I Wrote Some Stuff... I Created Some Stuff

My Resume

MARIA

FREELANCE WRITER AND EDITOR

FREELANCE ARTIST AND DESIGNER

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

I can write. I can read. I can think. I can speak. I can eventually get things done. Nothing more should need to be sugar-coated and/or exaggerated to entice people to tell me what to do. I seriously don't care about anything that much anymore to suck-up to get it. My ass-kissing days are long gone. #myresume #mylife #dontlikeitmoveon

EDUCATION:
Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing
Southern New Hampshire University
Manchester, NH
GPA: 3.5
Graduated: May 2018

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Robert Morris University
Moon Township, PA

GPA: 3.2
Graduated: May 2014

KEY SKILLS:

Business Writing
Curriculum Development
Lesson Planning
Literary Analysis Writing
Literary Critiques/Reviews
Public Speaking
Teaching Strategies
Social Media/Marketing
Adobe Creative Suite
Blogging and SEO
Scholarly Databases and Research
Digital and Standard Camera Knowledge
Graphic Design/Marketing
Public Relations
Multitasking

EXPERIENCE:

Freelance Blogger, Calmcoolair.blogspot.com, Ambridge, PA 2001- Present
Create content for a blog using various support tools, to outreach reading audiences on psychological topics, literary reviews, and creative writing samples.
Proofread, research, blog, and build brand awareness through tailored voice and imagery on posts, while consistently engaging with readership.
Manage grammar, typographical, and compositional errors, while multi-tasking to meet deadlines in order to consistently publish clean, clear copy.
Contributing Writer, Vocal Media 2018- Present
Photographed Weddings, Portrait Still Life, and Candid. Which you can find on Instagram at Summerbreeze0808

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:

Graduate Student, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH 2016-Present
Conduct extensive scholarly research to investigate various topics, authors, and literary theories, to produce original content to theses which are rooted in relevant concepts from primary and secondary sources.
Critique peers’ writing in a positive and effective manner to provide high-quality, detailed accounts of the strengths and areas for improvement within a piece, to demonstrate greater clarity, grammar, and syntax.
Develop creative writing skills, concentrating on character development, poetry, and defining the voice of the work, to deliver unique, captivating pieces for the intended audience.
Took 48 credits worth of Graphic Design work.
Took 12 credits worth of Advertising/Marketing/PR
Took 12 credits of Business Administration
Psychological Research and Writing background
Performed Counseling - Drug and Alcohol (out of and within AA/NA)

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Chegg Tutoring, Chegg.com 2017- Present
Mail Handler, United State Postal Service, Warrendale, PA 2005- 2018
Photolab Tech, Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, PA 2005-2006
Data Entry, Today’s Staffing Agency, Pittsburgh, PA 2004- 2005
Administrative Assistant, Allegheny Settlement Company, Wexford, PA 2003- 2004
Library Assistant, Northland Public Library, Pittsburgh, PA 1996-1997

Chemical Reactions In Relation To Alcoholism

Chemical Reactions In Relation To Alcoholism

Abstract:

Alcohol can be a profound calming agent following a really stressful situation or experience, in the effect that it can help you unwind and be silly and laugh about whatever your problem is. What is tragic is when alcohol becomes a crutch. Once in awhile it is understandable to have a couple drinks, or even for no reason but that a great wine will make some foods taste even better, but to drink to get drunk in excess over and over is how so many people fall down the rabbit hole with little knowledge of how to escape. Once their bodies create that need their bodies to become consumed and even if they do know or remember why they started drinking in the first place they can’t stop because now there is a chemical dependency that they can’t deny without help. C.G. is just one case of many.

In this paper, I will be discussing the chemical reaction that occurs in a person’s body when alcohol is presented to the body and then abused by the person creating the inability to withdrawal from it. I will be doing this by discussing a case study of a 30-year-old man named C.G.

C.G. was brought to my attention because of a severe addiction to alcohol that stemmed from a regular excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. C.G. now experiences tremors that stemmed from alcohol withdrawal seizures and insomnia with bouts of uncontrollable rage, memory impairment, depression, and late-onset diabetes. His constant needs for affiliation with his peers lead to a life that was full of parties and plenty of alcohol at every chance. Now C.G. has trouble buttoning his shirt and is missing several years’ worth of memories, excepting to say that he went to this party or that party and it was “epic”; due to the inhibition of the nervous systems neurotransmitter glutamates reduction effect at the NMDA receptor. C.G. can’t understand normal thought processes without thinking that he isn’t worth anything without a drink in his hand and that’s why he has never been able to keep a relationship together because they always cheated on him, or so he constantly thought. C.G. has to monitor his intake of carbohydrates now for the rest of his life due to his excessive intake of alcohol sugar that has now caused his endocrine system to be disrupted causing inappropriate secretion of insulin and glucagon in his body. C.G. skirts the line of liver fibrosis damage where his liver cells are releasing more and more endotoxins that are causing an excessive build-up of free radicals that his body can’t remove quickly enough and therefore is creating cell damage to the bacterial lining in his gut. I see C.G. weekly to monitor that he is taking his medication of Acamprosate, which is an NMDA receptor antagonist, along with our weekly counseling and a sustained release program of naltrexone, which seems to be working well to control and sustain his cravings for alcohol and alleviate the seizures leaving only controllable mild tremors.

Beer, a beverage that is produced by the fermentation of yeast was C.G.’s drug of choice, though he wasn’t against mixing in straight shots of liquor, whatever was available, or drinking a bottle of wine, if that was the only thing available. Every time he heard the crack of a can opening or saw the site of a shot being poured his mouth would start to water at how much he anticipated the smooth slide those drinks would take into his body. Like Ivan Pavlov’s salivating dog, C.G. now had a conditioned response to these auditory and visual stimuli. When the alcohol entered his body it went right to work on the brain's reward pathway of the limbic system where dopamine neurotransmitters are released via the ventral tegmental area located near the top of the brain stem. Having an opiate-type feeling of possible pain reduction and/or mood alterations and/or stress relief effects due to the dopamine mechanisms that continual alcohol abuse creates. Since he had been drinking since he was 16, and he was now 30, he had built up a considerable tolerance that allowed C.G. to consume more and more alcohol until he reached his ‘blackout and pass out’ point that would have him wake up, usually somewhere new every time he drank, with no clue as to how he got there.

Alcohol is made up of ethanol, which is an element made up of a hydroxyl atom that caps one end of 5 hydrogen atoms that are attached to 2 carbon atoms that love to interact with neuro transmitting proteins. Primarily ethanol targets membrane proteins and especially receptors of them and their ion channels where NMDA receptor and GABAa receptor functions of the central nervous system are inhibited by intoxicating amounts. The actual ethanol reaction is as follow:

“Following the release of dopamine (DA) induced by ethanol, the DA D1 receptor is stimulated. Subsequently, the activity of adenylyl cyclase (AC), through coupling to stimulatory G proteins (Gas), results in an increase in cAMP concentration and in the activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling. cAMP induces this activation by promoting the disassociation of the regulatory subunit (R) of PKA from the catalytic subunit (PKA-Ca). PKA-Ca then leads to phosphorylation of the transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). Exposure to ethanol also influences the expression of Ca2=/calmdulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV)and thereby CREB phosphorylation in the NAC. These events finally result in altered transcription of genes containing a cAMP response element (CRE) in their promoter regions such as corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CHR), neuropeptide Y (NPY), prodynorphin (PDYN), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Not only is CREB phosphorylated upon activation of D1 cAMP-PKA signaling but also DARPP-32, which is a 32-kDa protein that is expressed predominantly in striatal medium spiny neurons. In its phosphorylated form, it acts as a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1). The function of PP1 is the dephosphorylation of the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor. Therefore, PP1 inhibition by DARPP-32 leads to augmented NMDA receptor phosphorylation, which then increases channel function and counteracts the acute inhibitory action of ethanol on this receptor. Deletion of pharmacological blockade of G proteins (Gas), By, PKA or DARPP-32 leads to alterations in alcohol (ETOH)…” (Rainer Spanagel, 664)

“The effects of alcohol on the body’s neurochemistry are more difficult to examine than some other drugs. This is because the chemical nature of the substance makes it easy to penetrate into the brain, and it also influences the phospholipid bilayer of neurons. This allows alcohol to have a widespread impact on many normal cell functions and modifies the actions of several neurotransmitter systems.” (Wikipedia, Alcoholism)

So because C.G. is a male he is twice as likely as a woman to form a chemical addiction to alcohol. Which in terms of addiction, it is not the consumption that makes you chemically addicted but the withdrawal. The more heavily and frequently C.G. consumed alcohol it became increasingly harder to abstain from drinking. At one point he could go several days, even a week or so without drinking, but as time progressed his body tolerance went up and so did his craving so that if he did try to abstain he physically couldn’t. His brains receptors became desensitized and were getting eliminated, which allowed for uncontrollable synapses firing that created his anxiety that elevated his heart rate up that produced deliriums that his girlfriends were fraternizing with other men that produced uncontrollable rage outbursts that brought on the tremors and shakes that eventually turned into seizures anytime he tried to prove that he wasn’t an alcoholic.

Works Cited:

Alcoholism, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism
Alcoholism: A Systems Approach From Molecular Physiology to Addictive Behavior: Spanagel, Rainer: Physiological Reviews Volume 89 Issue 2 Pages 649-705 DOI: 10.1152/Physrev-00013.2008 Apr. 2009
Physiology of Behavior: Neil R. Carlson: Eleventh Edition pages 631-633; 640-641

Memory Formation

Memory formation occurs when we learn something new. With every new piece of information we learn we alter our nervous system, therefore discovering a new way to think, perform, plan, and perceive. Thus allowing us to gain a new memory of something we have learned that has impacted our lives enough to change our existing thought processes.

This all starts with a perception of a current situation. From the point in which the situation is introduced to our visual association cortex, auditory association cortex, and somatosensory cortex it starts its’ incredibly fast way to our hippocampal area, where it enters via the entorhinal cortex, where all of the information collected gets compressed into one situation or experience. The hippocampus also determines where this situation or experience will get encoded to, whether it is a long term memory or a short term memory. Also, even though the situation/experience has been compressed, the hippocampus decompresses it to store each piece of this new information from this experience in its appropriate place. This is done through neural transmissions that are made by various electro energies and chemicals that make up our bodies.

Neural transmission is the process by which dendrites of a neuron become active sending a signal to the soma that then gets carried through the axon by way of an action potential that travels through the axon that is covered beaded necklace style in the myelin sheath, to the terminal buttons which releases a neurotransmitter. In between the myelin sheathed parts of the axons are nodes of Ranvier. These little openings allow for the regeneration of an action potential by allowing for polarization or depolarization of ions to occur in these sections. There are numerous neurons in the body that speak to each other in chain-link fashion by way of synaptic transmission via synaptic clefts and vesicles, that are located on the terminal buttons that are attaching to dendrites. These can attach to smooth dendrites or to a dendrite spine. Neurotransmissions are released via presynaptic membranes that are located adjacent to the terminal buttons and received by postsynaptic membranes located opposite of the terminal buttons. These synapses communicate by way of staring each other down at the end of the terminal button, where the neurotransmitter is eventually diffused. Before it’s diffused it was able to open ion channels to allow proteins such as calcium, chloride, potassium, and sodium, to enter and exit by way of direct and indirect fashions that can cause excitatory or inhibitory postsynaptic potentials which can cause neural integration. The action potential starts the process of neurotransmission by waiting till a bunch of synapses are "docked" (as described on page 54 of our textbook Physiology of Behavior by Neil R. Carlson) at a presynaptic membrane where proteins get together with other proteins. After that has happened calcium ion channels help diffuse the neurotransmitter. All of these transmissions, synapses, and potentials are occurring and/or traveling through our central and peripheral nervous systems collecting and distributing information.

The neurons of our situation/ experience then become a long term potentiation by traveling the axons of the entorhinal cortex where the hippocampus’s formation of synapses with the granule cells takes shape via electrical stimulation. This electrical stimulation comes via the perforant path and ends up the population of excitatory postsynaptic potentials which determine the strength of the synaptic connection (as I have listed in my notes that I took from my understanding from page 439 of Physiology of Behavior by Neil R. Carlson). The strength of the synaptic connection is an indication of how strongly the memory will be encoded or not thus also determining its final destination in our short or long term memories and what subsets each portion of that memory will find itself in. For instance, you may remember a certain characteristic about a situation or experience more than the whole of the experience so the strength of that portion of the synaptic connection will fire stronger allowing the long term potentiation to occur, than that of a characteristic you did not pay much attention to and let fade to the background thus an LTP will not occur. In order for an LTP to occur, it must have activation of synapses and depolarization of postsynaptic neurons. Once that is achieved basic memory formation has occurred.

Subsequently, seizures can occur if there is a biochemical abnormality in the human body GABA secreting neurons that inhibit large numbers of GABA to be secreted causing epileptic seizures to occur. Such was the case when Henry Molaison had to have his hippocampus and entorhinal cortex removed due to continuous seizures that impaired his life dramatically after a bicycle accident he had at age 7. He then had both of those sections of his brain removed in an effort to stop the seizures. The surgery was a success however he permanently lost the ability to form new memories. He was, however, able to learn new motor skills but never attach those motor skills to an event in which he learned them; which is sad for H.M. since learning through our experiences by attaching our learned information to a perceptual time and place when we learned it, allows us to achieve greater learning ability. It was an asset to the neurobiology field since it shed considerable light on how important the hippocampus is to the establishment and organization of our memories, which is infinitely important to our depth of knowledge.

Late Night Chapter 10 Summary Thinking

In chapter 10, Employee Satisfaction and Commitment, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly satisfy an employee so that they will want to be committed to the job. This chapter discusses why an employer should care whether an employee is satisfied or not. It explains what causes employees to be satisfied and dissatisfied with their jobs and how that correlates to job commitment. It goes into detail about whether an employee is a good fit for the organization or whether the tasks being performed are enjoyable, and if they aren’t, how best to deal with these situations. It describes how to measure job satisfaction and commitment via standard inventories or custom inventories. It then goes into what it is to be dissatisfied with a job and the negative effects that has such as absences and turnovers.

Currently, this chapter hit home. I obviously do not like my job and have done nothing but complain about it, at every chance I get. I would be fired if I wasn’t allowed to complain about it. I have every intention of getting a degree and leaving the postal service for something that challenges me and makes me feel like I actually contribute something to something, actually feel like I’m making a difference and helping people. Standing around for 8 hours a day pushing mail into an up-ender and removing the empty equipment after the mail has been dumped out of the equipment is by no means what I call satisfaction. We do have job rotation if we would like it, and while it does sound like that would be a reward in itself, like working on an assembly line and being able to take the trash out, but it's not after years of only being rewarded with mundane tasks to replace mundane work. No matter how you slice that pie it's mundane all the same. It wouldn’t be half as bad if they allowed us to read a book or newspaper or something we liked personally while we were waiting for the mail to process through the machine, but we are not. We get personally reprimanded on the work floor like children, as we are supposed to stand there and wait and be watched like little children by employees who go up to be 204B’s (management then come down to keep their job bid, then go up, then come back down then go back up..etc) (and I’m supposed to look at them as authoritative, that’s a babysitter).

When I went for this job it was because nepotism runs ramped in any government job despite what they say. Since my dad worked for them and he told me about the test, I took the test, and here I am, because at that time, 8 years ago, the postal service still boasted great advantages over most other non-career jobs. Since I was still in college it seemed like a good fit; as time went on it turned more and more into a horrible fit. Now I am counting down the days till I can leave and move on to something meaningful. I feel for the older workers there that will not leave because they feel they are too old to move on to something better, which is most of the employees there. Those of us who are younger have been actively seeking employment elsewhere and have displayed our dissatisfaction with our jobs through absenteeism. In my 8 years, I have seen FMLA forgery been rewarded with a month off and her job back with back pay, a fistfight on the work floor ended in a 3-month suspension with rehab and both their jobs back with back pay, chronic sexual harassers have been shifted around but never lost their job, people who only work 2 or 3 days a week every week continue to keep their job despite the fact that you only get 12 weeks FMLA a year, people who call off for months at a time get to clock back in when they feel like it and keep their jobs like they never missed a day, a man who got a year and a half suspension for getting arrested and he kept his job and got back pay and leave. Yes, I completely understand I just listed job security to a T, but I also described a hostile work environment where employees get away with anything and therefore do anything because of ill management and poor execution of supposed policies, lack of discipline, lack of morals and values. Therefore, is it really any wonder why I complain and have a complete lack of satisfaction and commitment to this job.

My critical analysis of this chapter is that this chapter is also right. Social Learning theory is right, Social information processing theory is also right, and Discrepancy theory is also right. It’s also extremely correct that if an employee is dissatisfied with his/her job they will react by lowering their job performance in retaliation if they feel they cannot leave their situation due to personal reasons.

Late Night Chapter 9 Summary Thinking

In chapter 9, Employee Motivation, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly motivate an employee. This chapter discusses whether there a predisposition, through personality, self-esteem intrinsic motivation or needs of achievement and power, to become motivated. Also how to go about meeting the employees’ values and expectations through clarifying job expectations and employees needs. This chapter discusses the measurability of employee goals in relation to the company, the goal specificity, and its relevance. It also discusses the self-regulation theory with regards to employees receiving feedback on their goal achievement progression. The chapter then discusses the types of rewards an employee can get for achieving his/her goals and the integration of incentive plans and the difference between rewards and punishment.

When I first started working for the postal service the plant manager had employee appreciation cookouts. The 1st 2 years I was there they did it twice a year. The next 2 years it went to once a year. In the next 3 years, it went from a cookout to one day where they ordered pizza for everyone. So far this year, it’s been nothing, and since our plant manager has changed again, I don’t sense this one as being all to employee incentive oriented. Otherwise, we used to work hard so that we could get approved for a certain day off, like maybe the pirate home opener or first penguin playoffs, but that has since ceased. They have made it abundantly clear that they are not granting any special leave requests to anyone for anything. They used to support company picnic day at Kennywood Park and have since quit doing that. In the employee appreciation department of things we the employees can definitely feel the financial hurt that the postal system is going through. However, in the amount of wasted resources we consume and dispense you wouldn’t be able to tell one bit. I believe they cut down forests for trees and make new housing developments in wooded areas just so the post office can waste paper products and they don’t even recycle. Our input/output ratios have become so out of sync that we the employees have lowered our inputs to match those postal outputs. They have since been subjected to the increases in health care costs that make the benefits we get not that desirable anymore because in order to support and the whole family you are now paying in upwards of $200 bi-weekly and you still have high co-pays. Our salaries have been in a wage freeze for years now so we have received no cost of living increases despite gas increases and health care increases. There is no way an employee can have a life of any kind outside the doors to the post office because while the news reports post offices closing and financial instability, at my building they are dishing out overtime like its candy and unless you get a doctor to sign off that you cannot work more than an 8 hour day or 40 hour week then you must be there with not one thank you or anything. There is no organizational justice, we have no say in how things are run and every day is like a brand new day, like the post office has never sorted mail before. It’s confusing and there is no incentive to be hard working at all. What once was a job that everyone thought was great has vastly changed into a drone assembly line of unhappiness. In fact, they don’t even hire anyone anymore with the assumption that you’ll have job security or great benefits and pay. People are now hired with the ability to be “let go” at any time and benefits are limited and pay has drastically decreased.

My critical analysis of this chapter is that this chapter is right. Its theories are right and its evaluation of how companies can motivate employees is right on the mark and more so, its analysis of how employees will react to lack of motivation is spot on too.

Late Night Chapter 7 Summary Thinking

In chapter 7, Evaluating Employee Performance, the correct procedures are talked about for how to correctly perform an employee performance evaluation. From determining a reason to perform one, if there are any environmental and/or cultural limitations, determining who will do the evaluation, and the best appraisal method to be used to obtain the desired goals of the organization. It discusses how to train raters, how they should observe and document employee behaviors and working conditions, then how they should take their information and evaluate. This chapter also explains the many different rating errors that can occur and the reasons that these errors may arise, their effects, and/ or how they can be solved. It then explains the best ways in which to explain to employees the results from the performance appraisal, critical incidents logs, and/or any other observations made by the supervisor. Finally, this chapter covers the best ways in which an organization and/or supervisor should handle a termination if it is needed and making sure that the legal aspect of any of these actions is done with fairness to avoid the potential possibility of a lawsuit by any employee.

I do not think I have had more than a dozen performance appraisals over my work span, and I have been working since I was 15. I have worked for several different retail and food places most of which I did not stay at for very long because they were not the kind of job I wanted as my career and I when I found a better paying job I moved on. So, to some degree, I wasn’t at most of my jobs long enough to get a performance appraisal when I was much younger. The jobs I have gotten performance appraisals from did follow some of the guidelines stated but only loosely. They mostly went along the lines of..

~Hi

~Hi

~Just wanted to let you know how you were doing so far.

~OK

~You understand how to do the job, you understand what needs to be done and you get it done.

~OK

~So, keep up the good work

~OK

~Do you have any questions?

~Nope, I’m good.

~OK, back to work.

~OK

Even at the postal service, its short and to the point. The postal service hardly ever does an evaluation. I think in the almost 8 yrs I’ve been there I have had maybe 3. They did observe my work and they had a sheet for it that they rated my performance on, I believe using the graphic rating scale, with a comments section, that usually said “keep up the good work”. They would hand me a copy afterward and that was that. Keep working.

The only time they pulled me into the office for a sit down was after my son was born when I started missing more work than usual due to the hard time I had finding people to watch him. It was decided that I should move back to the night shift, so I did. My supervisor at the time was very nice, it was more like friends conversing than a boss and an employee and she listened to what I had going on and we thought of some solutions and night shift was the best and there was a bid up for it so that was what we decided I would try for.

Not that I don’t think that companies out there don’t have and practice these policies that our textbook refers to, I just have never worked for those companies; or the supervisors that I have had, have never adhered to those policies. So I again don’t have a critical analysis, because what is there to analyze when the book is telling it straight forward how a company should, in a perfect world, handle any and all situations and circumstances. How a company can be and will be at its optimal. It’s kind of hard to critique what has already been critiqued to such a level that it made it into print as being the best way to accomplish a successful business.

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.