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Back in the day when I was working in the hardware store, I had a boss who had an excellent approach to dealing with really difficult customers. That approach was as follows, and I quote, “They can be unpleasant. Hell, they can be a total asshole… but at the end of the day, if we get their money, we won.” And he was right.

I spent the better part of 10 years in that hardware store doing exactly that… putting up with people’s shit a lot of the time. One time it was even pushed to the extreme of a customer throwing merchandise at me and asking what time I got off work cause he wanted to meet in the parking lot! But was it even really just a matter of gritting and putting up with their shit? No. In fact, when you really examine the situation, I would say it is a careful negotiation executed with someone who has chosen to position themselves as the enemy. That boss I mentioned earlier had an unmatched ability to strategically and successfully execute this negotiation and ultimately reach the objective of monetary extraction from the enemy’s pocketbook. At the end of the day, we had every right to tell a bunch of these people to “go to hell” because we didn’t need them to keep the store open. However by negotiating, we were able to improve our situation, regardless of whether they really improved their situation or not.

So if that is the right way to deal with such situations on a small scale, why is not the way to do so with matters as important as national security? It doesn’t seem to make a hell of a lot of sense to me that we “refuse to negotiate with terrorist nations” like Iran, Syria, North Korea, and others. If you refuse to negotiate, exactly how do you expect to ever, metaphorically speaking, “get their money“. Instead, we don’t even tell them just to leave the store (ignore them), but step up and slap them in the face with a name like “axis of evil”. What kind of a deeply flawed theory are we living under?

What if I had, instead of apologizing and negotiating DESPITE being dead right, told that guy “F*** you, I’m off at 6, see you in the parking lot!!” I’m guessing we wouldn’t have gotten his money (which we did, $26.27), and might have just ended up being dead right with a big black eye.

I put up my Christmas tree already! I was too excited to wait any longer and boy does it look great. Like it or not everyone, it’s THAT time of year!

I recently had a rather interesting conversation with a direct superior of mine at work. His premise was basically that my generation, generation Y, is causing my company great concern at the top levels of the company. They just don’t understand the “me generation”. And this is what annoys the hell out of me to be honest. I am sick of the rap we get for being self-centered, disloyal, only caring about money, not having respect for “the company”, and on and on.

First of all, why doesn’t the generation above me ever take a look at themselves and then reconsider these allegations. Weren’t the baby boomers the generation that were going to change it all? Stop the wars, protect individual liberty, stop corporate abuse, and all the rest? I think in a very small way we were already betrayed them in that respect. Then lets discuss what we see going on Corporate America today and see if that might have some effect on why we don’t immediately run out and pledge the next 40 years of our working lives to our companies.

I grew up in Northern Colorado on the Front Range where Hewlett Packard WAS the major employer. Many of the baby boomer generation I knew growing up, including 4-5 people right on my block, spent 25-30 years working for that organization. It was by all accounts a great company, that treated its people right, and all these people just fell in line because of it. Then, in a matter of a couple years as a result of an economic hiccup in the tech sector and a change management, all of those 25-30 year employees woke up laid off. And where exactly do you go work at 50 years old if you have spent 30 years doing the same thing and ever get even half the salary you are used to again? With treatment like that as an example, why would I want to run out into the workforce to commit my whole life to one company?

Yet we still get this rap. But it seems to me all companies need to do is figure out that the environment has changed and that they must change to leverage that and succeed. Well finally I found someone else who believes this apparently. Widely considered one of the greatest CEOs in American history, Jack Welch of GE fame seems to believe in us… have a listen.

I think Jack and Susie are right on and very much appreciate the commentary. I strongly suggest that baby-boomer led organizations stop wondering what’s wrong with Generation Y and instead work to understand us, figure out how to get the best ones of us, and then go win in the market. And no… just running out and starting a cheesy Facebook group is not the way to do it.

Ron Paul Sets Fundraising Record!

Fringe candidate my sweet a**! Apparently he is a fringe candidate that just raised 4.2 million bucks in ONE DAY, crushing the all-time republican fund raising record. Oh, and did I mention that was all of the internet. For the people, by the people… no special interest money here. The sheep are getting onboard, fast.

Ron Paul Raises More Than $4.2 Million

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours.

Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie “V for Vendetta.” Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: “Remember, remember the 5th of November.”

Paul’s total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama.

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said the effort began independently about two months ago at the hands of Paul’s backers. He said Paul picked up on the movement, mentioning in it speeches and interviews.

“It’s been kind of building up virally,” Benton said.

The $4.2 million represented online contributions from more than 37,000 donors, fundraising director Jonathan Bydlak said Monday night.

Paul has been lagging in the polls behind Republican front-runners. But he captured national attention at the end of September when he reported raising $5.2 million in three months, putting him fourth among Republican presidential candidates in fundraising for the quarter.

Paul as of Monday had raised more than $7 million since Oct. 1, more than half his goal of $12 million by the end of the year, according to his Web site.

Paul advocates limited government and low taxes like other Republicans, but he stands alone as the only GOP presidential candidate opposed to the Iraq war. He also has opposed Bush administration security measures that he says encroach on civil liberties.