I do not know if others had experienced the same uncomfortable moment as I did today. Luckily, a total stranger stepped up for me and made my day.
Influenza is making me sniff and cough. And facial tissues become one of the must-have items to help me dry my chaffed nose. In the past before I stepped out for errands, I always had some soft tissues with me just in case of an emergency.
Today in my outing I forgot including a few paper tissues in my care package. And as soon as I sat down at a public office to conduct my business, I felt right away I could use a Kleenex right there. And believe or not, before I even had a second to ask for a paper tissue from anyone, a senior lady sitting a few feet away from me stepped up and offered me one of the many tissues she has had in her pocket. I was totally overwhelmed by this stranger's response to my uncomfortable plight. I wonder how she would know that I was in urgent need of a soft tissue.
Of course, the caring action of this kind person had startled me. But I am also most grateful to her for her timely assistance to get me out of some uncomfortable and embarrassing moments.
And may God bless that dear lady! - Ayee
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Most Important Persons in A Business
Since I started watching Undercover Boss*, a reality television show, I often wondered who would be the most important person in a work place, rank-and-file staff or the top guns?
We all know a for-profit enterprise without clients will not survive in a competitive world. Loyal customers are what a successful business needs. To have many clients and also to keep them, the business must have empathic and apt employees who know how to be responsive to their valuable patrons. So in my book, the front-line employees, most of them making a fraction of what their CEO’s earned, would be the most valuable people in a business. Through them, the company’s services and products are made and sold.
Maybe this is why many CEO’s are changing their mode of operation now. Instead of finding sweet spots on golf courses with other big wheels, they reached out to the most important people in the company, and made sincere attempts to improve working conditions for all. A few of them even made themselves available on television to show themselves performing clumsily the basic skills like flipping hamburgers on a hot grill. And this new way of managing would definitely bring the best out of both the bosses and their employees. And we have all seen on the televsion how their staff reacted and felt when they realized he or she had just worked next to the most powerful person in their work place! - Ayee
*A CBS production
We all know a for-profit enterprise without clients will not survive in a competitive world. Loyal customers are what a successful business needs. To have many clients and also to keep them, the business must have empathic and apt employees who know how to be responsive to their valuable patrons. So in my book, the front-line employees, most of them making a fraction of what their CEO’s earned, would be the most valuable people in a business. Through them, the company’s services and products are made and sold.
Maybe this is why many CEO’s are changing their mode of operation now. Instead of finding sweet spots on golf courses with other big wheels, they reached out to the most important people in the company, and made sincere attempts to improve working conditions for all. A few of them even made themselves available on television to show themselves performing clumsily the basic skills like flipping hamburgers on a hot grill. And this new way of managing would definitely bring the best out of both the bosses and their employees. And we have all seen on the televsion how their staff reacted and felt when they realized he or she had just worked next to the most powerful person in their work place! - Ayee
*A CBS production
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Numbers can be misleading.
Recently, income tax rates for the riches are back in the spot lights again. The suggestion to reduce the country’s riches income tax rate never goes well with the rest 99% of us. But if we look at the absolute dollar figures on who is paying what, we will see a different picture.
The US government now taxes individuals at the rates between 15% and 35%*. It looks like our progressive tax system does what it is designed for: the richer, the higher tax rate. For the ones making $40,000 taxable income last year, at a rate of 15%, each of them will have to pay $6,000 to IRS. And for the others who made more than $379,150, at an effective rate of 29%, everyone in this well-off group owes Uncle Sam a whopping $110,017 each.
Now let us look at how much income tax the country’s ultra riches paid, say, at a rate of 15%, which incidentally is the lowest tax bracket on IRS’s book. With a taxable income of $5 million, the tax bill at 15% would come to $750,000!
A lower tax rate does not mean lower tax in dollars and cents.
Besides, making the riches pay more taxes is not a solution to reduce public debts. The more taxes the governments can collect, the less likely our governments will become smaller from where they are now. - Ayee
*Internal Revenue Services’ 2012 Tax Tables
The US government now taxes individuals at the rates between 15% and 35%*. It looks like our progressive tax system does what it is designed for: the richer, the higher tax rate. For the ones making $40,000 taxable income last year, at a rate of 15%, each of them will have to pay $6,000 to IRS. And for the others who made more than $379,150, at an effective rate of 29%, everyone in this well-off group owes Uncle Sam a whopping $110,017 each.
Now let us look at how much income tax the country’s ultra riches paid, say, at a rate of 15%, which incidentally is the lowest tax bracket on IRS’s book. With a taxable income of $5 million, the tax bill at 15% would come to $750,000!
A lower tax rate does not mean lower tax in dollars and cents.
Besides, making the riches pay more taxes is not a solution to reduce public debts. The more taxes the governments can collect, the less likely our governments will become smaller from where they are now. - Ayee
*Internal Revenue Services’ 2012 Tax Tables
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Love Them but Don’t Smother Them
Last night I learned the untimely death of a 20-year-old rhinoceros at a wildlife reserve in South Africa. Spencer, a long time resident of a lion and rhinos park near Johannesburg, died while the vets were implanting a tracking device and pesticide into the horn of the sedated animal.
Although the implanting procedures give me willies, under certain circumstances, there may be good reasons to tag a wild animal with monitoring devices. But infusing deadly poison into a living thing is some thing that does not sit well with me. A chemical that is poisonous enough to kill bugs can kill other living things too!
I have always thought wild animals in an animal reserve lead a more carefree life. Sheltered animals are better protected from their predators, including poachers, than their peers in the wild. But Spencer’s good-hearted keepers thought this middle-aged bull rhino needed extra protection to prevent him from being poached for his prized tusk. Ironically, instead of being killed by the heartless poachers, Spencer met his premature death at the hands of the good people who were supposed to be there to protect him. - Ayee
Although the implanting procedures give me willies, under certain circumstances, there may be good reasons to tag a wild animal with monitoring devices. But infusing deadly poison into a living thing is some thing that does not sit well with me. A chemical that is poisonous enough to kill bugs can kill other living things too!
I have always thought wild animals in an animal reserve lead a more carefree life. Sheltered animals are better protected from their predators, including poachers, than their peers in the wild. But Spencer’s good-hearted keepers thought this middle-aged bull rhino needed extra protection to prevent him from being poached for his prized tusk. Ironically, instead of being killed by the heartless poachers, Spencer met his premature death at the hands of the good people who were supposed to be there to protect him. - Ayee
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Undercover Boss
Last week amidst the Super Bowl frenzy, I discovered a new reality show. Although I had only caught the concluding part of the program, I liked what I saw. It is refreshing to see this real-life situation production does not require judges.
After looking it up in Wikipedia, I learned Undercover Boss has already been in the hearts and minds of millions of television viewers for two years. CBS has aired the show since 2010 with raving success. It was the most popular television program in the year it was premiered. Undercover Boss is also a spin-off from a British show with the same name.
This reality production is about company’s CEO’s go undercover at their own company as an entry-level employee. This week-long covet operation gives company executives opportunities to see if the company is operating on the right track from the grass-root level. At the end of the show when the true identity of the imposter is uncovered, the unsuspected accomplices, their employees, get praised for the unscripted roles they have played. And all of them are also awarded with tangible and some life-changing prizes.
But the good story does not end here. The CEO’s who participated in the snoop are expected to follow through on what they may have detected during the week-long mission and to take proper corrective actions. So their company can become a better employer, that, over the time, translates into brighter prospect for both the workers and their undercover bosses. - Ayee
After looking it up in Wikipedia, I learned Undercover Boss has already been in the hearts and minds of millions of television viewers for two years. CBS has aired the show since 2010 with raving success. It was the most popular television program in the year it was premiered. Undercover Boss is also a spin-off from a British show with the same name.
This reality production is about company’s CEO’s go undercover at their own company as an entry-level employee. This week-long covet operation gives company executives opportunities to see if the company is operating on the right track from the grass-root level. At the end of the show when the true identity of the imposter is uncovered, the unsuspected accomplices, their employees, get praised for the unscripted roles they have played. And all of them are also awarded with tangible and some life-changing prizes.
But the good story does not end here. The CEO’s who participated in the snoop are expected to follow through on what they may have detected during the week-long mission and to take proper corrective actions. So their company can become a better employer, that, over the time, translates into brighter prospect for both the workers and their undercover bosses. - Ayee
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Silver Lining under the Bankruptcy Cloud
The word “bankruptcy” bears negative connotations. Death knell is near company's business can no longer generate sufficient cash to cover expenses. Bankruptcy filings do sometimes bring ruinous consequences for the insolvent parties.
For individuals, filing for bankruptcy may absolve them from some financial obligations, but the stigma resulting from personal bankruptcy remains with that person for life. Furthermore, employment prospects for the bankrupted are somewhat limited too. Therefore, not many emerge from the legal rigmarole of bankruptcy proceedings a winner.
But why filing for bankruptcy remains a chosen alternative for both individuals and business organizations, many of them are well established companies?
For many unfortunate people, dismal job markets and collapsing housing prices leave them with little option but declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy enabled them to walk away from an oversize mortgage and/or exorbitant medical bills.
But there is another ball of wax for corporations who have volunteered to be bankrupted. Chapter 11 of the country’s bankruptcy codes has become a savior to many well-known companies and their hard-working employees. Remember a landmark case between Texaco, Inc., and Pennzoil, Co., in the 80s? After the court favored Pennzoil with a multi-billion-dollar damage award against Texaco, the latter sought protection from the insightful laws to fend off this humongous award.
In other more mundane cases, resulting from certain accounting principles, as times go by, a company’s financial position can be overburdened with its future liabilities in pension and health benefits owing to their many employees.
Under Chapter 11, the company operates its business as usual except no creditors are being repaid while the trustee of the proceedings is sorting out as well as reorganizing the company’s financial obligations. To keep the business going, within the laws, the bankrupted and its trustee may cancel pre-existing business and labor contracts. At the end of the day, many creditors must take a “hair cut” on the money they are owed. Once all stakeholders in the process agree upon the terms and conditions of a reorganization plan, the company can then emerge from the bankruptcy protection with a lighter debt load. So it can carry on its business as usual in a competitive market place but at lesser costs. - Ayee
For individuals, filing for bankruptcy may absolve them from some financial obligations, but the stigma resulting from personal bankruptcy remains with that person for life. Furthermore, employment prospects for the bankrupted are somewhat limited too. Therefore, not many emerge from the legal rigmarole of bankruptcy proceedings a winner.
But why filing for bankruptcy remains a chosen alternative for both individuals and business organizations, many of them are well established companies?
For many unfortunate people, dismal job markets and collapsing housing prices leave them with little option but declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy enabled them to walk away from an oversize mortgage and/or exorbitant medical bills.
But there is another ball of wax for corporations who have volunteered to be bankrupted. Chapter 11 of the country’s bankruptcy codes has become a savior to many well-known companies and their hard-working employees. Remember a landmark case between Texaco, Inc., and Pennzoil, Co., in the 80s? After the court favored Pennzoil with a multi-billion-dollar damage award against Texaco, the latter sought protection from the insightful laws to fend off this humongous award.
In other more mundane cases, resulting from certain accounting principles, as times go by, a company’s financial position can be overburdened with its future liabilities in pension and health benefits owing to their many employees.
Under Chapter 11, the company operates its business as usual except no creditors are being repaid while the trustee of the proceedings is sorting out as well as reorganizing the company’s financial obligations. To keep the business going, within the laws, the bankrupted and its trustee may cancel pre-existing business and labor contracts. At the end of the day, many creditors must take a “hair cut” on the money they are owed. Once all stakeholders in the process agree upon the terms and conditions of a reorganization plan, the company can then emerge from the bankruptcy protection with a lighter debt load. So it can carry on its business as usual in a competitive market place but at lesser costs. - Ayee
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