The Real Tom Bratt

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This Month's Thoughts...June 2016

  • Watching LeBron James win one for the Cavs was the second greatest sports moment for me, behind Mateen Cleaves and the 2000 Michigan State Spartans winning the national championship.  Something about it gave me hope.  Winning one for Cleveland has been a public goal of King James for so long, and we, as a world, were able to watch him achieve that dream.  
  • Should LeBron be up for GM of the year?
  • Doing yard work, especially on your own yard, is very rewarding.  So far, I've cut a bunch of trees and pruned the bushes, and through even these simple activities, it looks so much better.  I stare at it all through the window of my upstairs hallway with pride.  
  • Game of Thrones is pretty good.
  • I think the whole 'online' and 'transparent' thing is mostly a ruse.  People throw tons of things online, like applications and submissions and procedures so as to be 'open and fair', but then suck at the followthrough.  
  • For instance, one local school contacted me about a job.  They said they 'found' my resume and would be very interested in talking to me about it.  On my end, that meant taking/(using) a personal day, driving there, prepping for an 'interview', and spending dozens of hours of thought and preparation.  On their end: one phone call.  So I go in, have the interview, and hear NOTHING back.  
  • Ever.  
  • My assumption is that I don't have the job, but a big part of me would love to walk there day one of the school year, in a fashion similar to Seinfeld's, George, and say I'm ready to start work.  
  • Another place sent me an email to let me know I didn't have a job that I didn't know I'd applied for.  Which felt a lot more insulting than it might start.  But, imagine if you were to check your email right now, only to receive an email from some girl (or boy) you liked in high school that detailed, very specifically, all the reasons they wouldn't go out with you two decades ago.
  • Another company called me, asked how I was doing, and wanted to talk insurance.  I obliged and talked through some things only to have them tell me they couldn't offer me insurance.  I was like, "did you just call me to tell me you couldn't give the service you offer?"  She was like, "yeah.  sorry".  (Basically).
  • I get that they're doing what they'd call some form of due diligence, but I think this diligence lacks any and all common sense, more rue than due.  All three experiences were closer to insult than they were transparent or fair.  Maybe they need the slap system.  
  • A friend (or acquaintance) of mine has a system he and his friends call The Slap System.  These guys are all a little rough around the edges, and, on a regular basis, do things that deserve some level of rebuke.  Inclined toward this behavior naturally, they all know they need checks and balances, hence: the slap system.  In the moment, as or just after, some such occurrence is happening, they get one, two, or three slaps, depending on the level of misdeed.  The slap is meant to sting, not hurt, but it's an immediate, real-world reaction to deeds and misdeeds.  It enforces a code of ethics.  And, it works.  
  • I think the corporate world needs some of this.  I'd have doled out 3-slaps to the school that called me and never followed up, 1-slap to other job and insurance company.  
  • It works.
  • We need ethics.  I think a lot of people these days view transparency as the new ethical code, but transparency is very overrated.