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Hard Times and Hard Jobs
by James Glaser October 14, 2009 The last couple of weeks I have been getting more and more cold calls on my home and my cell phone from people trying to sell me things I feel bad for the people that have these phone sales jobs, and I can tell they are not your normal experienced telemarketer. I can tell by the sound of their voice. They sound like they are sorry to have bothered me, but it's their job. In the past, I could get pretty nasty, or I would just hang up, but now I politely say I am not interested, and usually they say, "Thank you for your time." That answer right there tells me they are new at their job. Jobs are hard to find these days. Wanda and I were at Lowes the other day, and when we were checking out, the lady at the register told us this was her first day, and she was happy to have the job after a long search. I was in the garage in Madison, and while talking to the owner, two guys stopped by asking if he needed a mechanic. He said he didn't and later told me he knew both men, and they were good workers, but he didn't have enough business to warrant hiring them. Washington tells us we have close to 10% unemployment. Others say it is at 17%. I think it is higher than that. Nobody really knows, because to be honest, nobody in our government really wants to know. The number I would like to find out is the number of people who are satisfied with their employment. I know a lot of people who only go to work because they have to. I would guess that the number of people who like what they do for a living is way below 50%. Let's face it, if you are going to a job you don't really like, you tend to just go through the motions, kind of like the people that have been calling me on the phone. They are given a list of numbers, and they try to make their pitch, but their heart is not in it. In fact, they are a bit embarrassed to have the job they do, so I imagine sales are down. |
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