Late Night Chapter 3 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 3, Legal Issues In Employee Selection, the correct procedures are talked about for how to legally hire and retain an employee. It gives sufficient case law that can be referenced to illustrate each point. It explains what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is, as well as a description of the legal process in relation to employment law. It explains how a person can tell whether a case would have merit, based on a discriminatory act, or not. This chapter also explains harassment, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Affirmative Action, Privacy Issues, Veterans Readjustment Act, pregnancy issues, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also explains what the 4/5ths rule is in adverse impact and how organizations are helping liable for sexual harassment charges. This chapter also gives a brief description of the fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments; as well as definitions for protected classes and what the protected classes are.

        I, personally, have had experience filing a sexual harassment charge against a boss for stating an unwelcomed gesture. I went o my union and filed a grievance and wrote letters to my union president when nothing was done and to the EEOC when nothing was done, but still, nothing was done. Since that boss was being sent to another building for supervisory training it was swept under the rug and when he got back, he was supposed to not be my boss but for some ‘postal/government’ reason, he still was running my section. I sucked it up and dealt with it and we both did not speak to each other thankfully, and because time is a wonderful thing, I never see him now. It just was another way that the postal service/government proved that it doesn’t matter what happens to the general worker as it just matters what their production output numbers look like for federal funding. When you make the laws you can adhere to and dismiss whatever laws you want to for ‘the bigger picture’. So personally I have no faith in any situation I cant clarify and take care of myself. I have also had wonderful issues with the post office in terms of pregnancy. When I got pregnant and eventually had to be put on sitting restrictions the post office says ‘please leave’. Unless you are hurt at work they claim they do not have to make sitting positions for anyone. My facility is a standing facility and unless the incident happened on postal property ‘pregnancy is not their problem’ and I couldn’t perform the duties necessary for my job so I was to go home until my doctor said I could come back. Which meant that before my baby was even born I was burning my FMLA time so after he was born I had less time to be at home with him. But hey, having a baby isn’t the concern of the federal government, only getting that mail to everyone who needs it so badly is, again ‘the bigger picture’. I know I sound cynical crass and very jaded and I am intending it to be that way. While I understand to some degree how a company must work in order to appease everyone, so that the bigger picture of billions of people getting medication or legal documents is necessary, what I don’t understand and never will is the governments’ lack of tack. It filters in all these ex-military hardheads who think women are nothing but moms and nurses and feel they get justified in this thought if one gets pregnant. The unions aren't what they were back in my parent's day either because they make deals with management to cushion their own asses instead of the greater good of the building but we have a no-strike clause that prohibits us from ever standing up like our for-fathers once did. So I digress because while I make such great money, I don’t have enough to pay an attorney to fight an organization such as the post office.

        I do not have a critical analysis of this chapter. It’s a cut and dry chapter about laws.

Late Night Chapter 2 Summary Thinking

        In chapter 2, Job Analysis and Evaluation, the correct procedures are talked about for how to create a proper job analysis and evaluation. Also how to who should or is allowed to give an analysis or evaluation. Also how and who can perform a job analysis and evaluation. Only those who have been trained can give a proper job analysis, and only certain people, such as subject matter experts, should be the ones to be examined or evaluated. It would not be in the best interest of the company to base and analysis and/or evaluation off an employee with a poor work ethic. It also discusses other job analysis methods that are needed to supplement additional information that is needed for full and complete job analysis and evaluations; such as information about worker's activities and job equipment and ergonomics. Also, it discusses how to make sure that evaluations are done correctly so that pay rates and equality remain fair and intact.

        I actually found this chapter comical, not so much a funny haha kind of comical, as a, 'wow, yeah right' comical. I work for the United States postal service, a wonderful branch of the United States government and I assure you that they do not adhere to any format that would be considered employee beneficial. I think they actually get a kick out of making postal employees go off the deep end, i.e. 'postal'. While we have signs up all over about ergonomics and our bosses have said work safe. In no way shape or form does it come down to that. When there are thousands upon thousands of pieces of mail coming through our one building a night to process for early morning dispatch to the local area post offices to have in time for there carrier dispatches, there are no nice guys there is no protocol, there is no following a job analysis, and in my almost 8 yrs of being there, I've been given one performance evaluation that was marked all great because I was making sure the mail got into the box for dispatch that’s it. They do have job descriptions that are written for each job bid that each person has however they are one line, and the bulk of that one line says 'and other duties assigned by your supervisor', to cover their butts so they can send you where they need you to do whatever at anytime.

        Even if I think back to other jobs I've had before the post office, I can almost guarantee that most of blue-collar, fast food, clean up in aisle one, paper or plastic, that dress looks great on you, jobs don’t adhere to those guidelines because when your dealing with customer satisfaction and slapping happy faces on as many people as you can in short spans of time with high school graduates and low educated underachievers a job analysis and evaluation protocol go out the window. There is just no need to waste time and money having the stuff of that nature when your employee turn over rate is high. So to me reading this information was dry and unrealistic form the backbone of society’s jobs or government jobs. But that’s just my opinion from my experience.

        My own personal critical evaluation of the material is that it is too drawn out. Much like a lot of areas of employment in this world, this is another field that is drawn out to create jobs. There is what 8 billion people in this world who need to survive and make a living somehow doing something to kill their time before they die and so we have branched off every subject as much as we can and created as many subsets and fields as we can so that people can attain jobs. I think that this material stated in this chapter is much like that. A job analysis, while for legal aspects I know HAS to be as long and winding as the day is long so to avoid needless grievances and legal disputes, do not have to be so detailed. It just needs to hit the major points clearly. Again, I understand that due to an over suing happy nation of lazy get rich quick people, there is no way we can be simple clear cut and to the point anymore. We have to take between 2 and 5 pages in length to go over everything and every potential possibility because it’s those companies like the post office who have unions filing grievance upon grievance for job description violations round the clock.

Self Analysis Paper

                                                                     Self Analysis

            This paper will be discussing who I am through a self-analysis that uses the Five-Factor Model of Personality and personal reflection. I will explore the genetic factors of my personality as well as examine my motives and needs. I will discuss my pattern of emotions and my emotional reactions as well as examine relevant aspects of my self. Then I will finish up by looking at my overall personality and my social interactions.

            According to the Five-Factor Model of Personality, my behavior in social situations is average extroversion showing agreeableness and friendliness to be also scaled as average, in relation to my interaction with others. I have a relatively high conscientiousness to be organized and persistent with my goals. I try to be as methodical as I can about everything I do as much as my environment around me will let me, without letting it get to me that everything everyone else does can’t be organized. I have a relatively low neuroticism level despite my surmounting stress levels I seem to always put upon myself. While having a relatively high amount of openness that allows me to see things from as many different perspectives as I can.

            Genetically, I am made up of bull-headed, highly intuitive, opinionated ways. I am a product of my environment and I can see both my mother and my father in me. I am an only child of a broken family and a broken home. However, we always have been happily dysfunctional, as my mother would always say. Both of my parents raised me to be highly independent. They did such a great job of it that I actually have a hard time excepting help from others because I’m always looking for the letdown or catch, so I end up doing things myself. Both of my parents have a great humorous side, so no matter what the problem is, humor is always the go-to. No matter what the issue, laughter is always the best medicine. Socially my parents are both extroverts, though my mom is more guarded than my dad. They are both more trusting than I am. Having grown up watching their decisions I have made it a point to have a persona that I use on a daily basis. I tend to only speak to people I feel good ‘vibes’ from and ignore all others and I will only become trusting when my guard is down, but to get my guard down is a hard task. I tend to look at my parents as a road map that I can follow and also use for specific detours that can help me avoid certain roads I don’t want to take.

            My motives and needs have been my driving force all my life. I have always been after the family life. The family aspect that I had before my grandmother died and my family fell apart, because that was a time I remember as being good and happy. However, there is something to be said for being careful what you wish for, it’s not always what you really want; having grown up so independently, it is hard for me to adapt to that sort of co-dependent style now. My need to be loved and feel needed is also a huge driving factor for me. In my personal relationships, I tend to look for guys who are mirror images of my father and women who are mirror images of my mother. Since I can remember I have been there to help and support my parents and they have always shown me great love and affection. So I find that in most social situations I gravitate to the alcoholic/drug addict who needs love and help (my dad) and/or the woman that is emotionally unstable and needs a confidence booster (my mom). I then fulfill my need to be loved and needed by swooping into the rescue. Sometimes it works, sometimes it turns into an epic fail, but I try none the less because that has become my motive and drive. 

            My functional analysis of my emotional states is that I have an emotional trait to become overwhelmed and break down when I become too stressed. That does not happen too often at all. As I tend not to be an over-emotional person at all, things are mostly clear cut, black and white to me. Either you want to do something or you don’t, etc. To me, life is a series of events that we must live through. Once the event in our life has happened and/or heartache dealt or enjoyment felt, it is over. We are only left with the memory to reflect on and process and learn from. If we can not accept it, deal with it, and move on then we become stuck and I have made it one of my life goals to not get stuck in any one period of my life. I try to stay as emotionally positive as I can though I usually come across in social situations as abrasive, cold, tactless, and too blunt. I tend to like these attributes about myself but others find them to be negative in nature. I have always been like this; though through the years, it has become even more a staple of who I am as opposed to just being a way that I could be. This is so, because over the years I have grown increasingly impatient with adult stupidity. When I was younger I could handle a certain level of it with stride due to the age of my peers but now I just cannot handle it. That is not to say that I cannot handle individuality and difference of opinion, I can.

            Some of my most relevant aspects of myself are the fact that I am so strong-willed and determined. I know myself. I know who I am, where I’ve been, where I want to go, I know my limitations, my expectations of myself, what I can and cannot do, and what I will and will not do. I have faith in myself and those that I choose to have in my life. I have great self-esteem; I know how smart I am, how pretty I am, and how amazing I am. I can handle criticisms as long as they are constructive and based on something, cruelty is different and I dish back what is dished to me. I am a firm believer in getting what you give. I have no issues coping with negative events. Death is something that is inevitable. It’s extremely sad when it comes out of nowhere but it is a fact and part of life. I can deal with it and since I have managed to come to terms with death I think I can also handle any other negative attribute to life. It’s honestly, the positive things in life that I sometimes have the most trouble with, I’m always looking for the catch. That would be my downfall, my flaw. I also have a high self-complexity level. I am to one person in a different way than I am to another. I have divided my personality up into five categories: everyday me, daughter me, playful me, intelligent me, and vengeful me. Each one has there purpose.

           

            Lastly, my personality in social situations is generally that of the persona that I have created, being a fun-loving, and humorous tom-boy for when I am around a predominately male environment or a gossip girl around women. Having created this persona it has made it easier for me to be in social situations since prior to creating it I was shy and stand-offish. I don’t generally like meeting new people. I am unique in my thinking, beliefs, and ideas and most people seemed to find them weird when I was growing up so I discovered what most men like in a girl when she is around and centered a persona for when I have to be in those male predominant social situations and a persona that encompasses what women usually find socially acceptable for times when I’m around mostly women. This way no one who doesn’t know me can’t attack attributes about me that would really hurt me. I have found this to work best. It also allows me to see who really wants to get to know me and I go from there.

            While I know I still have a lot of work still to do on my self, I am proud of how in-tune I am with myself and how far I have come over the years in adjusting to the ways I have needed to be and still keeping who I am intact. It’s a balancing act but as long as I keep in mind who I am and what I want then ill always know where I’m going and that I’ll get there.