You are Fired
♣ ♥ ♠ ♦
_____________________

We’ve heard the words used on “The Apprentice.”
Ah, but lessons can be learned so let’s reminisce.
Each week, we saw teams competing to win.
One loser would be fired much to their chagrin.

When employees lose their job, they’re sent packing.
My empathy is real and for them has never been lacking.
Though seemingly personal, the rippling effect has begun.
It affects family, coworkers - seemingly everyone.

I’ve served witness to employees getting sacked.
It’s a part of being in Personnel and that’s a fact.
This is real life and not part of some hit show.
If you’re a manager, these words I must bestow.

You must begin by making the right choice in your hire.
This is the greatest thing you do to risk having to fire.
As time goes forward, you must coach and give feedback.
To secure improvement, you must have a plan of attack.

Determine if the problem is performance, attendance, or
conduct.

Identify and address one issue at a time is what I instruct.
By addressing the problem early, you avoid a typical trap.
Delaying your duties makes correcting anything but a snap.

When you’ve done your best, the burden now rests with the
employee.

If you still must terminate, keep your compassion and control
you see.

Call someone in Personnel to help work through this difficult
time.

I can assure you, a wrongful termination suit will cost more than
a dime.

When an employee losses his or her job, they’re sent packing.
Your empathy should be real and should never be lacking.
Though seemingly personal, the rippling effect has now begun.
Never forget the words “Your Fired” affects everyone.

“ With Love “
☻

Management

I say Management, and I think of:
Planing,organizing, leading and controlling.
Resources, information, allocation, negotiation.
Team work, manager, and leader.
Type D, type I, type S, or type C.
The desire to lead, dominate, and influence.
DISC, I don't know which I want to be.
Management, is a word full of responsibility.
Problem solving, performance threat, performance opportunity.
Mission, vision, what's the difference? I cant even tell.
But I know that a good leader, his ideas knows how to sell.
Information, innovation, communication, motivation, creation.
I am all confused, I don't know how they relate.
Goals, Plans, so much going on.
I now thonk the flow of my thought is gone.

Special Order at McDonald’s

I ordered my hamburger with 4 pickles and the well done french-fries without salt, at a McDonald in Port Byron, NY, driving towards Vermont. I am assuming that the experience I had was quite different from ordering it in NY City or any of the 5 borrows. It was Monday the 20th, late night, 20:47 to be exact. I must say that the cashier was very polite and patient with me. I placed my order and I specifically asked for four pickles only, and for well done fries without salt. I also asked the cashier to make sure that the receipt shows 4 pickles and well done fries, no salt. She got kind of nervous, and was wondering why would I ask that. I made sure I showed no signs of laughing or kidding. She paused for some minutes and than replied that she got it. The receipt shows Pickles 4 times, but no well done fries without salt. The cashier replied that it was impossible to have that remark on the receipt, but she promised that my order was going to go through just the way I wanted it. The manager was working right behind the cashier, but she was not getting evolved, even though I realized that she was paying attention to what was going on. Since it was very late the place was not very busy. There were a few other travelers that had stopped for a break. All of a sudden, while I was placing the order, I noticed that another employee got involved. He was going back and forth from the cash register to the back to make sure that my special order would go through just the way I wanted it. And that is when all got confused. As he was going back and forth taking my order to the kitchen, a third employee was asking the manager what was going on. The manager replied that she had no clue. The forth employee who was packing up my burger was asking from the back one more time to make sure that the order went correctly to her. At that moment I hear the fifth employee in the back saying as joking: “call the caps”. I couldn’t help but laugh. The order came. It was not exactly as I wanted it. There were 8 pickles and the fries came latter. They were not exactly well done, but they surely were without salt. I politely thanked the cashier and I asked her if it was possible to talk to the manager. The manager appeared and I explained to her that I had asked for 4 pickles only, and for well done fries. She apologized, took the hamburger back took out the extra pickles and repacked it. She also explained to me that it was impossible to get the fries well done. She said that the frying machine was already set up for a certain time and the process was constant for all the fries that went in the oil, not one second more or less. She also said that if she would put my fries in the oil again, she would have to wait for the timer to end, she could not stop the process, and that would mean that my fries would have burned, instead of coming well done. I accepted the fries the way they were and I left. The whole process took about 15-20 min, because I had to wait for the fries.

The personnel were very polite. They were definitely shocked by my specific order, but they were very helpful and patient. I did not receive any attitudes, rolling eyes or wired looks. The service was very good. I was actually surprised with the number of employees that got involved to make sure that my order went through correctly, considering that the whole cost of the order was only $2. Considering the standardized process that takes place at McDonald’s, the cashier did not turn back my order and did her best to make sure I got all I wanted. She could have very easily said I can’t do it, but instead she said; “I got it.”

If I was a consultant at McDonald’s I would definitely emphasize the importance of having a more flexible computer system. The employees are willing to accomplish special orders but the computer system is already built in a way that doesn’t give them space to deviate from the usual standard menu. Special orders should be taken into consideration, though.

I surely had fun, and I think the personnel had fun too. It was a bit of excitement for them in that late hour. They definitely made jokes, and told their friends about me and my special order.

I am a C (d)

I think the test we conducted in class, pretty much gauged me. I am a true C type. I like to have every thing in front of my eyes, to see and than to believe. even in my private life if my math doesn't mach, I don't trust and believe easy. I like to step in secure grounds. If I am not sure about something I just don't take the initiative to do it. I always analyze things thoroughly, and I take my precious time before I take a decision. Do I wish to be different? Maybe yes and no. I wish I was a D sometimes. When you have to pull the trigger, you just got to do it :-) How can I change to a D type? I don't really know. I guess I have to have more guts, and trust my intuition more. The funny thing is that I have an intuition, and it is always damn right, just that I follow it a little to late, after I see the facts, which is too late. Knowing where I stand as a management type helps others understand where I come from. Because I manage my personal life just the same way. I think that knowing others manager type would help me a lot to deal with them. A leader doesn't like to be told what to do. Even in his or her personal life a leader is a leader.
In the stranded scenario I would have liked to have a D leader with my team. There would be no confusion, and everyone would follow a D leader. We had many ideas of what main necessity objects we needed, and each of us kind of didn't want to trust the other members of the team because no one showed expert knowledge, or experience knowledge. There was to much confusion. A D leader would have put the dot over the i.

"My Vision"
It is funny how things turn out sometimes. We plan our future and something happens that will make us turn 180 degrees around. We grow and our plans and visions grow with us. right now my main goals are to Finish a masters degree, after I graduate, Bring my parents in America, And last but not least, find a good job in accounting. One little dream of mine is to create my own little family too.
I definitely plan to finish Baruch, and follow my studies further for a higher degree. That will allow me to find a better job. We are constantly learning, and we are students for the rest of our lives, so I don't think that my education will be over By getting a masters degree. And next year I become an American citizen. My new status will allow me to bring my parents here. Regarding my vision about getting a good job, I will do anything in my power to qualify for the job market standards. As for my little family, it is more a matter of luck. They say if it is meant to be, it will be, it does not matter how hard you try. But I would love to have a peaceful love, surrounded by people I love and love me. That will complete my Vision for my future.

Decision making? uhhhh such a pain in neck within a classroom full of students

Honestly, last Monday's class was frustrating and tiring. Each and every one had more than one "wish". Coming to an agreement regarding the midterm and the kind of requests we had was a chaos. First of all we all wanted to be heard and our wish to be granted. Everyone was speaking at the same time, and we were not being that realistic with what we wanted. Some students got so frustrated that they wanted to leave, or withdraw totally from what was going on. The way we were going on, made us waste lots of time. At the beginning we had some one to write on the board, and we needed more of a leader to actually lead and direct our opinions and ideas. Afterward, when we realized that we were not achieving anything with the way the debate was going, we finally got a real leader, who did take the matters into hand and pushed us to wake up, be more realistic and come up with something fruitful. The interaction between the group and the leader was high. He made sure that we all were heard one by one, and that we all agreed on the final terms. It certainly facilitated the process, and it allowed all of the students to contribute and make decisions. There was definitely conflict and at times screaming was necessary :-) We all had different issues to address. The problems each of us had with the exam were different, so was difficult to please us all. Finally we came up with the list of changes that we wanted professor to consider for the following exam. Compromise and collaboration definitely took place. We bargained and negotiated with each other on the terms, and we made sure that every one was heard. The professor made it clear that if only one student disagreed to any change, that term would have not been included on the list. So I believe we all felt we were equal and we had the power to change things around even though the majority agreed otherwise. And of course Accommodation took place. I couldn't be selfish, I had to accept terms that I did not agree with, and I had to give up terms that I wanted to be included in the list. The New terms will be applied to all of us, so I did not object everything I disagreed with. It is difficult to please every one and I thing we all realized that. i would have not acted any differently. Even though I knew that if I was the only one to disagree, I could have changed things around, I wouldn't have done it because the exam is not only for me, it is for the whole class. We had to let loose sometimes. But at the end we came up with a good list, I believe, and within the time constrains.

saving an egg, bad times ;-)

-I must say that I enjoyed the egg drop activity in class. my favorite part was the actual dropping, what a mess. I believe that in my group we had a good experience. Surely we did not go through the planning steps formally, but we covered them all pretty much. At the beginning we had an objective, to create a contraption which would have protected our egg, when it was dropped. We had to come up with a sketch of our idea. I should say that three of us tried our drawing skills :-) We came up with many ideas, and each of us tried to convince the others about his own idea. And we all were aware of the time limit.
-The hardest part, and the one I think we didn't take the trouble to go over was, to find out what each and every one of us was better at. We all felt confident on ourselves.
-As to being careful of the possible failure, we all were. I must admit that I have probably gotten my group attention at least 20 times by saying, what if the egg falls on this side or on that side and break. Since that 3 of us came up with different ideas, we used them while building the contraption.
-We thought, we had picked the best plan to make our egg unbreakable. What we did not do was specifically allocate roles, since we did not get to know what each one of us was good at. We all invested in holding the egg, and making sure it did not break ahead ;-) But yeah we all got to hold a bit of tape, or a bit of straw. Anyways it did not go that bad, it was fun. Plus our egg did not break, it just cracked a little.
-And of course we thoroughly followed the last step of planning. We constantly checked how the contraption was coming along. we made sure that the egg fitted inside. And the last adjustments were done using the tape to make sure that the egg wouldn't have moved.

I would say that we as a group did a very good job, because all of us got involved, and even though we had fun, we took the contraption making seriously. I guess if we would have known each others skills better, we could have done a better job.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE:
1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Memorise your favourite poem.
3. Don't believe all you hear.
4. Don't spend all you have.
5. Don't sleep all you want.
6. When you say "I love you", mean it.
7. When you say "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.
8. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
9. Believe in love at first sight.
10. Never laugh at anyone's dreams.
11. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
12. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
13. Don't judge people by their relatives.
14. Talk slowly, but think quickly.
15. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?".
16. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
17. Call your mom.
18. Say "God bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
19. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
20. Remember the three R's: Respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for all your actions.
21. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
22. When you realise you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
23. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
24. Marry a spouse you love to talk to. As you get older, conversational skills will be as important as any other.
25. Spend some time alone.
26. Open your arms to change but don't let go of your values.
27. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
28. Read more books and watch less TV.
29. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time.
30. Trust in God but lock your car.
31. A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home.
32. In disagreements with loved ones deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
33. Read between the lines.
34. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve mortality.
35. Be gentle with the earth.
36. Pray. There's immeasurable power in it.
37. Never interrupt when you are being flattered.
38. Mind your own business.
39. Don't trust a person who doesn't close his or her eyes when you kiss them.
40. Once a year go someplace you've never been.
41. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth's greatest satisfaction.
42. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.
43. Learn the rules, then break some.
44. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other.
45. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
46. Remember that your character is your destiny.
47. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

My biggest management problem.

Like most of the people living in New York, time is the hardest thing for me to manage. I have a full time job, and i am a part time student, plus I have family obligations. This semester, I deceided to be a part timer. I was very tired of handling my full time job and full time school during the previous semesters. I thought, I needed a break. I was sleeping 3-5 hours a night. Weekends and late night to early mornig hours, were my studing time, or commuting to school and work. For two years there was no fun, only school, work, and house works. I needed a 9 day week, insted of the 7day one. Time was luxary for me. So, this semester I deceided to cut off to only 2 clases. I must admit that I have a little more spear time, but even though, it is still, not enough. I don't know how the time flies by. We are done with the first 3 weeks of school, and I still can't beleieve it. It feels like we just started last week. I have a lot of reading to catch up with. As I was reading a few other blogs, I realized that I was not the only student with this problem. It is so difficult to manage time efficiently. I try not to drag things, but as soon as I am done with something, there comes something else to be done. The cycle never stops. I wish I knew how to manage my time better.

Redinela Zhurka

Hello everyone!
My name is Redinela Zhurka, but my friends call me Redina. I come from Albania, and I have been living in New York for almost 6 years. I am an Accounting major student in Baruch College, and I am currently managing a retail store. I picked accounting because math is very easy for me. It is exact, simple, and at the end there is only one right answer. Besides math, I like literature and psychology. As a matter of fact Psychology is my minor. Things that I most enjoy doing are; going to the movie theater, traveling, cooking, and reading books. My relatives say: "I should have gone to Culinary Arts." I guess, I must really cook good! But here I am, in Baruch, studying accounting.