Some art I did for a Human Resources crew zine we made last year.

Human Resources just went live on Netflix so to celebrate here’s a sexy Pete the Logic Rock calendar I drew as a Christmas present for the crew while we were boarding the first season. Honestly it was an amazing production with an amazing crew, probably one of the most positive experiences of my entire career.

Love Bug OC?

Really liked that show btw, cried with that grandma episode and her Safi. ;-;

Watching the off shoot show from Big Mouth called Hunan Resources, the 2nd episode has references to Alzheimer’s so uh if you have a relative with it, you might cry like I did

Help! My Employee Thinks She Deserves Pay In Exchange For Labor!

Ask A Manager, 19 October 2021:

I’m not comfortable with one of my new staff members and how overconfident she is. Her work is great and she needed very little training but she’s got very big britches.

“Jane” has only been with us for two months. Just today she asked for a meeting with me and our payroll manager. It turns out payroll made an error entering her direct deposit information that resulted in Jane not getting paid, not once but two times.

Our company requires potential candidates to complete sample assignments during the interview process and we pay them an hourly contractor rate. It turns out she didn’t get paid for her assignment period, or for the next full pay cycle. The payroll employee apologized directly to Jane in an email, because it was their error in entering her information and not following up/fixing it that resulted in Jane not getting paid. Jane was able to show emails back and forth where she checked in with the payroll employee and asked if it was fixed, which they confirmed it was. Today was payday and Jane didn’t get paid. She checked with the employee again and they acknowledged that they “thought” it was fixed. It’s upsetting for Jane, I understand, but I think she was out of line about the whole thing. People make mistakes.

Neither payroll nor I knew anything about it until today. We both apologized and assured her the issue would be handled. After that, she looked at me and the payroll manager and said, “I appreciate your apology, but I need you both to understand that this can’t happen again. This has put me under financial strain and I can’t continue to work for COMPANY if this isn’t corrected today.” The payroll manager was heavily in agreement, but I was speechless that she’d speak to management like that.

Payroll handled the whole thing and cut her a check with the okay from HR. Jane had referenced that not being paid put her in financial hardship and unable to pay bills, so HR allowed the use of the employee hardship fund and gave her $500 in gift cards so she can get groceries and gas and catch up on bills. I’m just kind of floored that she’s getting gift cards after speaking to her superiors like that. I’m also uncomfortable because why is our company responsible for her fiscal irresponsibility? Her personal finances or debts are not the company’s responsibility. I just don’t think it’s the company’s responsibility to give her more than what she’s earned (the extra $500 from the employee emergency relief fund) to fix things for her if she overspent or didn’t prioritize her bills or save smartly. We also don’t know if she is actually experiencing a financial hardship or just claiming she was.

HR allowed her paid time to go to the bank today and deposit her check. I told our HR person that while it’s not okay Jane didn’t get paid, the way she approached it was uncalled for. HR told me, “She’s right, it can’t happen again and it shouldn’t have happened at all.” I’m getting tired of the respect gap I’m seeing with younger staff. I think Jane would be better suited in a different department. I’m not comfortable having her on my team since it’s obvious she doesn’t understand she’s entry-level and not in charge. Should I wait a while before suggesting she transfer to a different department?

Dear Employer,

You raise a number of important issues, not least among them: why do we work? Do we work because the vast majority of us are helpless to escape a fundamentally exploitative global capitalist system that requires us to exchange our time and skills and labor for money or else simply fuck off and die? Or do we work because we must get taken down a peg or two before we get too uppity to be useful to our social and economic betters?

I’m being rhetorical, of course! The correct answer is the latter, obviously. Work is not something people should or even usually do for a paycheck, which is what makes this situation so bizarre! Work is something people do because it’s the right thing to do, because it is intrinsically good for its own sake, which is to say: because it literally enriches and empowers only the most worthy in order to further distance otherwise useless, entitled grunts like your employee from getting anywhere close to laying even the barest finger, even a pinky finger, on the means of production. There’s nothing more purely and altruistically satisfying than working, especially when we know that our labor serves to strengthen the boot upon our own necks! A strong boot means a happy worker! Huzzah!

And what you have here, letter writer, is not a happy worker — what you have here is a worker who believes work and pay are related, and that they are entitled to reimbursement for their work merely because that is the immutable and binding nature of the laws where you live. I can’t think of a better example of one being too big for one’s britches than this little grabby-gabby wiseass with the gall to demand payment for services rendered per an expressly agreed-upon prior contract between all parties.

It’s a real shame that the law requires people to be paid for their labor regardless of whether they bring a sufficiently sunny attitude to the workplace, and there’s certainly nothing sunny about being clear and direct that you cannot continue to work for free indefinitely with a spring in your step and a song in your heart! What kind of sourpuss can’t show a bit of cheer in the office, even if the lights are off at home and they can’t afford groceries or other basic essentials because of the repeated incompetence of an employer who holds their very survival in their hands? That’s not the kind of can-do attitude that gets people ahead in this world!

Of course, by “people” we mean young people, who will never succeed as long as they remain universally and frightfully presumptuous. Everyone your age and older has unimpeachable comportment in every situation, whereas people who are younger than you are disrespectful smart-alecks — and it’s frankly disturbing that your HR department conceded so quickly to your employee’s unreasonable fixation on receiving money that she was legally entitled to! What’s next, avocado toast and $5 lattes on demand???? A living wage???? Health insurance???? For an entry-level employee who’s so poor with money management that she complains about going months without pay????

Only people who suffer in silence at length out of sheer and absolute terror at offending those who hold control over their financial wellbeing deserve to be paid money for food and shelter, and they can take their paychecks whenever your company damn well gets around to it, and thank you for the pleasure! Why wait to transfer this employee out of your department — surely you’re not afraid of offending this selfish peon? Cut her loose, along with anyone else she might have influenced with her money-grubbing ways, and ensure that you are surrounded only with the worshipful lackeys you deserve!

Can Office Romances Ever Be Ethical? Psychologists and Daters Dish.

forInverse

Tonya* and Dario had been dating for a few months when their company’s HR representative saw them kissing at a Christmas party. As employees in different departments, they’d been pretty successful at keeping their relationship under the radar until then, Tonya says, but at the party, they had all been drinking. After being caught in the act, “work became unpleasant,” Tonya remembers.…

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The Bigger Picture…

The Bigger Picture…

Entrepreneurship and people

Today is a new day but in business the old problems, challenges and situations roll over to the next work period. Sometimes the issues of the day before remain the same, but you can see it differently after a good night’s rest.

In reviewing conflict may arise.

What is conflict or conflicting agendas?

Well conflict in business relates to disagreement or something…

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Human Choices…

Human Choices…

Get Your Business

Many years ago I worked with a young professional who insisted on being kind daily. This was intentional and involved even the simplest of tasks. Observing her decisions, it was clear when there was a struggle between what she wanted to do and the right thing to do – most times she leaned on what felt comfortable with her beliefs without compromising the best interests of the…

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PREMISE: Bob Wallace and Lisa Friedman are the best agents the FBI has ever seen: they’re courteous, considerate, and always follow proper protocol. Rookies want to be them, and veterans want to partner with them. Whenever they’re faced with a tricky situation in the workplace, they always know just what to do, and always set a good example for their fellow agents. When you’re a federal agent, fighting crime is only half the job–the other half is making sure that you understand all internal FBI guidelines and regulations.
        Better Bureau focused exclusively on explanations of FBI protocols and never showed Wallace and Friedman investigating any crimes, because the show was actually a series of FBI human resources training videos. Better Bureau’s “producers” stole the tapes from the FBI, passed them off as an original police procedural for years, and used the production budget they received from the network to line their own pockets.

CHARACTERS: Wallace and Friedman may not actually solve any crimes, but they bring as much energy and pep as they can to the dry work of human resources education. Wallace is passionate about summarizing core concepts, and nothing gets Friedman’s blood pumping like an opportunity to make sure that everyone understands their health benefits. Though the two sometimes butt heads, they’re brought together by their mutual love of looking straight into the camera and addressing the viewer directly. If there’s a question these two can’t answer, refer to the handbook, rookie.

NOTABLE EPISODE: When an agent doesn’t know if it’s legal to terminate an employee who is on leave, Wallace and Friedman swoop in with the answers. The episode ends with a thrilling set of bullet points explaining what to do if you discover evidence of gross negligence by an administrative employee on maternity leave (S02.E04 – “HR Tape 293: How to Legally Terminate Employees on Leave”).

CATCHPHRASE: “Please insert the second tape to continue.” / “Discuss in small groups.”

TRIVIA/MISCELLANY: The reason the show was taken off the air was actually addressed in one of the episodes (S04.E12 – “HR Tape 673: Improper Use of Proprietary FBI Training Materials”).

DYNASTY HANDBAG: img mngmnt

[Editor’s note: IMG MGMT is a series of image-based essays by artists. This week’s author is Jibz Cameron, a performance/video artist and actor-ish lesbian robot clown living in Los Angeles. Her work as alter ego Dynasty Handbag has been presented at international dives both great and small.] Hello Fans and Fans I haven’t made yet, Collage is one of my many talents, though I don’t use it. All of…

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So, in the last couple of weeks I’ve sucked at blogging. Things have been busy and I started a new job that’s amazing and came to me in a totally roundabout way and it’s great. I’ve also started to not like Tumblr. None of my friends actually write on theirs anymore, so I don’t like scrolling through my feed. But I never actually sit down at my laptop to actually fucking write either.

And I’m a little bit annoyed about it. With myself for not just writing. So, I thought I’d post a list of the blogs that are not on Tumblr that I read on an almost daily basis:

Laurie Ruettiman - Love this chick. She’s an HR pro-turned-pro HR writer. She’s a really cool person IRL (or at least on Slack) and she’s a badass. And she has, like, 5 cats. So, she’s basically living my dream life. 

H(OM)E- The lifestyle/yoga/food/whatever blog that my yoga teacher Chrissy writes. She just re-designed her entire site and it’s awesome. And she’s awesome. If you like food or yoga or just good writing, it’s a good place to be. 

Inspiralized - I love my Inspiralizer and I love reading Ali’s daily blog posts about recipes, and eating healthy in general. I also like her lifestyle blog a lot, too. 

The Balanced Blonde - Written by Jordan Younger, who used to be The Blonde Vegan, is super cool. She recently finished up her 500 hours with YogaWorks in California and she’s an awesome, verbose writer. She’s teaching at PureYoga one day in April and I have my ticket ready to go. Super psyched. 

Diary of a Yoga Teacher Trainee- I actually happened upon this lady in the comments section of the above blog. She’s going through the same intensive training at YogaWorks that I went through, although with a different teacher. She’s from England and she’s a great writer. 

Ramshackle Glam - I’ve been reading Jordan Reid’s blog since she started in 2009. I love some of her stuff and some of it not so much (style posts?! Nahhhh).  

Melanie Murphy - I follow ONE YouTuber in the entire world and it’s this lady. Does that count as a blog? It’s a vlog, so YES. I have no idea how I found her channel but she’s hilarious and insightful and lives in Ireland. I’m a fan. 

That’s about it. That’s most of what takes up my time. I can’t be bothered with Facebook anymore as everyone is running around, screaming like deranged child on it about how the world is ending, and nobody got time for that. I’m also really contemplating hiring help to switch my blog over to Wordpress to get off Tumblr because that’s what all the cool kids are doing these days. Thoughts? 

Is there an awesome blog that I’m not reading? Let me know!

It’s sad and funny at the same time.