I’m going to begin this post with a combined whinge and observation.
One of the reasons ride-share services got going was because too many taxi drivers let the industry down by giving poor service - especially the bigots. Most taxi drivers I’ve used have been polite (I would cheerfully hire some of them to drive visitors around on a tour of the region - which used to be able to be done: I don’t know if the service is still available), but some have tried to rip me off, one has physically threatened me, others have made their bigotry clear. I know others who have had taxi drivers who claimed they couldn’t find people in front of massive signs with the number of the building (i.e., the address) on it (leading me to make emergency drives to pick up people close to me who were in danger), others who claimed return of something involved trips when we had tracked their progress and it hadn’t.
The problems go the other way, too - passengers throwing up in cars, people not paying, others abusing or even assaulting drivers.
(I’ve also had police pull a taxi I was in [as a passenger, of course] over to give the driver a breath test - and bad luck about the extra cost for me, evidently.)
In any case, a significant enough number of passengers were dissatisfied for ride sharing to become viable enough to get going. It has expanded since, and problems have become evident, but had drivers been more aware of the need to manage the rogue element in their ranks and focus on pleasant service, ride sharing may not have got off the ground.
Similarly with check out staff in supermarkets. It is better now, but historically there was a problem with snarkiness, arrogance and downright bitchiness on the part of too many which gave independent operators and other shops a boost, and, eventually, combined with the push for lower costs to lead to self-serve check outs.
That cost jobs - which is why we insist on using served checkouts.
However, the utter incompetence at one such check out during the week where car motor oil was packed in with food has left me wondering if it is, indeed, time to give up and start using the self-serve checkouts . . .
So, to all those who rely on face-to-face contact as part of their job: any disdain or resentful carelessness is mostly harming your job prospects.
This week I have made the following posts on my other blogs:
- Fake
media
With some of the utter drivel I’ve read in/from the far right wing media over the last few years (e.g., this, but also this), I’ve sometimes thought we should be using the expression “fake media”, rather than fake news.
However, the big driver with media is what sells/ gets clicks - on all sides.
. . . - Overlooked
posts in 2020 that I consider worth a look
These are the posts which don’t show up in the list of top posts that I consider are worth a further look:
. . . - Although I have cross posted it here, it is
important enough, in my opinion, to include in this listing:
A few points on human rights (especially current genocides)
One of the most egregious of abuses against human rights is war. Other abuses, including killing, rape, torture, destruction and other barbarities all are likely to occur, and on a wide scale. It is therefore, in my opinion, incumbent on all people who care about human rights to care about issues relating to war and peace - peace activism, as exemplified by SIPRI and Paul K Chappell, monitoring, as exemplified by ACLED and Airwars (and SIPRI), and prevention, as exemplified by the International Peace Institute, The Elders, and - albeit with flaws - the UN.
One such organisation which could be said to fit into all three categories is the International Crisis Group, who have recently released their assessment of ten conflicts to watch in 2021 . . .
Moving slightly away from war, to crimes that also encompass horrific abuses committed on individuals, but to a scale that is egregious, we come to genocide and crimes against humanity
. .
The Economist article linked to above included the following sub-title:
“It is also the gravest example of a worldwide attack on human rights.”
The addition to The Economist’s article, this article on China’s abuses in Hong Kong raised the risk to the world order, and this assessment by Human Rights Watch is titled “China’s Global Threat to Human Rights”.
. . .
Others have subsequently joined in, but it took The Gambia’s heart to get the ball rolling - that, and a recognition that the response to genocide does NOT have to be a military invasion.
Will someone do that against China?
Well, it is unlikely to be any of the major powers.
. . .
However, China could be subject to influence from nations we haven’t heard much from yet - nations like Indonesia.
Those nations are where, in my opinion, the hope for human rights lie - flawed nations with their own internal problems, as with The Gambia, but a large market likely to be interest to China, a position to cut off China’s oil flows (as India can), and a history of “non-alignment”.
And on history, I’d like to end with a video assessing one of the key parts of a past genocide: the Holocaust. The video examines the term antisemitism, including the history of the term and nuances around its use.
. . .
PS - there are ten stages of genocide (see here). To put the preceding into a global context, . . . Even without Xinjiang and Tibet, there are ELEVEN genocides happening in the world right now . . . - Changing
career
There seems to be a major gap in help for people wanting to change career who are lacking in confidence, or are still employed - which is particularly concerning given the number of jobs that will disappear in the next few decades. Yes, new jobs will appear, but it is necessary to to undertake new training etc for those new jobs.
The below is aimed at enabling people to take some pre-emptive control over what happens in their life.
Self-Assessment for Career Change
. . .
- Directions
Directions
- a path;
How shall I live?
Who shall I be?
Where will I be?
I chose before
- as a child, spirit;
- an adult, . . .
(these candles are the “lite” substitute for my former news posts).
