exact).

As the temperature in my home quickly dropped down to an incredibly frigid 42 degrees, I was cursing myself for not running to Whole Foods the day before to stock up on what I now consider snowbound necessities: White wine, anything chocolate covered and of course, dog food.

As the snow kept falling and falling (along with the temperature inside) I found myself to be uncharacteristically... sober. And that’s just wrong.

When it’s 42 degrees in your condo you really need a shot of something to warm you up! Yes, the dog was well-fed but her Mommy was going a little stir-crazy especially when the liquor store behind her building was closed for days! Yes, I said days!

Oi vey, people!

Note to self: Next time the weather casters even hint at a 36” snow fall…stock up at Whole Foods… before they shut the doors!

Snow-Apocalypse!

A friend of mine sent me the funniest (yet very true) email yesterday titled, “Snow-Apocalypse.” You open the email and all it said in 18-point red type is:

“P-A-N-I-C!!!”

And that’s what most people in the D.C.-area have been doing over the past 48 hours. Stores are packed (even a local Whole Foods had to shut its doors last night because of the crowds. What? They ran out of farm-raised Salmon and fair-traded mangoes? So much for a run on TP and milk...). Roads are packed, even my TV is packed with endless irrelevant updates on the impending storm.

It’s just snow people. Little white flurries that eventually melt.

Here’s a news flash for you: In other parts of the country, this happens all Winter long! Schools remain open, employees remain at work and … life goes on. Now, this area has been hit with a lot of snow this year. But there were no storm-related deaths. No one starved.

Sure, we all had to get out and shovel a few inches.But guess what? That’s a common occurrence for most of the country. Those folks shovel out before they go to work…and they still get there on time! No delays, schools closings or snow-related “Apocalypse.”

Now where did I put my shovel??

Saint Nick Meets Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I finally got around to taking down my Christmas decorations today. I have to admit, this year I was quite the minimalist; I only hung up a wreath and my Christmas cards, so needless to say the “take-down” took all of five minutes.

I like to read my Christmas cards as I take them down and remind myself of who sent them and how nice it was of the person to think of me during the holiday season in the first place. (And yes, there’s always that twinge of guilt for the person who sent me a card and I forgot to reciprocate—oops, maybe next year, well, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway.)

So I’m flipping through my Christmas cards and there he was: A Black Santa.

Yup, a black jolly old Saint Nick smiling up at me and wishing me a “Very Merry Christmas!”

I stopped and shook my head. Why hadn’t I noticed that I had a black Santa hanging up in my living room for the past month?

I was trying to think back to when I opened the card. Did I, in fact, notice that the traditional image of Santa got … umm… much, much … darker?

I usually have a lot of people over and I know many of them read my Christmas cards. Did they notice? No one said anything to me about the black Santa hanging up in my living room.

Then I thought to myself: Is that a good … or a bad thing?

If I didn’t notice, does that make me a racist? Or am I just color blind?

It’s a hard question to answer. All I know is that “life” or the “universe” (or whatever you want to call it) has a not-so-subtle way of making you take a moment to stop and reflect. Maybe it’s not so ironic that I stopped to stare at my little black Santa on this Martin Luther King Day and be forced to reflect on my own racial awareness.

Today, let’s all take a moment to remember how far this country has come in the historic fight for racial equality and acknowledge all the work that still needs to be done.

I also want to thank the couple who sent me my little black Saint Nick...I’m going to keep him up all year long!

Where Do You Go When There's Nothing Left?

It’s hard to wrap my head around the devastation in Haiti. The gruesome videos … the heart breaking images … the overwhelming personal loss.

I simply can’t wrap my head around it and I know I’m not alone. A good friend of mine today posted that one of her patients is missing not 1… not 2… not 3 … but 11 family members in the rubble. Imagine wondering what’s its like not to know if 11 of your family members are alive… or not.

How do you even start to survive something like this? There are no roads, no running water, no electricity, no shelter.

Where do you go when there’s simply nothing left?

The numbers are just absolutely staggering to me. Seven point zero on the Richter scale. Rising death toll climbing upwards of 100,000 people. Think about that: More than 100,000 people. To put this in perspective: The deadliest earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. The death toll at that time was close to 3,000 people. My hometown of Rockville, MD (a relatively large suburb outside of Washington, D.C.) has an approximate 67,000 people. In a little more than 4 seconds, Haiti lost more than 100,000 of its country men and women. In a little more than 4 seconds, my entire town (and then some) would no longer exist.

I then thought to myself, “What would happen in this country if we were hit by an earthquake or other natural disaster of this magnitude?”

So I started looking up some stats. The largest natural disaster in the United States was Hurricane Katrina in back in August, 2005. Preliminary damage estimates were well in excess of $100 billion. Reported death toll: 1,863 (not to belittle the loss of 1,863 people… but that’s a little more than 1% of the total death toll in Haiti). It took us years to recover from the devastation of Katrina. Honestly, I think that some of the worst hit parts of New Orleans and rural parts of Mississippi will never be rebuilt. You can easily find reports of empty lots and empty FEMA trailers doting the landscape close to 5 years later.

If an earthquake of this magnitude were to hit LA, New York or DC and we lost more than 100,000 Americans, would we ever be able to recover? Could you go days, weeks or even months without electricity, running water or not knowing if 11 of your relatives survived?

It’s hard to wrap my mind around it. I suppose all we can do is hope, pray and donate whatever we can. Please visit the American Red Cross today--because one day, it could us and I won't have to try to wrap my head around the devastation from the comfort of my living room...that is, if I survived.

Could I Delete My "So-Called" Online Life?

NPR posted an article this weekend entitled: “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: Erase Your Virtual Life” which caught my eye.

The article talks to the founders of suicidemachine.org—a group of artists, designers and programmers based out of the Netherlands (of course…) who want to help people destroy their social networking accounts. The organization claims that social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Linkedin exist primarily to make users think that they are missing out on something (like a life for instance).

And I quote, “[Sites like these] make you more stupid.”

Hmmm. More stupid?

The article goes on to state: “Bye-bye former friends and followers. So long profile pictures and passwords. Hello real life 2.0.”As I read the article I thought to myself, could I do it? Could I erase my online footprint and happily enter a life of social network solitude?”

No FaceBook... no Twitter... no Digg?

And what was I supposed to do all day long?

I’d be forced to revert back to the same person I was more than a year and a half ago when I had to be shamed into creating a Facebook account.

Yes, I was “shamed” into it.

The story goes like this: I was having lunch with a good friend one afternoon when I rolled my eyes at her as she talked about an old college friend she had reconnected with on Facebook. She caught the unintended eye roll and proceeded to tell me that even her 85-year old grandmother has a profile on Facebook.

And there it was.

Even her 85-year old grandmother had a profile. The woman apparently had more online street cred than I did! I started to feel left out, left behind, and dare I say, embarrassed that I didn’t have a Facebook profile.

The shame became palpable. That afternoon I went straight home and here I am. I’ll admit it, I like Facebook. I like to see what everyone is doing, thinking, and talking about. I partake in my fair share of quizzes to make sure that my parents named me correctly, or to prove that my hunch was right: I was Cleopatra in a former life! Half the time, I get my news from Facebook. Remember Balloon Boy? I had no idea what was going on until everyone started posting about it!

Needless to say, Facebook has become an integral part of my “so-called” online life. But the question still remains: Has it improved my life? Or do I actually need to get one?


To read more, visit “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine: Erase Your Virtual Life” on NPR's website.