CPA and Esq. Designations Mean Little When It Comes to “Serving the Public.”

 

Last week at my health club one of the members and yours truly got into a brief but very lively conversation about the merits of going out on your own after spending years under the corporate umbrella.

My debate companion was an attorney and by coincidence a CPA as well, a partner at one of New York’s premier white shoe law firms. Money was not a concern as his annual compensation plus bonus was laughably close to seven figures, so he was able to siphon as much starter capital as needed. He revealed he was tired of the proverbial rat race and as he was rapidly approaching middle age, he wanted to veer in a different direction.

His dream was to open a restaurant with a menu dedicated to traditional recipes from his parents’ hometown in Europe. He had designed a floor plan with the help of an architect and due to the pandemic, there was a glut of potential spaces to rent.

Now as someone who toiled in foodservice roughly seven years as well as covering it for another 12 for a national trade magazine, I emphasized caveat emptor. I warned him that if he thought he currently put in long hours at the law firm reviewing tax law and writing briefs, wait until he opened a restaurant. As anyone who has ever donned an apron or toque, you are basically working when most people are not – nights, weekends and not to mention most holidays. Eighty-hour weeks are the norm rather than the exception.

A People Manager vs. Managing People

 

Years ago, one of my first editorial overseers gave me two bits of sage advice that I have never forgotten to this day. One, he said, always do your homework on a story assignment to ensure you know what you’re writing about. Two, if you ever rise to a managerial position remember it’s not always about direct authority – it’s also about being part psychologist, part parent and part colleague.

Nearly four decades later I have not seen nor experienced anything that would refute either.

I calculated during my ongoing hitch in the American workforce, I have reported to roughly 40 different managers including 18 of them at the same company – let me repeat that for emphasis – eighteen!

So much for consistency. Is it any wonder why the corporate cartoon parody “Dilbert” is still going strong after 32 years and syndicated in some 2,000 newspapers?

And throughout it all I can say that most of them left me with something that incrementally burnished my management skills. Like I said “most.” There were at last count some seven past supervisors that I learned exactly nothing from. Needless to say, none of them remained my direct report for very long. In fact, when I handed in my resignation letter, my last manager who lent new meaning to the term “useless corporate bloat” his idea of an enticing counteroffer was “I can’t give you any more money to stay,” If there was ever a clarion to leave, this was literally a foghorn two feet away from my eardrum.

The Home Shopping Network or the Network for Home Shopping

 

Last week I wrote about the prolific number of job advertisements across a number of sectors and the disappointing jobs report for the month of August. Strangely enough I received two atypical but related pieces of mail over the past several days – one trumpeting $350 in compensation for working Election Day and the other a clarion call for Instacart Shoppers.

Now I’m old enough to recall when the polling places on Election Day were staffed with volunteers, rather than paid gig economy workers. And $350 a day is tempting, except you don’t have a say in where you are assigned. And if you live in a large county as I do, you could be sent as far as 30 miles away.

And in full disclosure I had little or no idea what an Instacart Shopper was, so I did some research.

As it turns out, they’re akin to personal shoppers for groceries instead of clothing and accessories and subsequently deliver them to the customer’s homes. The average pay is $20 an hour plus tips and the best of breed in this category can make up to $50 an hour. Most who toil as Instacart Shoppers do so as a side job and as you can imagine, during the pandemic lockdown where many were petrified to leave their homes, demand for these folks skyrocketed.

In truth we tried home delivery for groceries one time – but that was direct from the store as opposed to an independent contractor. Out of roughly 30 items, they managed to foul up nearly 14 of them so that ended that brief experiment.

But I digress. I did locate an article where one veteran Instacart Shopper detailed his top customer-related pet peeves during his deliveries.

1.       As with most delivery positions, getting the correct address is probably critical – so arriving as a deserted building or a vacant lot when you have a trunkful of perishable foods presents a serious problem.

2.       Lousy tips. Instacarters derive much of their total income from gratuities. So, when a customer skimps on a tip it’s literally money out of their pockets. Just ask any waiter about bad tipping and you will likely get an angry thesis.

3.        Adding to orders after the fact. Last minute additions are okay, just as long as it doesn’t turn into an episode of “supermarket sweep” at the end. One driver recounted how a customer added 11 items just as he was approaching the register for check out.

4.       Requests for alcohol and cigarettes. Many states have prohibited Instacarters from purchasing alcohol and cigarettes for customers. So many drivers take a “just say no,” stance.

So, after thinking it over I think I’m just going to perform my citizen’s duty and cast my ballot on Election Day, rather than man a desk as well as a pledge to continue buying my own groceries.

62 is the new 65!

 

More than once in this space, I have chronicled the quantum surge in advertisements for job openings that I have seen both in my neighborhood and beyond. Last week, the monthly jobs report stated that job openings rose to 10.9 million– a fifth consecutive record high. Conversely, job creation totaled just 235,000 payrolls in August missing the median estimate of 733,000 added jobs.

As it turns out, it’s not just the Millennials, Gen X/Y/Z who are bypassing employment opportunities, but older workers as well. Specifically, those who have reached the near retirement age of 62. Or rather the new retirement age.

Recently the Federal Reserve Bank of New York conducted a survey of some 1,300 households and discovered that the chances of adults expected to work beyond the age of 62 hovered at roughly 50 percent – the smallest share since the Fed began the survey some seven years ago. The percent of adults who expect to work beyond 67 dipped to a record low 32.4 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 1 million “older” workers have exited the workforce since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional 1.5 million cited the coronavirus as the primary reason they remained out to the labor force during the month of August.