High School basketball starts tonight

High schools in Kansas and Oklahoma begin basketball season tonight. I need sleep before I go into work tonight, so I will not be at any of them.

Last night was a long night. Five people called in and another walked out early in the shift. In addition we have eight vacant positions and only one suspect has applied. The pay and working conditions aren’t that bad for around here. I wonder what people are doing. Until we get the vacancies filled, I expect a lot of busy nights and not a lot of high school or juco sports.

Beef Stew weather

It’s been a little warmer than normal, but I made a crock pot of beef stew anticipating colder weather ahead. I am glad I did because my old reliable crock pot isn’t. Fortunately I got a bigger on a couple of years ago. With the price of stew meat, I went a little heavy on the vegetables, cutting the amount of meat in half. I now get three meals with the new crock pot instead of two. Between the beef stew and the lasagna I can get through the weekend.

Hard up for help

For a variety of reasons, employers are finding it harder to get and keep employees.  As boomers retire, a much smaller generation Z is entering the workforce.  The newer workers lack the basic skills needed to do even entry-level work, while even entry-level jobs require more skills than in previous generations. Automation has eliminated a lot of low skilled jobs, making low skilled people useless to employers. What can employers do?

Employers can’t, don’t,and won’t pay the money needed to get the people they need. Wages have gone up, but not by enough.

I have noticed a trend reflected at my previous jobs. Employers are lowering the barriers to get a job. At the bottled water company I worked at the delivery trucks did not require a commercial driver’s license in the 80s. In 1990, we started getting larger trucks that required a class B CDL. Last year I saw saw Google Earth photo of the plant and noticed the delivery trucks were about the size of the 80s trucks. This was just before the DOT made CDLs more expensive and harder to get.

At my previous employer in addition to a decent sized raise, they have most of the employees assigned permanently to the non-hazmat side, making background checks faster and easier. It also eliminated some hazmat training and equipment purchases. Of all of the dozen or so people hired within a year of me, my background check was the fastest, taking just over three weeks.

Because IQ and reading tests were considered discriminatory, employers substituted education requirements for the tests. With grade inflation and automatic grade promotion, the high school diploma was no longer useful In other words, employers starting requiring a college degree to be sure an applicant had a high school education. As the cost of college rose, even fewer people were willing to work a clerical job for $15/hr. Recently the City of Coffeyville had to eliminate some mechanical aptitude testing just to get applicants at the water and wastewater treatment plants.

As a last resort employers are trying to eliminate positions. The City of Coffeyville is studying using non-hazardous chemicals to sanitize the water. If a non-hazardous chemical can be found, the facilities do not have to be manned 24/7/365.

World Cup

I miss the old days where Americans didn’t have to pretend to care about the big wogball tournament. The United States didn’t come close to qualifying to play in it from 1954 through 1986. Now that the national team usually at least gets there people and the media at least pretend to care.

I might have peeked at the results and standings in the Sunday newspapers this time around, but the Sunday papers pulled out of our area this spring. Looking at the results online is easier and faster, but I miss having that dead tree in my hands next to breakfast and coffee.

The US is not doing well. They have to beat Iran to advance to the elimination round on the 30th. They have not done that well against Iran. Soccer is a big deal in Iran. For them beating the Great Satan at tiddlywinks would be a really big deal. Another soccer win would be a riot.

As bad as the US is performing, it’s neighbor’s aren’t doing much better. Canada goes into its last pool play match having already been eliminated. Mexico goes into its last match against Saudi Arabia needing to win to advance. The Surprising Saudis also advance with a win. Costa Rica needs a win plus some help to advance due to very negative goal differential.

Walmart shooting

People are talking about the Walmart shooting in Virginia, but not at Walmart. There has been nothing posted on the bulletin board at work and our leadership team has been quieter than usual. Considering we work the same shift as the shooter and the speed of rumor, this should be a little unsettling. But a lot of coworkers were completely unaware of the shooting. Those that were, were very blase about it. Have we become that numb or so focused on what is right around us we aren’t aware of anything else?

Persephone Days are here

Today there are fewer than ten hours of daylight at my latitude. This means outdoor plants do not have enough daylight to grow. It will remain this way until January 19th.

Persephone Days are named after the Greek legendary character who was condemned to spend four months a year in Hades. Her mother Demeter was the godess of grains who declared nothing shall grow during that time.

Next year it will fall on Thanksgiving Day.