Quit Quiet Quitting ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

Quiet quitters make up at least 50% of the U.S. workforce -- probably more, Gallup finds.  That must have quite an impact on productivity.  Not a good sign for mental health either...

Quit Quiet Quitting

      Quiet quitting refers to the practice of staying at a job but essentially giving up on it.  You collect a paycheck while giving minimal effort or maybe not even actually working.  Sometimes it's the job, the work environment, or whatever it is going on with us.  We go through the  motions to look like we're there, but in spirit we are not.

      Quite a few years ago--the beginning of 1990 to be more precise--I was trying to settle down in  the Knoxville TN area after over a decade on the road.  It was a challenge for me to adapt to a stationary way of life.  

       After a few attempts at working some odd jobs to pay bills, a friend told me about an investment firm where he had been working. He thought I might have some luck at it even though he hadn't been very successful. I went to apply at a fancy office on the tenth floor of a nice bank building with a grand view of the Smokey Mountains.  I definitely could deal with the view.  They hired me on the spot and I began working immediately.

        From the start I felt that something shady was going on.  I was part of a small cold-calling staff to set up investment deals for the brokers.  The leads were old and tired and there was a lot of negative reactions with the people I was calling.  I started hearing rumors about the management and sales brokers.  Something not quite right was going on.

       After a couple weeks, paychecks were bouncing.  From my first check I would always run downstairs to the bank to cash mine, but not everyone else was so lucky.  Most of the people there quit, but a few like me stayed on despite the fact that the principles of the company and the head broker stopped coming. There was nothing for us to do, but the office was open.

      For a couple of days four of us were in the office waiting.  We'd heard that the FBI was investigating and that they might come, but they never did while we were there.  We waited, looked at the beautiful view, and talked.  We had already quit, but we were hoping for that last paycheck which I knew the others needed as much as I did.

      Finally, when Friday morning came, the secretary gave us checks. I rushed down to cash it and to my relief it cleared.  I went home.  I had quit quietly as had the other three who were left.

      Sometimes, quiet quitting isn't the right thing to do, but sometimes it's the only thing you can do.

       Have you ever quiet quit a job?   Do you sometimes feel like just quiet quitting life?  What do you need in life to keep enthused about what you are doing?

Please Pray Positive ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

      Positivity is something this world needs more of.  When I stop to weigh the consequences of my words, thoughts, or actions I usually try to reflect whether or not my decisions will have positive consequences.  At least that's what I hope I do...

     Prayers and thoughts are something often offered up after some tragic situation.  Of course we're all thinking about those times, but I'm not sure what the point of offering those mental exercises.  However, the prayers are what seem to set some people off.  Prayers are typically pretty innocuous and usually well intended.  Our prayers might be heartfelt exhortations to God or internal contemplations to help us make sense of a bad thing.  I don't know why prayers should upset anyone in the rational world, but I think some people just need to rail against whatever positivity might be out there.

      If you don't like the prayers of others then just be quiet about it.  What is the point of the complaint?  And if you are praying, please pray positively. 

       Have you ever prayed for something bad to happen to someone else?  Do the prayers of others bother you?   Should we announce our prayers to the world?

Over Or Out ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

     Over and out.  I've heard that in so many movies where people are communicating over a radio.  You know the scenes--police cars, airplanes, anywhere that might require that sort of communication.  Over and out...

       Oh no!  According to some, saying "over and out" is not correct.  It makes total sense to me. While you're talking with someone each says "over" when their part is done, right?  Then when you want to have the final say you declare, "Over and out" and that is the end of it.  Sounds good to me.

      I don't like a hanging conversation where you don't know that anyone had the last word or not.  Most of the time it probably doesn't matter.  But then, there are those times when questions linger, doubts cloud our understanding of what did actually go down and what everyone was left thinking about it.

     Once I was in a relationship for a long time and then it came to a point where the other person declared to me one day, "We have nothing more to talk about."

      For a while we did continue to talk as the relationship began disintegrating.  I began to realize that we really didn't have anything else to talk about.  Then it was all over.  Done.  We never spoke.  Again.

       I kind of wish that when that person had uttered those harsh words about having nothing more to say to one another that they would have simply said, "Over and out."  Or out.  Either way it would have been the end.

      Did you ever have a CB radio in your vehicle?  Would you prefer a close relationship to end abruptly rather than lingering in unhappiness?  What is something you wish you had never said to someone else?