Someday everything's gonna be different...

I was watching one of those Sunday morning shows a few weeks ago before church when Ben Stein gave a little monologue about the state of the economy. He said it wasn't as bad as everyone thought it was, & he didn't think we were slipping into a recession. I'm not sure if I agree with his prognosis, but that's beside the point. He did offer up advice on what to do if we did, & I wished I could have played the clip for one of my employees. He said show up to work early & stay as late as you can & work harder than anyone else.

Unfortunately, he didn't follow that advice, I don't think he even listened. So, I'm back to the drawing board with hiring a new employee. I would think that getting a decent employee wouldn't be too hard being so close to Hope College & with the unemployment rate so high. My little store hasn't had the best track record with part time employees, since I've been there, we've gone through two. Maybe it's me. The other workers say it was that way before I got there, but my ego wouldn't allow me to believe that I could hire an employee that wouldn't be great. So, I hired a fella from someone's recommendation without any kind of formal interview. At first, he was great, or so I thought. He showed up to work & did what I asked him to. After a couple of weeks, though he started coming up with excuses as to why he couldn't come to work & always asked to leave early.

He's gone now & I'm on to the next guy. After doing three interviews with people, I decided on someone. He seems intelligent & polite. One of my questions I ask these days is what people think of manual labor. I don't really want to hear that people love it, because they are probably just telling me what I want to hear, & I also don't want to hear that they hate it 'cause then they'll really hate it. I'm quite proud of the list of questions I came up with, actually. The problem is I really want to like people when I talk to them & I want to believe what they say. We'll see how this one goes.

An Old Story by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Strange that I did not know him then,
That friend of mine!
I did not even show him then
One friendly sign;

But cursed him for the ways he had
To make me see
My envy of the praise he had
For praising me.

I would have rid the earth of him
Once, in my pride!...
I never knew the worth of him
Until he died.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Start a War-The National, Boxer

Fake Empire-The National, Boxer

Tomorrow is a Long Time-Bob Dylan

Are You the One I've Been Waiting For?-Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Canadee-I-O-Nic Jones

Happy Wednesday, friends...

andrew