Monday, April 25, 2016

Being Raised With Boys Who Turned Into Criminals

I was raised with a bunch of boys who turned into criminals and served time in prison. I get along just fine with ex-cons, even now. They're not bad people for the most part - just impulsive and not very bright.

Before I go any further, I'll tell a story about a man I know who was a mercenary. He served with the Ian Smith regime in the former Rhodesia and killed a whole bunch of Commies. He seemed to enjoy it, or perhaps, didn't mind it.

After that little tiff was over, he moved back to the U.S. and became head of security in a rather bad area. He introduced himself to all the drug dealers and pimps in the area and basically told all of them, you don't bother me and cause trouble and I will respect you and not interfere wth your business.

He never had a bit of trouble with any of them.

When he told me this I had already figured it out from being raised in the area I was raised in.

As I said, I get along just fine with the ex-cons I've met. Why? I treat them with respect and in turn they give me no trouble.

Decades ago in college I used to work in a warehouse, on a line putting their products in boxes and also folding boxes. It paid minimum wage, which went a lot further in those days than now. You could live on it, but just barely.

There were a lot of ex-cons there and also many low-IQ people - I estimate their IQs were in the low 90s.

Once thing I noticed is that when these people were given responsibility and treated with respect their attitudes changed. They started acting like mature adults, even though their raises were only about 50 cents more than minimum wage.

I shook their hands and told them they deserved the promotion and raise. I suspect that had never happened in their lives.

It reminded me of something William James had written over a century ago: the greatest desire for people is to be appreciated.

When I graduated and got a job as a newspaper reporter and then editor, I found I had only one good boss. The rest were idiots who were completely lacking in any managerial skills. And this included people who had MBAs from Harvard and Yale.

For one thing they didn't treat their employees with any respect or appreciation and wondered why their employees walked off the job after sabotaging everything they could. Or filing lawsuit after lawsuit.

In fact, all three newspapers I worked at are now out of business.

They never understood the workers were the ones who supported the business and did all the work, and the "managers" generally got in the way.

Let's put it this way: when you get ex-cons with IQs of about 93 who have better people skills and are better managers than those with MBAs from Harvard and Yale... what does that say about such college degrees?

Not much, obviously. In many cases, their worth is less than zero.

7 comments:

kurt9 said...

Let's put it this way: when you get ex-cons with IQs of about 93 who have better people skills and are better managers than those with MBAs from Harvard and Yale... what does that say about such college degrees?

Yep (LOL!). I can tell you the manufacturing companies with the fewest number of MBA-type managers are the ones doing the best.

The problem with college students is their lack of real-world experience coupled with their passionate belief in all of the ethereal theories taught to them in the schools.

Anonymous said...

I treat the produce guys, shelf stockers, cashiers, and baggers at the grocery store with respect and also joke around with them. It brightens their day and it brightens mine. My family needs what they do.

sth_txs said...

Yes, people like to be appreciated. It does not happen much these days whether blue collar, white collar, or whatever. You are just a house n__ger that cost money to them.


Anyway, a bit off topic, but this article ties in with some of Bob's thought on 'duh-versity'.

http://www.amerika.org/politics/the-great-houston-flood-of-2016-and-the-consequences-of-minority-rule/

Anonymous said...

The military is pretty much the same way as those former newspaper companies. Too many fat idiot asshole chiefs and not enough indians, especially in the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Eduardo the Magnificent said...

Simon Sinek has a talk about how companies constantly hang their people out to dry, and the effects it has on people, the community and the economy. We don't appreciate the people who do our work for us anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDIZS4IQlQk

WL Emery said...

My dear old mother taught high school from the 60s until she retired in the 80s. They gave Mom the problem students, because Mom never had any trouble with them. Her secret?

"I just treat them with respect, kindness and consideration. Kids respond to that."

Yeah, how about that.

Quartermain said...

You might find this article to be of some interest:

http://www.unz.com/freed/capitalism-and-the-minimum-wage-i-got-mine-screw-you/