Opinions

Company or Employee, Who is Responsible?

by trisharrowsmithauthor
(I don’t have the original post for this cartoon but the artist’s signature does show)

Finance:  fɪˈnæns finances, the monetary resources, as of a government, company, organization, or individual; revenue.

Budget: ˈbʌdʒ ɪt noun, a plan of operations based on such an estimate.

This is part one of two:

Go ahead and debate. Let me know your thoughts on whether companies could control their finances better in cases like these. Is it the company or the employee who is at fault here? Do you think companies could be standing on more solid ground if they made simple changes to have a big impact?

Let’s start this one with a random example. Let’s say you have two children and you hire a babysitter or nanny. Part of the agreement when you hired them was they were responsible for taking your children to the park and to their swimming lessons. You tell them to feel free to take the kids out for lunch on those days and you’ll reimburse them. If you’re like me, you’ll likely assume they’ll make a McDonald’s run and you’ll owe them $15-20. (I don’t have any idea how much McD’s costs these days. I haven’t been to one in years). What you find instead is that this person, in one week, has taken your children to three different sit-down restaurants at $45-60 each.

Here are my questions about this scenario:

  1. How long would you keep this person working for you?
  2. Who is to blame in this situation?
  3. What would you do if you couldn’t afford to pay that?

Some may argue that it’s your fault for not providing a budget or specifying which restaurants would be appropriate. Others may say it’s the caretakers responsibility to use their best judgment and make decisions that are appropriate for the children. After all, if they are trustworthy enough to watch after your children, they should be responsible enough to make rational decisions, right?

Now, let’s look at this similar situation involving companies. (I work for a printing/shipping company and I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have seen this exact type of transaction): A customer comes in with computer equipment (laptop, monitor, keyboard, cell phone, etc) that they need us to pack and ship out. The company they worked for gave them an account number to use which means both the packing and the shipping are paid (the customer dropping the stuff off doesn’t have to pay anything). As an employee of my company, we have packing standards that must be met, but we have no standing to say no if they ask for extra and we can’t tell them how much they’re allowed to spend on shipping (a couple days vs. overnight).

Most of the time, the customers coming in to return the equipment are doing so because they either just got fired of laid off (the latter then most common). Both circumstances make for extremely angry people. So, do you want to guess what they do?

That’s right! Instead of choosing an economical option that will get their equipment back in 3-5 days for tens of dollars, they choose an overnight option that will cost their ex-employer hundreds. Now, what that company could do, is send the ex-employee a pre-paid label, but it’s rare that we see that. Instead, they leave the shipping decision up to a newly disgruntled ex-employee which, no doubt, costs them thousands of dollars every year. In the case of an employee being laid off, the usual circumstance is most likely because the company is restructuring due to financial changes/challenges.

Here are my questions in this scenario:

  1. As a newly laid-off ex-employee, is it a proper response to try to “stick it to the company” you feel did you wrong?
  2. Should the ex-employee focus on trying to protect former co-workers from having the same thing happen to them by not spending an exorbitant amount on shipping costs?
  3. Whose responsibility is it to safeguard this transaction to make it financially reasonable?
  4. Does the company deserve it for not having those financial parameters in place?

As I mentioned previously, my company also does printing. Some companies have a printing account with us (which gives them discounts) and some don’t. Regardless of which category they fall into, we see scenarios like this every day. A customer comes in and they have a presentation they have to give and need some flyers and packets printed. We go through all the options, ask if they have an account, and give them a total. These totals can range from $60-$4600 (give or take depending on the project). More often than not, the response when we tell the customer their total is “That’s fine. I get reimbursed for it” and they put it on their credit card without a second thought.

These same companies that allow employees to make decisions like this are, at times, the same companies who can’t afford to give raises on any given year or who have to restructure and lay people off. The company doesn’t take the time to create an account to save money on printing costs, the employee doesn’t look for different options to print their orders for less money. (Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take the money all day…I want my company to be successful).

Here are my questions:

  1. Should the employee be more thoughtful in how much money they’re spending? Should they pretend they are spending their own money instead of someone else’s?
  2. Should the company set spending limits per employee or require them to get approval before placing an order?
  3. Is the company solely responsible for not taking the time to actively save money in this category so they can either make more money or put it into other areas, like payroll, who may need it more?

Part two will be available next week. Come back for my open ended debate about companies forcing employees to take their business elsewhere.

It’s Not Me, It’s You

by trisharrowsmithauthor
Image via Deposit Photos

Misogynist: /məˈsäjənəst/ A person who hates or discriminates against women.

I want to start this piece by making it clear that I don’t hate women. I hate everyone equally. (I’m mostly joking with that last line). I’m actually a really nice person. I just happen to be honest to a fault, I call people out on their bullshit, and I take issue with people who refuse to take facts/opinions into consideration just because said facts/opinions differ from either what they believe or it goes against their agenda.

With that being said, I also love playing Devil’s Advocate. Sometimes, it’s just to be an ass. Most times, though, it’s to show people their opinion is not the only valid one. I want them to see the idea/subject/situation from a different perspective.

Anyway, social media was at it again so this blog is based on a (brief) Twitter interaction. (Important to note: this person consistently posts tweets that are anti-men and describes herself as a feminist).

Twitter: Not enough people are aware that men will impregnate women on purpose in order to trap them in the relationship. It’s a real problem and just going to get worse if we don’t make change.

Me: Weird. Women have been doing that to men for decades.

Twitter: Weird misogynist retort.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the idea behind the post. However, given the history of her postings, this was nothing more than a short, feminist rant.

I am not a feminist, although I do understand the desire of some to be one. The part I don’t understand is the need to be equal when it’s beneficial but not when it’s consequential. In this particular case, she wants to accuse men of trying to impregnate a woman to trap them in a relationship but refuses to acknowledge the fact that women have done, and continue to do, the exact same thing to men.  

Instead of debating and trying to make me understand her point, her reaction was to default to “name calling” and making assumptions about who I am. I’m always up for a good debate. I’m willing to listen to someone’s reasoning behind their opinion. But…assuming I’m a misogynist because I stated a fact? That doesn’t help anyone take your post or your opinion seriously. It doesn’t help anyone understand your point.

As for the point of my post, it’s simply this: just because a person is honest and willing to admit that women aren’t perfect, it does not make them a misogynist. It makes them honest. Just because a person doesn’t hate men, that doesn’t automatically mean they must hate women. Stop using assumptions to satisfy your own agenda.

An Opinion is Just That.

by trisharrowsmithauthor

opinion: /əˈpinyən/ a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Based on this definition, personally, I think you should have some sort of facts to back up your reasoning for why you feel a certain way. But, that’s just my opinion. Some people may disagree with me and that’s okay.


The morning they announced that Roe vs Wade had been overturned I made the mistake of opening the Facebook app on my phone. The very top post was one of my friends stating that anyone who agreed with the ruling should unfriend them and not speak to them again.


Want to take a guess at what the second post was? That’s right…back to back. The next post was another friend stating that they agreed with the ruling and anyone who didn’t should unfriend them and remove themselves from the poster’s life.


So, you know what I did? I left both of them right where they were and kept scrolling through the newsfeed. I did end up closing the app after about a minute and a half because it was the entire timeline packed with posts exactly like those. But, the point is, I didn’t unfriend or stop following anyone. And no, I didn’t share my opinion on the matter and I won’t do it here either. That’s not the point of this post.


As an adult, I wholeheartedly believe people need to understand that other people have different opinions. And it’s okay. My personal Facebook page is private. It’s not a public page where I allow anyone to follow me like I do on my professional pages. I know everyone that I’m friends with there. There’s obviously a reason I’m friends with them there.


The point is, there is no one else on the planet that’s going to agree with you on every single subject. Even if the majority of your viewpoints align, there’s going to be something you disagree on. It’s how the world works. What you decide to do with those differing opinions is what determines who you are as a person.


Everyone has one or two things they are extremely passionate about. Most times, those things are based on large, complex societal issues: religion, sexuality, racism, politics, etc. And then you have people like me who pick the most obscure things to be loud about. The two biggest passions in my life? Literacy and prisoners’ rights.


The first one is a completely different subject and maybe I’ll write a short piece on that later. For now, let’s talk about the one I’m the loudest about. I have very strong opinions about prisoners’ rights and our justice system as a whole. Referring back to the first paragraph, I can tell you I have spent hundreds of hours researching a number of cases, statistics, the history of our justice system.


I have facts to back up my opinion on the subject. Typically, when I post about a stay of execution or (my least favorite) private prisons, the one comment I’m guaranteed to get is “do the crime, do the time”. Every single time I see that it makes my head want to explode. It goes so much deeper than just “a person” committing a crime. The only purpose that comment serves is to show your ignorance on the subject.


Most of the time, I push back a little bit when someone says that but I do spare them the one-two hour lecture on why that statement has zero validity. This particular example is not an opinion vs opinion because committing a crime never has anything to do with what I’m talking about. This is an example of someone having an opinion just to have a opinion.


Two of my very best people have done time in prison. Keeping in mind this is my absolute biggest passion, one of the things I care about most in this life, of those two people, one of them agrees with my viewpoint, the other does not. Want to know what happened when that one individual told me he doesn’t agree with me on the subject?


I said, “that’s okay. We’re allowed to disagree.” Want to know what happened after that? We had a few brief discussions on the subject. And I know, it’s hard to believe, but…we’re still friends. We still talk to each other. Do you want to know why that is? It’s because we’re adults. It’s because we know we won’t see eye to eye on everything. It’s because we are able to have a discussion without screaming at each other. It’s because one opinion, on one subject, doesn’t change who that person is.


Our discussions on this topic allowed us to get to know each other better. We both have valid reasons for why we have the opinion that we do. It allowed us to see things from a different perspective. And that, my friends, is the whole point of this blog page.


Perspective is knowledge. Having an opinion is fine. It’s what makes us unique, it’s what makes all of us different. But you need to have an open mind about things, even if it makes you uncomfortable. The key to fully understanding something is to be able to see it from a different perspective.


It doesn’t mean you have to agree, it doesn’t mean you have to change your mind. You just have to have the willingness to listen. And you need to understand that one opinion doesn’t define who that person is, even if that opinion doesn’t match your own.