Silly Ideas
There are some people on this planet who are too full of themselves to listen and hear; no matter how many times you try to explain something to them, they still do not get it. I think it isn't because they are incapable of understanding, but rather because they are too busy patting themselves on the head to hear what you say.
One fellow that I know clings to the misconception that I threw away a successful and high-paying career in another field and immediately began making pipes fulltime. He is a bright guy, but apparently incapable of listening because he is too busy explaining how he became successful. It goes something like this...
me: This doesn't seem to be working out as well as I'd hoped, I may need to stop making pipes and move on to something else where I can make a living.
guy: Why don't you get a day job and make pipes on the side?
me: I can't get a day job, I'm unemployable.
guy: Of course you can, then you can make pipes on the side and build up your business. Why when I started out [insert lecture here]
me: Are you listening? I said, I'm unemployable. Getting a day job isn't an option.
guy: Anybody can get a day job. I had a day job when I started and I still have a day job [insert lecture here]
me: Hello, are you in there? I said, I'm unemployable. Don't you know what that means?
guy: You're in the middle of America, anybody can get a day job. I've built my business [insert lecture here]
me: Listen, I'm over 50 which is an important age in America. When you're over 50 and you've been successful in a career, you're in a difficult situation. You're interviewing with prospective employers who are in the 25-40 age range, they are hot rocket types who are on the way up. They see you as a daddy figure who will tell them how things should be done because you have enough experience to know what's going on. They see you as having higher salary requirements than their own. Do you really think that a 30-year-old manager is going to hire someone who knows more and will get paid more than himself, when he can hire a new college grad for less money and know that the college grad will be easy to manage? It's a waste of time from that perspective alone.
guy: You need to get out there and find a day job, there are millions of employers in America. It was tough to build my business but [insert lecture here]
me: Sorry man, I sat in a cubicle and gritted my teeth and did what I was told for as long as I could. You put me in a cubicle now and you have a loaded gun on your hands. The last two or three interviews I had, I couldn't even get through the interview without getting up in the middle and saying "This is bullshit, have a nice day" on my way out the door. As far as cubicle jobs go I'm completely dysfunctional.
guy: So get some other kind of job. I had a job as [insert lecture here]
me: Yeah, that's a great idea. I'll go apply for a job at someplace like WalMart. They pay about minimum wage. You have to put your salary history on the job application. So you're a hiring manager at WalMart and you look at a job application where the guy's last job was paying maybe 10 times what he'll make if you hire him. You're going to believe he'll stay for an instant longer than it takes to get a better paying job? I don't think so.
guy: Well there are plenty of other things you could do [insert lecture here]
me: All those other jobs go to people who have some verifiable experience and who seem like they'll be easy to manage. I don't have the experience they're looking for and I'm past the age of putting up with the bullshit that the Human Resources department dishes out, that went away a long time ago.
guy: Listen, you just need to get a day job and do pipes on the side, why when I [insert lecture here]
He's not a bad guy, other than being really thrilled with himself, and he's certainly bright enough, he just doesn't get it. There's another guy who likes to tell me about the Law Of Supply And Demand. That one goes something like this...
me: Pipes don't seem to be selling, it looks like I need to raise my prices.
guy: That's crazy, the law of supply and demand says that if products aren't selling you need to decrease your prices, not increase them!
me: That's fine if your prices have enough profit in them to allow it. The way my prices are set, if every pipe I offered sold within a day or so I'd be able to keep going. If only half of them sell that means I need to make a significant increase in the prices in order to keep going.
guy: The law of supply and demand says you need to decrease prices, not increase them.
me: So what, I'm going to lose a little money on each pipe and make it up in volume? I don't think so.
guy: If you increase your prices the law of supply and demand says that fewer pipes will sell.
me: I think the law of supply and demand is swell as long as it applies, but there's a higher law of economics that says if you're not making any money you're in a fix because everything you need costs money.
guy: You need to get a day job...
Then there's this other guy who kind of gets the idea that a day job isn't going to happen, but thinks I can still make pipes part time. I guess he never started a business from scratch and doesn't realize that until you get going there is zero time for anything else.
It's funny how things work out. But they always do. It's an amazing world we live in.
One fellow that I know clings to the misconception that I threw away a successful and high-paying career in another field and immediately began making pipes fulltime. He is a bright guy, but apparently incapable of listening because he is too busy explaining how he became successful. It goes something like this...
me: This doesn't seem to be working out as well as I'd hoped, I may need to stop making pipes and move on to something else where I can make a living.
guy: Why don't you get a day job and make pipes on the side?
me: I can't get a day job, I'm unemployable.
guy: Of course you can, then you can make pipes on the side and build up your business. Why when I started out [insert lecture here]
me: Are you listening? I said, I'm unemployable. Getting a day job isn't an option.
guy: Anybody can get a day job. I had a day job when I started and I still have a day job [insert lecture here]
me: Hello, are you in there? I said, I'm unemployable. Don't you know what that means?
guy: You're in the middle of America, anybody can get a day job. I've built my business [insert lecture here]
me: Listen, I'm over 50 which is an important age in America. When you're over 50 and you've been successful in a career, you're in a difficult situation. You're interviewing with prospective employers who are in the 25-40 age range, they are hot rocket types who are on the way up. They see you as a daddy figure who will tell them how things should be done because you have enough experience to know what's going on. They see you as having higher salary requirements than their own. Do you really think that a 30-year-old manager is going to hire someone who knows more and will get paid more than himself, when he can hire a new college grad for less money and know that the college grad will be easy to manage? It's a waste of time from that perspective alone.
guy: You need to get out there and find a day job, there are millions of employers in America. It was tough to build my business but [insert lecture here]
me: Sorry man, I sat in a cubicle and gritted my teeth and did what I was told for as long as I could. You put me in a cubicle now and you have a loaded gun on your hands. The last two or three interviews I had, I couldn't even get through the interview without getting up in the middle and saying "This is bullshit, have a nice day" on my way out the door. As far as cubicle jobs go I'm completely dysfunctional.
guy: So get some other kind of job. I had a job as [insert lecture here]
me: Yeah, that's a great idea. I'll go apply for a job at someplace like WalMart. They pay about minimum wage. You have to put your salary history on the job application. So you're a hiring manager at WalMart and you look at a job application where the guy's last job was paying maybe 10 times what he'll make if you hire him. You're going to believe he'll stay for an instant longer than it takes to get a better paying job? I don't think so.
guy: Well there are plenty of other things you could do [insert lecture here]
me: All those other jobs go to people who have some verifiable experience and who seem like they'll be easy to manage. I don't have the experience they're looking for and I'm past the age of putting up with the bullshit that the Human Resources department dishes out, that went away a long time ago.
guy: Listen, you just need to get a day job and do pipes on the side, why when I [insert lecture here]
He's not a bad guy, other than being really thrilled with himself, and he's certainly bright enough, he just doesn't get it. There's another guy who likes to tell me about the Law Of Supply And Demand. That one goes something like this...
me: Pipes don't seem to be selling, it looks like I need to raise my prices.
guy: That's crazy, the law of supply and demand says that if products aren't selling you need to decrease your prices, not increase them!
me: That's fine if your prices have enough profit in them to allow it. The way my prices are set, if every pipe I offered sold within a day or so I'd be able to keep going. If only half of them sell that means I need to make a significant increase in the prices in order to keep going.
guy: The law of supply and demand says you need to decrease prices, not increase them.
me: So what, I'm going to lose a little money on each pipe and make it up in volume? I don't think so.
guy: If you increase your prices the law of supply and demand says that fewer pipes will sell.
me: I think the law of supply and demand is swell as long as it applies, but there's a higher law of economics that says if you're not making any money you're in a fix because everything you need costs money.
guy: You need to get a day job...
Then there's this other guy who kind of gets the idea that a day job isn't going to happen, but thinks I can still make pipes part time. I guess he never started a business from scratch and doesn't realize that until you get going there is zero time for anything else.
It's funny how things work out. But they always do. It's an amazing world we live in.
posted by random at 7:07 AM
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