Job Log - From The Insider...

I've wanted to do this for a while. Every Friday I'll post a job, the benefits, and why it sucks helping you make a more informed decision if you would consider employment by such an establishment or if you'd even shop there.

Today's Job: Filene's.

Why It's Good: Friendly environment, nice people (for the most part), the potential to get up to 90% off merchandise as an employment benefit. Management will find the perfect fit for you no matter how long it takes.

More On The Plus Side: The people who work here are for the most part very cheerful. They wouldn't be in retail if they weren't. As far as the discount goes: Don't get all excited, you don't get a standard 90% discount on store items. It's 25 to 30% off. However when Filene's has one of their compounded sales, such as Filene's 1 day sale plus the early bird special, you can also apply your discount plus any coupons there might be.

Why It Sucks: Upper management are mostly kind, but also not to be trusted. Like any cut throat industry, they turn on you very quickly. Benefits are slow in coming. Medical and dental are 6 months in coming and it's not clear if they are even worth having - medical may be a "health matinence" plan, and dental may have high co-pays. You won't know for 6 months. Rotating weekends presume even a Christian will give up 2 Sundays a month for the greater good of the company.

Unexpected Bonus: No matter how you quit, or how many times, you can always go to the one across town and get hired.

"Patriot Act" Sucks

Before you read on, educate yourself if you're not familiar by following these links (warning, there is a lot to read!)

Official "Patriot Act" Draft

How The "Patriot Act" Could Effect You

I hate this. The idiot who drafted this up should call it "The Invasion Of Privacy Act". Because of this, we are one step closer to big brother. This is so anti-American, it scares me.

The other night a member of the media was interviewing a supporter of this bill. Yet he failed to answer any questions directly. Instead, all the viewer got was copout after copout. And what most people don't seem to realize is this is already law! (Check MSNBC link for that one.)

Don't be fooled, this clever little piece of paper was already written in one form or another way before September 11th. What the nasty little beasts who support it don't tell you, is they just didn't have a way for it to get approved. September 11th changed all of that.

An invasion of privacy must being taken in little steps. A dictator can't just start spying on people before he even takes power. He has to do it in bits in advance. And this is how it starts. One small law that gives the illusion of safety, and then a little more and a little more.

Why is it the people who stand up to change the world, and I mean, get up off of their asses to change something they don't like, are always evil masterminds such as Adolph Hitler?

This is what happens when you sit on your ass and let other people make your decisions for you. You wind up like the third world countries across the planet. Ruled by an evil dictator who craps on you every chance he gets.

Dammit America, do something. Get off your ass. I'm sick of being the only one.

When Music Becomes The Deciding Factor Of What's Cool

This weekend I was out with my girlfriend at a local fair. I was sporting my best Poison T-Shirt and enjoying the warm sunny day when a kid working one of the game booths started calling out, "Hey Bret, what's Up? Hey C. C. Deville, c'mere a second..." chuckling all the while.

I know this kid thinks he's cool, but - well, quite frankly, he isn't. Look, I realize Poison will never match up to the musical brilliance that is Godsmack or Disturbed. I mean, those two bands are way beyond brilliance. They transcend their musical genre and set the bar so high up the likes of Pink Floyd would just say, "Well, this is B.S., let's pack it in, mates." I mean Disturbed themselves made it clear we were in a new age of musical genius when they uttered this song,

"Drowning deep in my sea of loathing
Broken your servant I kneel
It seems what's left of my human side
Is slowly changing in me

Looking at my own reflection
When suddenly it changes
Violently it changes (oh no)
There is no turning back now
You've woken up the demon in me


Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me,
You mother get up,
You f?!@er get up,
Madness is the gift, that has been given to me..."

How could that ever match up to the trite lyrics by, say, Savatage, who said,

"I believe in nothing
Never really had to
In regards to your life
Rumors that are not true
Who's defending evil
Surely never I
Who would be the witness
Should you chance to die

Father can you hear me
This is not how was meant to be
I am safe and so are you
As for the others destiny

I believe that situations
All depend on circumstance

Look away
Look away

Pictures at an exhibition
Played as he stood in his trance
Staring at his inhibitions
All the time believing
That it now came down to
Nothing but this chance"

While I smirk at Disturbed's attempt at being deep within the context of their supposed misery, the attempt is flawed. The song has 4 chords at most and it's completely laced in anger.

Savatage, on the other hand, is a different story. It's obvious the writer looks within himself for lyrics that are thought provoking. Also, for the untrained reader, the seperate lines are done in an operatic style. One singer reads line 1, another 2, and so forth and so on until the last block, where the group comes together in unison. The music is a eclectic panorama of styles: Classical, Opera, and Heavy Metal. Disturbed? 4 chords and hatred.

So maybe the kid who called out to me may or may not like Disturbed, but he more than likely listens to something similar. Let's hear it for individuality! Who's the real oddball, the guy who makes his own way and snags up titles no one knows, or the drab, un-original idiot who follows the crowd in style, music, and attitude? C. C. Save us all.