EOC Week 3: This Charming Man

So this week we watch a nice little Danish romance movie called This Charming Man. But what caught my attention the most was the discriminations in the movie. There were a large amount of issues of discrimination. The first being is when Lars Hansen (Martin Buch) had been out of work for about two years. Going to interview after interview they all passed him off even though he was really quite over qualified for the job. That being said if you were an employer what you would do if someone hadn’t work in over two years but they had the right qualifications? Would you hire them or look passed them? “Managers have an important responsibility to help their new employees learn about and become comfortable working in the hospitality operation. Whether it is planned or just happens, all newly employed staff go through an adaptation process as they learn about the values of the organization and what it's like to work for it.” The second thing that I noticed was that there were a lot of racism issues between the Danish people and the Palestinian. But the one particular one that stood out was when the El Hassan whom Lars Hansen was pretending to be couldn’t get a job at the same place that he was already working at because of his last name, being not Danish. “It is not uncommon for hospitality employees to challenge even well-designed dress codes on the basis of purported discrimination related to their sex, race, or religion”. What would you do if you didn’t get the job because of your race, age or looks? Lastly, there were a few comments toward women by me. Being sexism, should men be allowed to call a woman that is not your significant other or daughter, SUGAR? “Employees and managers alike want to know that all of the policies and procedures applied to them at work will also be applied, in the same manner, to each of their coworkers. If they do not believe this is true, charges of bias, favoritism, cronyism, sexism, and even racism can result. Therefore, experienced HR managers know they must (1) carefully design and implement any operating policies they wish to utilize, and (2) reliably document their fair and consistent application of those policies.”

EOC Week 2: Sweet Charity

Today I had the pleaser of watching Sweet Charity starring Shirley MacLaine, the movie is about a Taxi dancer named Charity who continues to have Faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and Hope that she will finally meet a nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. What I thought that was most interesting about this movie was Charity’s interview with human resources. What caught my attention was the dos and don’ts of her interview that I thought was important for everyone to know. Note: if you have not seen the movie there are some spoiler alerts, but well worth it. I will start with her dos: before the interview scene there was a musical number with Charity and two other women, they sang about how they were going to get out of the life of a taxi driver. The two other women did not do anything about it, but Charity did. By taking the initiative to actually get out of her job that she was clearly unhappy at to find something better to achieve in even though it may not work out on the first try shows that you are serious and driven to do better in life and in your career. The second thing that she did right was not desecrated herself, even though she had no experience in ANY field she didn’t bad mouth herself or her current employer. Be honest and be yourself — your best professional self.  Dishonesty gets discovered and is grounds for withdrawing job offers and for firing. You want a good match between yourself and your employer. If you get hired by acting like someone other than yourself, you and your employer will both be unhappy. Her don’ts: she should have dressed more appropriately, if you show up the day before look around and she what they are wearing so you can be Dress appropriately for the industry, Your personal grooming and cleanliness should be impeccable. Lastly at the end of it and she broke down and cried. Don't act as though you would take any job or are desperate for employment.

EOC Week 1: Best and Worst Jobs

I have had many jobs in my short life span. Many were a life experiences while other were like a prison sentence. My all-time favorite job was also my worst job experience. I was 21 years old and had just moved back to Las Vegas and in dire need of a job. My aunt who happened to be looking for a new confectionest (someone who make desserts, in my case caramel apples, chocolate strawberries and much more) in a popcorn shop, I applied and obviously got the job. The work environment was unbelievable, I never worked in a place where the whole entire staff all got along with each other, in fact we all became really close friends. The turnover rate was at a standstill, we all followed my aunt who was an incredible leader making work seem like a game. The best part about our general manager/ aunt was that when we did have a problem/issue she took the time to listen and figure out how to handle the situation. Something that human resources and corporate never concerned themselves with doing. If our numbers dropped our General manager would take to time to make a game up to one up each other in our sales, which also made corporate very pleased.

About a year later the same staff all worked under my aunt, the general manager. Unfortunately a couple months into the year she was fired for something Human resources failed to file in my aunts paperwork stating that she has been to jail 5 years ago on an unrelated subject. It was like something out of a cartoon movie. Where the scene is so happy and bright with butterflies in the sky to and automatic thunder storm where lighting tried to strike at each squirrel trying to get home. The tension was high and management was low as ever. Instead of games to boosted up our sale they would drop our hours if our sales weren't up. They would under-staff on the busiest days to cut costs and if they didn't like you but had no reason to fire you they would put you on “paycheck therapy” cutting your hours more and more until you quit. This was Empowerment (“The act of authorizing employees to make discretionary decisions within their areas of responsibility.”), to a whole new level. Week by week someone would quit and the turn over rate is at a high.

The experience that I have endured was an experience to the best and the worst that I will never forget and appreciate for the rest of my life.