If the system wastes enough of our time, energy and money, does that give them reassurance that our remaining scant resources dictate we’ll never get around to questioning it!?
Has it ever crossed your mind why we are put under so much unnecessary, subtle pressure from Government departments, large companies and financial institutions?
There are millions of people in this country supposedly out of work and we keep hearing that there isn’t enough money to keep them salaried - catch 22! Why don’t we pay people who aren’t set to ‘robot’ an average salary to take normal-rate calls quickly instead of leaving us hanging on an 0845 number for five minutes, going through security for another three minutes and then talking at length to a condescending, time-wasting but mature teenager with a superiority complex! I’ve noticed that a call to the tax man, the bank or a utility company doesn’t take less than half an hour these days – it’s frightening how much time, money and energy those calls drain not to mention the health implications (from eradiating telephone equipment).
It’s interesting how everything has a cause and effect: Problem [created and blamed on someone else] – Reaction [the media carries our indignant woes] – Solution [the problem creators celebrate providing the solution under our noses]. It’s not necessarily recommended in the PR manuals but the Problem/Reaction/Solution model seems to be rife at the moment. Government is causing problems, the public is reacting and Government is creating the solutions (and charging interest!).
What if we all woke up and, instead of frustratingly hanging up on the superior teenager with an attitude, said this is all wrong? Isn’t the answer: you cut the programme, my client/customer now can’t/won’t pay, so I’m not paying you? Isn’t that how it should work? Well, in a way, but “you should have made provision for this” would be the response. Yes, OK, so you think I should have known who was going to win the election, how severe the cuts were going to be, how the Euro-zone was going to fall over...maybe if full information was shared with us pre-election, better provision could have been made?!
There are very few powerful individuals dictating how UK and global business operates. They do have lots of power but they are few in numbers by comparison. Don’t jump off a bridge or take a gun to the police under the pressure of it, just wake up and see it for what it is. Consider money an energy, and FEAR an acronym of ‘feeling excited and ready’!
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Friday, 2 July 2010
PURGATORY LACED WITH FEAR
When the ultimate, ultimate client is Government, if we don’t play fair with each-other, where will it end?
I’m a pretty honest person, as you might have gathered by the header, I was raised a good Catholic girl with Irish grandparents. I was taught never to tell lies, be honest and, if the full truth be known, I’m probably too honest for my own good.
Why then, the more honest I am, the more representatives of large organisations and government departments tend to assume I’m dishonest? Has everyone in this country gone to such a level that they’re lying to the taxman and trying to wriggle out of payments that should be made for services rendered? It seems to be the default position for large organisations and has been for some time. I’m even coming across it in my personal life – the mobile phone company, the gas/electricity supplier, the insurance provider – there doesn’t seem to be an organisation providing a genuine service or listening to honest reasoning these days.
It’s as if small companies and individuals don’t have any rights to control their own income any more. The threats are clear: pay up or we’ll make your life difficult – in these recessional times, no-one wants to be rubber stamped “lacking liquidity” or “a bad payer” - the fear, nine times out of ten, will push companies or individuals into paying and time constraints stop them complaining or taking action against the company.
This country is in purgatory [in Roman Catholic doctrine, the place where souls remain until they have expiated their sins and can go to heaven] until we witness the real outcome of Government spending cuts and, in fact, that is likely to mark the next phase of it! Why then are organisations ignoring external factors and not paying the most needy of their suppliers and taking a ‘me first’ attitude no matter what the cost to their supply chain? There have been some well documented cases where excellent companies in the property industry have gone under due to the dishonest or incompetent dealings of the ultimate client and we were all shocked. Was that the trigger that’s now turned the majority of companies (even the smaller ones) into elbow pushing, me-firsters?
I can’t stand this air of greed and competition when no-one knows how things are going to pan out - all we know is that it’s going to be difficult for everyone and particularly small businesses. Surely purgatory can be peaceful, especially when most of us have not committed any wrongdoings to atone for!?
I’m a pretty honest person, as you might have gathered by the header, I was raised a good Catholic girl with Irish grandparents. I was taught never to tell lies, be honest and, if the full truth be known, I’m probably too honest for my own good.
Why then, the more honest I am, the more representatives of large organisations and government departments tend to assume I’m dishonest? Has everyone in this country gone to such a level that they’re lying to the taxman and trying to wriggle out of payments that should be made for services rendered? It seems to be the default position for large organisations and has been for some time. I’m even coming across it in my personal life – the mobile phone company, the gas/electricity supplier, the insurance provider – there doesn’t seem to be an organisation providing a genuine service or listening to honest reasoning these days.
It’s as if small companies and individuals don’t have any rights to control their own income any more. The threats are clear: pay up or we’ll make your life difficult – in these recessional times, no-one wants to be rubber stamped “lacking liquidity” or “a bad payer” - the fear, nine times out of ten, will push companies or individuals into paying and time constraints stop them complaining or taking action against the company.
This country is in purgatory [in Roman Catholic doctrine, the place where souls remain until they have expiated their sins and can go to heaven] until we witness the real outcome of Government spending cuts and, in fact, that is likely to mark the next phase of it! Why then are organisations ignoring external factors and not paying the most needy of their suppliers and taking a ‘me first’ attitude no matter what the cost to their supply chain? There have been some well documented cases where excellent companies in the property industry have gone under due to the dishonest or incompetent dealings of the ultimate client and we were all shocked. Was that the trigger that’s now turned the majority of companies (even the smaller ones) into elbow pushing, me-firsters?
I can’t stand this air of greed and competition when no-one knows how things are going to pan out - all we know is that it’s going to be difficult for everyone and particularly small businesses. Surely purgatory can be peaceful, especially when most of us have not committed any wrongdoings to atone for!?
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