Occupation Questions 41-50

THE QUESTION:
O48: I work in an area of health care management that tracks workload data. Our finished products help doctors and staff justify their positions and equipment, and help fight for new jobs. Why then, do doctors refuse to do the paperwork that provides the numbers we use to help them? Weekly, I have providers call me a “damn bean counter,” blow off sending us important numbers and complain at meetings about having to fill out reports. Then when they can’t get the personnel they need for patient care, they rant and rave that all their work is ignored. I know brillant doctors sometimes have odd personalities, but, c’mon folks, where’s the common sense?
POSTED APRIL 8, 1999
Alma, federal employee and white lesbian <pridewks@seacove.net>, Kempner, TX
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THE QUESTION:
O47: I have quite a few health problems and visit doctors’ offices frequently, and I am finding less and less personal attention from the doctors. I suffered with a painful distended abdomen for three months while doctors simply told me the pain was in my head instead of listening to my symptoms. Why does it take visiting numerous offices and dishing out mega bucks to find a doctor who will listen to you as a patient and person?
(Director’s note: Y? would be interested in hearing responses from doctors.)
POSTED MARCH 29, 1999
27-year-old female suffering from Crohn’s Disease, Erie, PA

ANSWER 1:
Some doctors are better than others – and so are their staff –so if you find a good one, stick with them! Unfortunately, the overhead of running an office and hiring staff makes many doctors see patients for no longer than five minutes at a time so they can see 40 or more people a day. Many offices need one or two staff members who do nothing but sit on the phone fighting with HMOs all day. To pay for that extra person’s salary, more patients have to be seen – but the care is more rushed. It’s a vicious cycle. We need to change what’s going on.
POSTED APRIL 5, 1999
An RN, West Palm Beach, FL
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THE QUESTION:
O46: I work as a cashier in a grocery store. Why do customers toss their money at me, put it on the counter, drop it on the conveyor belt (where it gets eaten) … everywhere except in my outstretched hand, then hold their hands out for their change? And why do they make derogatory comments about the customer I am waiting on (their speed, what they buy, etc.) and then look at me as if I should laugh with them? I could go on, but the list is endless.
POSTED MARCH 26, 1999
S., female <sen24@yahoo.com>, Oak Park, MI

ANSWER 1:
Some people may figure that the whole checkout area is an extension of your personal space. Perhaps placing the money on the countertop seems the same as putting it in your palm. Many shops have a small tray for placing money. However, it is still normal to have change counted back to you in your hand. The customer wouldn’t be about to receive it back any other way! As for the small talk and chatting, some people may be trying to be nice, i.e. not ignore you as if you were a machine. Perhaps they can’t think of anything mutually relevant other than the customer who just left. I used to work on checkouts and was bugged by rude people, too. It’s best to just think “loser” and be happy they’re not you!
POSTED MARCH 30, 1999
Lucy, 30, female, Tokyo, Japan
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THE QUESTION:
O45: Why do we as customers continue to support establishments that provide poor service while paying their employees such meager wages? Do any of us feel guilty about ordering that Big Mac?
POSTED MARCH 18, 1999
Christopher D., male <alphamontego@yahoo.com>, Arlington, TX

ANSWER 1:
I don’t feel guilty about fast food joints. I feel guilty about some foreign products: Pakistani soccer balls (supposedly made with child labor under crippling conditions), wicker baskets from China retailing here for $1.50, Nike anything (favorite target of Doonesbury). I think it’s a quantum leap from U.S. burger flippers to 10-year-old Pakistanis with gnarled fingers.
POSTED MARCH 24, 1999
B. Hale <halehart@aol.com>, Hartford , CT

FURTHER NOTICE:
You always have the option of not buying products or services from companies that pay their employees low wages, but this might mean you pay more in the end. Imagine that one day McDonalds doubled all the hourly wages and salaries of their employees, and then started a program to improve their service. You might not feel guilty about going to the establishment and buying a Big Mac, but when you get there, you find out those “two all beef patties” now cost you $10.50 for each sandwich. Would you continue to pay this much for fast food? The bottom line is lower expenses help keep profit margins higher, and lowering the labor expense is the easiest way to cut total costs.

Lowering expenses also allows the company to offer its products to the public at a lower price, thereby driving updemand for the product. As the company’s business increases, it can spend more on salaries. But when total expenses rise, prices for the consumer increase. As prices increase, demand drops, and cost-cutting must take place. And where do they cut costs first? Labor. It’s the business cycle, and it’s basic economics. And you are a player in the game, whether you like it or not, simply because you are the consumer. This is a long way of saying that those minimum-wage-earning employees are there to ensure lunch at McDonalds won’t put too much of a strain on your wallet.
POSTED MARCH 26, 1999
Stephen S., 31, former minimum wage earner, San Antonio , TX
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THE QUESTION:
O44: To employers and hiring managers only: Tell me, honestly, whether you weigh the sex of a possible employee when making a hiring decision. If so, why? Also, what is it that men in general possess that, to me, appears to give them the edge?
POSTED FEB. 16, 1999
Tigress, 22, female <tigress1975@hotmail.com>, Temecula, CA

ANSWER 1:
I work as a manager in the software industry, and about 90 percent of the resumes that reach my desk are from males. However, I don’t believe men have an edge. In my way of thinking, an edge would indicate that someone is naturally more gifted, and I don’t think that’s what you’re asking. Yet, I do think that men are systematically and institutionally given preferences during their career development. I believe the best workplace is a diverse one. I try to assemble multi-ethnic and gender teams because I’ve found that such differences bring life to a group. If everyone had the same outlook, the team would stagnate. And while I’ll never reject a good applicant, I do make a point to look for diversity (e.g. at career fairs).
POSTED FEB. 17, 1999
D.N., 34, male, Seattle , WA

FURTHER NOTICE:
I worked as a supervisor for a state agency for 10 years. I do not believe we ever weighed whether the applicant was male or female. Basically, it was who was most qualified. This agency was of the “social service” type, but we got about an equal number of applicants of both sexes. My office was, in fact, made up mostly of women.
POSTED FEB. 23, 1999
Male <y8d2k8wl@coastalnet.com>, NC
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THE QUESTION:
O43: To farmers: Why are most barns painted red?
POSTED FEB. 15, 1999
E.J.R., 25 <FIFarmngtn@aol.com>, Farmington Hills, MI

ANSWER 1:
I’m not a farmer, but I’ve read the the custom started because originally most people had to make their own paint (which weather-proofed and helped preserve the wood as well as was attractive). Red – made with iron – was one of the easier and cheaper colors to make.
POSTED MARCH 1, 1999
Catherine H., female <tylik@eskimo.com>, Woodinville , WA

FURTHER NOTICE:
The only reason I’ve heard about barns being red is from my grandmother. She said that when she was younger, farmers made their own paint. They would mix iron oxide (rust) in with it, and therefore the red color.
POSTED MARCH 1, 1999
P.M.B., farmer, 46, Appleton , MN
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THE QUESTION:
O42: I’ve often encountered adults who have graduated high school yet cannot read. To teachers: How is it that a person can go through 12 years of schooling, yet not be capable of performing the most basic math or reading skills? I understand many people have genuine learning disabilities, but there are such a large number of people who are functionally illiterate that this can’t be the only explanation. Why aren’t the basics of reading (and math) taught throughout a childs’ school life? With so many hours spent in school, don’t teachers feel this is the major failing of our school sytem? Any child should at least be able to read the newspaper by the time he or she graduates.
POSTED DEC. 27, 1998
C.J., 35, female, Cincinnati, OH

ANSWER 1:
I was a Project Read volunteer for a few years. We were chartered with trying to increase literacy in our communities. My students ranged in age from 15 to 70. The answer with the younger students was simple: There were too many students in one classroom for a teacher to notice when one student was not keeping up. When they were finally noticed, the teachers would advise the parents to get a tutor. The stories that came from the elderly students were quite shocking. They had learned to beat the system by pretending they could read. They memorized stories in school, they circled a “pattern” of answers on multiple choice tests (a, b, c, then c, b, a). The odds of getting a passing score were obviously in their favor. They drove cars by memorizing street signs. They knew a red octagonal sign meant “Stop.” Some of them were even truck drivers. They could find a particular address by matching freeway signs and street signs to a map. They shopped for food by “reading” the pictures on the packages. They held down jobs, functioned in society and finally decided to learn to read when they had grandchildren who wanted them to read bedtime stories to them. (You can’t fool a kid who knows the story!) It was really amazing and quite sad to learn how easy it was to beat the system. I can only hope that our next generation of teachers has the time and dedication to spot the shy and/or dyslexic students who are too embarrassed to say “I don’t understand.”
POSTED JAN. 4, 1999
Mimi, 38, female, Sunnyvale, CA

FURTHER NOTICE:
As a ninth-grade English teacher in a rural Vermont high school, I have no students who cannot read. I do, however, have students with reading levels ranging from third grade to post-high school. Yes, my primary concern is that my students read and write fluently, discovering both the power and joy in the written word. With every student, the goal is to help him or her reach a higher level than she or he comes in with. That varies considerably by student. Factors that have the greatest impact include family support and motivation. As with anything in life, practice is the key to proficiency. A student reading at a third grade level in high school who doesn’t read anything voluntarily will probably regress once the mandatory requirements are removed. I relinquish none of my responsibility; I am doing all that I can, as are thousands of educators.
POSTED JAN. 4, 1999
S. Locarno, 48, Hardwick, VT

FURTHER NOTICE 2:
I volunteer at an elementary school three days a week. I work with first, second, and fifth graders in math and reading. There is one major difference between children who learn and those who don’t – the ability to pay attention and concentrate. No one can teach a child to read, even one-on-one, when their mind is somewhere else. I think the smartest parents are those who keep their children out of first grade until the child is mature enough to sit and engage in an activity that takes concentration. Better to wait a year and be the oldest one in the class than be a fifth grader or adult who believes they can’t read. (By fifth grade, the kids are embarrassed, have learned coping skills or have written themselves off, and it’s hard to get them past those feelings/actions.)
POSTED JAN. 4, 1999
Colleen C., 38, female <congdon@illuminet.net> Quantico, VA

FURTHER NOTICE 3:
Illiteracy in America is not what it once was. Many (more than ever before) Americans read, write and are able to articulate their thoughts. With any large-scale operation, such as education, you will always have some people who slip through the cracks. How many more illiterate people would you know if you had been asking this question 50 or 60 years ago?
POSTED JAN. 5, 1999
Arodman, 19 <ab0490@wayne.edu>, Troy , MI
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THE QUESTION:
O41: I am a sales professional in my mid-40s who is having difficulty finding work. Many of the sales positions are entry level, and many companies want people to travel extensively (I have a family and travelled for years at a past job, and it nearly ruined my marriage). Despite the fact that I have a very successful sales/training and management backround, am I seen as too old? Are “seasoned” salespeople seen as too expensive to hire?
POSTED DEC. 16, 1998
M.E., 44, white <mde3225@aol.com>, Minneapolis, MN
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