Sleepless Nights at the Bank which never sleeps

THESE ARE MARK'S PERSONAL VIEWS, NOT WAMU'S VIEWS, NOT AU'S VIEWS, NOT ANY OTHER U'S VIEWS........


Ira Glass's This American Life and NPR have done a great job already at deciphering the financial crisis. Tomorrow at noon on WAMU 88.5, there is another special edition.

By way of preview, here's my two cents (sorry 0.4 cents).

Its not simply that they gambled billions of investors' money, these banks. Or that they were so knee-deep in their own greed that they forced the Government into a corner where not bailing them out would have spelled disaster for the customers.

For me, it was the sheer incompetance and arrogance manifest for decades before the crisis in their derelict customer service.

You know the thing: Long lines in the branches followed by disengaged, dismissive tellers. On the phone, press one to give us your money, to withdraw yours please hold for a couple of hours, since all of our representatives are currently assisting.......

I might have some sympathy, if they hadn't been so arrogant. Five years ago a part-time finance person who worked for my wife's small non-profit was caught stealing from the bank account. Large amounts over several months disguised as payroll. It nearly bankrupted the business. Was the bank helpful? She needed someone to investigate, quickly. She needed a temporary overdraft, or a loan, she was the victim of a crime and deserved some sympathy and support. Did she receive any of those things?

No. After days and days of filling out forms, and making phone calls with no return calls, she was simply left to sink.
It was apparent then that the conglomerate of unmanageable proportions was looking gleefully beyond the average customer to its mountains of paper money, all of it about to turn toxic.

Fortunately, BB&T came along, offered her a loan and a line of credit, and took her to lunch.

Now, our taxes are going to bail out the people whose corporate monolith refused to help us in our hour of need. Its tough to swallow. At least I won't be losing any sleep over them.

The Feds and The Raccoons

First Published at http://www.theconversation.wamu.org

Walking Pundit (my ailing 9-year-old golden retriever) in the woods this morning there was a bunch of warning posters on the trees:

"Rabid Raccoons sighted. Keeps dogs on leash." (- that'll be the day). There was a helpful picture of the dangerous beast for the benefit of us ignorant urban types, which from a distance could have been taken from nearby bushes. But on closer inspection it seemed to have been cut and pasted from a wild animal website.

We were walking through Dumbarton Oaks, a spectacularly ornate and ornamental garden in the Upper Georgetown section of D.C., which has been happily under-visited by lawnmowers and fertilizers. Its run by the Department of the Interior. We wandered through the woods into an adjoining section of Rock Creek Park, where I noticed there were no more posters. Rock Creek, I understand, is run by the National Parks Service, which belongs to the Department of the Interior.

I wonder if anyone can shed light on this?

My main concern is this: do the raccoons understand the divergent roles of the various Federal Government departments? What would happen if they were to stray into the Parks Service territory? Would they get arrested in one, and shot-on-sight in the other? Just a Brit pondering the wonders of the US of A......and, if you're a lawyer, in which territory would you advise my dog to be bitten by one?

How not to speak Janitor

FIRST PUBLISHED AT http://www.conversation.wamu.org

I marched late into work the other morning without saying hello to one of the janitors. Normally we'd give each other a cheery if polite greeting. But I'd just had a tough phone conversation and I was preoccupied and late.

I didn't see her bending awkwardly into the hallway cupboard where her supplies are kept.

Our janitors are employed by independent contractors. They work as hard as anyone in the building, in more challenging circumstances (smelly food, forest-threatening piles of newspapers, etc).

They don't take as many sick days as some of us, they never admit to being tired, and they don't respond to "challenges", they simply do what needs to be done.

Their zealous use of the vacuum cleaner gives them a noisy reputation, especially in the studios, but personally they're much quieter and less verbally demanding than the rest of us.

Last night I told my media management students the story of an exhibition by Duane Hanson at American University's Katzen Arts Center two years ago, which I attended with my then 3-year-old daughter. If you click on the link, scroll down three or four items to see what I'm talking about. I told the students that managers need to make everyone in the organization feel valued and take an interest in everyone's work. In this, I said, all employees should be seen as equal.

Duane Hanson became famous in the 1960s and 1970s for his lifelike sculptures of everyday people that were cast from live models, then painted in great detail and finished with ordinary objects.

In this exhibition at the Katzen lifelike figures which were really sculptures were positioned all around the building. In the coffee bar, the galleries, the corridors, and the concert halls. My daughter examined them closely to make sure they weren't moving.

There was one particular sculpture which caught our attention. It was a janitor, complete with (bright yellow) garbage-bin on wheels, mop-on-stick, sprays, fluids, and brushes.

"She" was standing by the elevator, and the exhibition visitors would emerge in clusters from the elevator, and walk right past her.

No one saw her. With her cleaning equipment, she was the largest "still-life" exhibit of all of them. But no-one noticed.

My daughter said: "They should put her in front of the elevator, then everyone will see her."

"That's not what she would want" , I ventured. Like I would know......I walked past her..