Professionalism

Where did Professionalism go? There once was a time that you could go to different work locations and customer service was great. As you entered into the workplace people were inviting, polite, and kind. When I first started working, I was taught to always speak to customers, smile, and do not be on my cell phone. Now, it’s a different ball game. My biggest pet peeved is when I go into a store and I’m at the cash register and someone doesn’t speak. I immediately say to myself, am I not standing here? Common courtesy is to always speak no matter. Yes, I understand that we sometimes have challenging days but an outstanding work ethic should always remain. My old manager use to tell us to leave our problems outside the door before we began working. Another one of my pet peeved is for someone to be texting and talking on the phone while customers are in front of them. I have encountered this problem on two different occasions. On the first occasion, I was at Walmart. As I got ready to pay for my items, the young lady was texting on her phone. I thought that as she saw me coming, she would’ve hurried and put the phone away but it wasn’t any shame in her game. My second encounter was at Burger King. This young lady was talking on her cell phone like she was on break. Immediately I don’t want her bagging and touching my food because she didn’t even wash her hands. Let’s keep it professional!

Black History Month

As you all may know, February is Black History Month and we get to celebrate our ancestors and history by awarding them for their gratitude and bravery. It has been a long discussion about if we should have more than one month to celebrate black history or are we fine with being limited to one month of the year. Although the lives of many successful African Americans helped pave the way for where we are now, other ethnicities and racial parties have history that they also want to be recognized. The significance of black history month is simply our heroes being recognized and appreciated for everything they have suffered to make a better life for others. Why is it important that African Americans get one specific month to celebrate their history? Do you think it is fair?

NBA Losing Popularity

I am online and I started reading about this information on the NBA. When someone says something about the NBA who comes to mind? Is it LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, or Michael Jordan? What about John Wall or Derrick Rose? Some studies are starting to show how the NBA is losing its popularity because the "white" fans are starting to get tired of watching African-Americans play the sport. The fans want more of a mixture of races and to see a team sport play. I can honestly understand why the fans are starting to feel this way because the NBA is predominantly African-Americans. No one really mentions anything about Kevin Love. Can you name a couple of players without struggling who plays in the NBA who are not African-Americans? I am speaking of very well known and popular players who will have the same popularity as LeBron James or Kobe Bryant? You will hear about Carmelo Anthony or some other player like James Harden. Yes true enough some people have more talent than others, but the NBA is predominantly African-Americans. Every team has at least four players if not more who are African-Americans. The ratings even show how the attendance of the NBA all star game this year was lower than before. Also, the game is not as much as a team sport like it used to be. Not many people speak out on this, but this is very noticeable. I notice this out of all of the years of me watching the game and studying the game myself. It is not hard to tell the change of the sport and how the teams are starting to change as well. Like I said earlier how this years' All star game had NO whites at all in the all star game. I was watching and seen Pau Gasol. He was the only person I seen who was not an African-American. The games are even turning into one on one games now. The teams are not really playing as a team or a team game anymore. My question is do you feel the NBA is biased and not the same as it used to be? Is the NBA not giving others the opportunity as others? Are the people aware of the NBA losing some of its fans because of the racism issues? Why do people not speak out on this? I feel everyone should honestly have a far chance when it comes to this because we are all humans at the end of the day. But, if everyone is so concern about other races not having the same opportunity why has no one said anything about the situation? This is not the only sport that is having this problem. But, I have been seeing all over social media how the NBA all star game was racist because of the colors and who participated in the events and all star game. I know racism plays a big part in the world we live in today, but do you feel this is the case in this situation?

The Titanic II: To Ride or Not to Ride?

A billionaire has built a replica of the RMS Titanic (see the article) and it is slated to sail in 2018. I wonder if they will completely flout fate and sail its maiden voyage for April 10?

Titanic set to sail in 2018

To ride or not to ride? That is the question. Not that I could afford it, this is strictly a rhetorical question, but is an interesting quandary. On the one hand, statistically, it should be safe. It should also technologically be safe. I mean, what are the odds that TWO Titanics would sink on their maiden voyage? Right?

On the other hand, the first Titanic was also supposed to be "technologically safe" too and my primitive, superstitious inner monkey-brain thinks it goes against all sense of self-preservation to ride anything that is modeled after such an ill-fated ship.

 

Question of the Day

Today in my Criminology class, the posed question was if you were a police officer and you were put in a situation where you had to make a quick decision and shoot a fleeing suspect instead of running after them would you?  In my opinion I would choose to run after the suspect instead of resulting to automatically shooting the suspect. I don't think that I could be responsible for potentially killing a life much less a human life. If I were put in that situation I would chase after the suspect or find other ways of obtaining that suspect. If you were put in that situation how would you handle it? Would you potentially risk your life so that you can in the end save someone else's life including the suspect?

2016 Political Race

It's never a good idea to talk politics unless you want to start a fight, argument, or lose a friend but  most of us are eighteen and are able to vote now. I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts and opinions on this years debates and candidates. Do you guys see anyone that has your attention or interest you? Are you not concerned or care too much about politics or the political race? Are you worried about who will take office? Will you participate in this years election? Personally I love politics. I'm a engineer major but politics interest me because they impact is ALL in one way or another. This is the first election that I'm able to participate in by voting, but I'm not too impressed by this years candidates. I'm neither a democrat nor republican, I'm just for anyone that catches my interest and seem to offer the most for me. The only thing kinda exciting about this years political race is that Hillary is running. The only thing that stands out to me about her is that she is a woman. Other than that their is nothing that really draws me to want to vote for her. Bernie Sanders seems to be a good candidate but his age is one draw back to him. On the other side we have Trump which is will not discuss other than I can in no way relate or see the world and situations the way he does. Rubio and Cruz seem to be very similar too each other which is what makes me not pay too much attention to them. They don't stand out. The president has power but not all the power. So whoever is in office I'm not too worried because all of the branches keep each other balanced and being too radical. 

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you ten extra years of life.

The speaker is Jane McGonigal and I just love her. She's got a PhD Performance Studies and is a game developer.  She has long been a proponent of gaming and has been trying to convince everyone for years that the world would be a better place if everyone would just play more games. She put her money where her mouth is a few years ago when she suffered a severe concussion and almost died and made up a game to help her heal.

This video is from a TED Talk lecture where she challenges the audience to earn 7 1/2 extra minutes on their lives by playing a game with her. The video is 18 minutes, but well worth the watch.

PROMPT:
How do you feel about what Jane McGonigal has to say about games helping people to live better lives?