Yesterday, I went on an interview for a job at a manufacturer. It was obvious, and reinforced multiple times during the interview, that this place operated under the Kaizen/ lean/ continuous improvement principles. In fact, they beat you over the head with this idea when a visitor walks in the front door and sees:

No receptionist.

There’s no big desk, potted plants, or cushy chairs. There is, however, a note on a door that says, “Follow the instructions by the phone.” There is indeed a phone, and a phone list. Visitors are instructed to call the extension of the person they have an appointment with. If you don’t have an appointment? Leave a card. And then get out.

As a job seeker, I was startled by this set up. I’m used to wandering in and having a receptionist there to schmooze with. Not in this place; it was as if I was given an efficiency and competency test right there in the lobby. I was perplexed until I had a chance to think about the experience.

And then I loved it. These folks were saving 30K on someone’s salary, and another 4K on benefits. Visitors were doing the “recepting” for themselves, not unlike checking out your own groceries at the supermarket. I know, there’s something to be said for first impressions, and “visitor experience.” But you know, not having someone there wasn’t a big deal. Really.

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Now, let’s fast-forward to a meeting I attended at my temp gig today. No agenda was offered before the meeting. Half the time was taken up by going over handouts. There was a thrilling ten minute discussion about my work hours, because, you know, when the temp works is darned important.

That was not a productive use of anyone’s time. It was an hour that I could have been accomplishing other tasks, and I was annoyed.

I wasn’t sure that I liked the whole culture of the employer I visited yesterday, until I had a chance to get irritated by my current situation today. Those folks, they may be onto something.

One of the things I love about southeastern Michigan is the juxtaposition of liberal college towns like Ann Arbor all tossed in with old school Big Business Companies like the Big Three automakers. There’s some New Economy stuff happening here (I’m talkin’ to you, Ann Arbor branch of Google..call me! I’m lookin’ for a job!). There’s plenty of Old Economy to go around too- Twentieth Century industry that hasn’t gotten the memo that things are different now.

These worlds only rarely collide, and I saw such a collision last Wednesday afternoon.

I was fortunate enough, due to my sweetie’s intervention and string-pulling, to get a ticket to hear Thomas Friedman speak at an event sponsored by the Washtenaw Economic Club. I’ve not read Friedman’s most recent work, but I do read his column in the New York Times and loved his book on the Middle East from many years ago, From Beirut to Jerusalem. He’s a great writer, with an elegant but clear style that I really admire. Oh yah, and he has important stuff to say too. He’s style and substance, a real rarity. His latest work is entitled Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Here’s a brief synopsis:

As in The World Is Flat, he explains a new era—the Energy-Climate era—through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street. But they have not gone very far down Main Street; the much-touted “green revolution” has hardly begun. With all that in mind, Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution—with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation.

–from Friedman’s website.

Friedman’s theories from this newest work provided the fodder for his talk to the Economic Club. I’m really not interested in recapping the meat of the talk, because a liveblogger did that for me. The collision of the Crunchy Granola folks and Suits was what captivated me.

(Part II forthcoming)

Bob Lutz, a Big Wig at GM, was on the Colbert Report on Wednesday night. He was there to promote the Chevy Volt.

He was out of touch, sexist, and disgustingly smug. This does not bode well for any of the Big Three here in Michigan.

Of course, you can see for yourself right here.

But, really, what do I know? I’m a “no-makeup” kinda gal. I really should be home, naturally birthin’ some babies with a midwife rather than having an actual opinion.

While I think it’s admirable that GM is trying to get onboard with having a vehicle in production that will run without gasoline power for about 40 miles, I don’t think that they realize how little of an impact this vehicle will make. The Volt will be in production for the 2010 model year (maybe). I’m taking a WAG that the MSRP is going to be $20K ish. Who is going to buy this car? Especially if Lutz continues to alienate those of us who think that climate change is, oh, an actual concern.

I’d rather see someone, maybe an OEM, create a lithium-ion battery pack like the one that’s going to go in the Volt…that can be added as an after market accessory. I have a hatchback; I’d throw a big ol- battery pack in there if it meant using less gasoline. Think of the MILLIONS of cars that could be retrofitted for such a thing.

That’s change. That’s marketability. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

One of my co-workers at my temp gig is buried under a mountain of paperwork. Part of my assignment is to help him dig out and organize. I’m doing the best I can, but I’m a temp- not a miracle worker.

I turned the corner out of the office kitchenette and saw said co-worker. Bless his heart…he was hunched over and so tensed up his ears were nearly touching his shoulders. So, I said:

Wow, R, you look really tense over all that work you’ve got. Anything I can do to help you out with all that tension?

Ooops.

I’ll be back once I pry my Birkenstock clad foot outta my mouth….

My rather long term (about 2.5 months) temping gig will be ending next week. The work has been mind-numbing, but as with all jobs- it’s often not about the work.

It’s about the people.

I mean, seriously, does anyone ever wax nostalgic about the tasks they performed at any job? “Golly, I sure do miss those spreadsheets I used to do for Purchasing.”

Yah, um, no.

You remember how one person always brought funky vegan California rolls for breakfast meetings when it was their turn.  You chuckle when you remember the one woman who would visit her family on Long Island, and would come back to work with a hardcore New Yawk accent. How about that Gen Y accountant who loved Eminem, and would crank E loudly when doing bank rec’s? Or the guy in his 40’s, the straight guy in his 40’s with the slightly creepy fascination with Ariel from The Little Mermaid?

Sure, you gain skills and garner accomplishments at every job you have. But those pale in comparision to how one’s life is enriched by interactions with others.

I was so bummed out to read about the Food Lady’s bad experience at the US/ Canadian border crossing here.

I’m sure she knows we’re all not total assholes, but sheesh. I’m kinda embarrassed.

I mean, we took the Stanley Cup this year. We should be thankin’ our lucky stars the Canadians are even still speaking to us! (Go Wings!)

I had a Very Big interview on Tuesday, and it was gently suggested to me that I procure a nice outfit, aka a suit, for the event.

Now, let’s get a few things straight:

1. I hate the Mall.
2. I go the Mall maybe once a year. Seriously. Not even an Apple Store opening can get me there. And I luv me some Apple.
3. I own eleven pairs of Birkenstocks.

Needless to say, I was less than stoked to go suit shopping. However, Saturday morning I donned my Disapproving Rabbits t-shirt and went on my merry way. I hit the usual places one would imagine, the department stores, and I saw a lot of polyester blend items in questionable colors and cuts. Is an Aquamarine colored suit ever acceptable in the workplace? Have I attained the stature, er, age where an elastic waistband is a viable option? What is up with dressy bermuda shorts-like bottoms…who wears THOSE?

For the love of Pete, all I wanted was a boring grey suit. Was that to much to ask of my local mall? Also, I’d like to not pay $300, thankyouverymuch. I may be the temping-est temp in all the land, but I’m still not rollin’ in the Benjamins. After trudging through the mall for about three hours, I called my fella. “Honey,” I wailed. “It’s aawwwwwful. I can’t find aaaaaaaanything. Well, I can’t find anything that’s not $300. What am I going to doooooooooooooooooooo?” I then said I was going to take one more swing through Macy’s, because fortheloveofGod MACY’S should have a suit.

Thank goodness I made that one last trip through the Petites (oh look! clothes for little people!) department, because I bagged myself a modest grey suit. It’s moderately stylish, with a cropped jacket and a slightly flared skirt, but it’s a grey pinstriped suit none the less. Best of all? It was on super secret clearance for $60. I was almost weeping in the dressing room, I was so happy.

Honestly, how do people with Real Jobs who have to wear grown up clothes do it? The clothes I saw were mostly on the tacky expensive side, and I know that’s what folks are expected to wear in the office. “Career Separates.” Oy.

New spider species named after Neil Young.

There are no words to describe the awesomeness.

My fella and I are working out how to plant Vegetable Garden 1.0. I thought that I had a pretty good idea how that was gonna go, but apparently, I was, uh…mistaken. We are currently in a beta rebuild and will try to relaunch this coming weekend.

(Translation: We had a loud discussion at the farm where we were going to buy plants, but we ended up coming home with none. We did buy a spiffy new shovel and rake. We’ll try again next weekend.)

We also spent a fair amount of time working on my favorite 10 year old’s Zune. The hardware is lovely to behold. It’s very sleek. But the software? Oh. My. Lord. The people who coded that piece o’ crap need to be taken behind the woodshed. It’s bloated, slow, and not intuitive in the least. Luckily, I belong to Rhapsody, and can get the poor kid some mp3’s from there. Or Amazon.

I feel bad… this kid has a nice piece of tech that he can barely use. I know that with a little tweaking and 3rd party software, I could make the Zune into something cool. It’s just a bit too advanced for my favorite 10 year old. By the time he grows into it, there’ll be a newer, better, cooler thing to get, I suppose.

I, personally, can neither confirm nor deny whether I ordered myself one of these. But if I did? I totally had a coupon.

3:30pm. The copy room.

I’m going into a cabinet for a shipping label doodad. In moseys random high ranking techie. Surprisingly, he acknowledges my existence:

“So, uh…I know you’ve been here all of three days, but…do you know if there’s a place where I can put items to be shredded?”  My glance was drawn to a small pile of papers in his hand. There were twenty sheets. Maybe.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but…there’s a shredder here in the corner of the copy room. You could just run those through real quick!” I smiled brightly, of course. I’m no dour temp. No, no! And I wasn’t being wise…that shredder is a monster.

I received quite the blank look in my perky direction. “Well, I guess I could do that. I’ve got a couple of minutes,” Random Techie replied. There was an almost imperceptible sigh.

I turned and left the copy room, with a “great!” I went back to the front desk, chuckling.

I can perform a lot of duties at work, but coddling ain’t one of em.