Retired? Do you feel sorry for people who have to work?

[braumeister]

Interesting. I knew about Falls Church, but I used to live in a part of Alexandria that's in Fairfax County and never realized another part was separate. I just looked at a map, and that's a really weird boundary. I guess it makes sense to somebody.

I didn't know that either. I have a relative who bought a house in the part that's in Fairfax County back in the 1950s, and his mailing address has always been "Alexandria, VA." I had no idea it wasn't part of the "real" Alexandria. Still, he's inside the Beltway so that means something.

 

[Amethyst]

I feel the same when listening to the D.C. traffic reports. "Incidents" are always plentiful. I myself probably aged two years for every year I drove the Beltway, and three years for each year I actually drove in D.C. itself. My home does not have easy access to trains or metro, so it was autos all the way.

Because the awful commute was the main reason I retired, I fell sorry for my former fellow LIRR (commuter rail) riders whenever I hear a transit report which includes a problem on the trains, a fairly frequent evens.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I didn't know that either. I have a relative who bought a house in the part that's in Fairfax County back in the 1950s, and his mailing address has always been "Alexandria, VA." I had no idea it wasn't part of the "real" Alexandria. Still, he's inside the Beltway so that means something.

The interesting thing about part of Virginia is that it was part of the District of Columbia (not sure about dates here--there are better historians here than I). The District was originally a diamond with Alexandria a neighborhood in the southern corner. Lots of interesting stuff comes up in a google search about the original boundary markers for the District and when the land was returned to Virginia.

 

[Milton]

A zero sum game

Have felt sorry for people unemployed due to globalization.

I feel happy for all those people who now have a chance to be raised out of abject poverty, thanks to the economic opportunities globalization has afforded third world countries.

 

[razztazz]

I feel happy for all those people who now have a chance to be raised out of abject poverty, thanks to the economic opportunities globalization has afforded third world countries.

So why does it have to be a zero sum game? Fluck the other guy someone somewhere went up a notch because of it and that's good?

"Capitalism." (Not the quotes) Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Can't produce anything without standing on somebody else's back.

Why should I care about some cipher "being raised out of poverty"? That's his and his culture's problem. Helping people is great but when it's a shell game of cheap labor you ain't no saint

Personally I I can't feel sorry unless I know their story. All those old ladies cashiering at target the supermarket et al. Maybe they married an old man who was loser. She stuck it out and is now reaping the whirlwind. Or maybe it's, as someone mentioned above, a confluence of too many negative events preventing recovery from any of them.

I just know I would feel sorry for ME if I had to spend the final 40 yrs of my life like that

 

[Sunset]

So why does it have to be a zero sum game? Fluck the other guy someone somewhere went up a notch because of it and that's good?

"Capitalism." (Not the quotes) Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Can't produce anything without standing on somebody else's back.

Why should I care about some cipher "being raised out of poverty"? That's his and his culture's problem. Helping people is great but when it's a shell game of cheap labor you ain't no saint

....

+1
Folks often think it's great people in underdeveloped countries get work, until it is their own employer that closes the plant and ships the jobs overseas for $1.00/hr.

 

[Helena]

.

During the time I worked in and retired from a major corporation, I saw the social environment degenerate into virtual slavery [especially after a corporate take-over a few years before I retired.] What was once a nice place to work became abusive.

Before I retired, the people [mostly single women with children who really needed their job to survive] who worked in entry-level positions at the company were subjected to bathroom monitoring. Seriously, the time they spent in the bathroom was tracked and charted and affected their reviews, raises and job security.

.

 

[aja8888]

.

During the time I worked in and retired from a major corporation, I saw the social environment degenerate into virtual slavery [especially after a corporate take-over a few years before I retired.] What was once a nice place to work became abusive.

Before I retired, the people [mostly single women with children who really needed their job to survive] who worked in entry-level positions at the company were subjected to bathroom monitoring. Seriously, the time they spent in the bathroom was tracked and charted and affected their reviews, raises and job security.

.

Ahh, bathroom monitoring! That should have been in use at my home when we were raising a house full of daughters! There were times I had to go to the gym before work so I could get use of a shower.