Managers Minus Computers

I've worked for several newspapers during my brief time on this planet. I first worked for The Daily Herald in a small Southwestern town. That was the first newspaper I ever worked for. It was a Scripps League publication.
I was a zone manager and had a fair bit of responsibility--hiring carriers, firing carriers who didn't perform well, hiring area representatives who typically supervise the carriers and also who do some carrier hiring of their own, running zone meetings, customer service (which was paramount) promoting new subscriptions and collecting monthly bills then submitting those reports.
And that list is incomplete. Because this was years and years ago and now I've forgotten the entire gamut of what I used to do, that far back. But as I recall, it was a lot. A lot of responsibility for the amount of pay that I took home, anyway.
I had to do a lot of phone contact and some mailing out of letters and forms and I think nowadays they likely have a lot of email communication and document scanning in that office whereas when I worked there, I didn't even have a computer console of my own. Man--looking back, that's hard to believe, now.

I Can Help

I think a great part-time job would be to work behind the counter at Office Depot. Because I really like helping people. I do. It's a great thing to be able to color copy necessary documents and perform document scanning operations for people who really need it done.
And usually when people show up to have something scanned or copied, they're stressed out or on their way to something where they're presenting material and so they really appreciate personal and confident, happy customer service. I think I could be that type of person--the one who offers someone a smile and performs a pretty basic service with a smile on their face and I could handle being that someone who knows the machines and what methods to recommend so that a particular project (the customer has worked so hard to make look good) comes out looking even better and a little more professional. People really appreciate that--because as we all know, presentation is the key, when sharing information.
And I would be very happy to help out with that kind of thing.

It's Mostly Review

In business writing--as I'm currently learning in my MCom 320 class--there are different types of messages and for those different types, various ways to present information to an audience, depending upon who that audience happens to be. A company picnic email vastly differs from a business proposal. A no-brainer.
For those messages that are informative, there is a certain way to write; for those which are persuasive in nature, there is a preferable approach. For persuasive messages, ensure that your argument or reasoning is sound; any fallacy will weaken your stance with the intended audience.
This is not anything new to me but perhaps awakening my faculties to actually considering all this at the very forefront of my brain, is something I hadn't previously done.
And there are other lessons to be learned about basic inter-office communication as far as emailing and document scanning etc. goes.
It's a practical class I suppose, although some of it feels more redundant and obvious.
Of course, I've been around a while longer than the average student in there. Most certainly my field of reference is more expansive.

Everyday Post People?

What seemed like a crazy idea just 20 years back has hugely taken over the US Postal Service-or at least has come to overthrow and dominate the communication field in large part. I'm talking about the high volume of email transactions, document scanning and sending both ways.
This has greatly reduced the need for stamps and sending and receiving snail mail and will probably, eventually, if not almost immediately bring massive change.
I never thought I'd see the day when there is debate on whether or not we have regular/daily mail delivery. I was recently reading that there's discussion about removing our Saturday service as well as everyday postal delivery. And of course, with the high cost of gas and energy, it just makes sense to downsize where we can. It seems like an awful lot of wasted energy form those mail trucks to make the rounds to our homes every single day.
I think we could probably get by with less staff and less service now that most people pay half of their bills online and correspond with others via cyberspace.
Then again, my dog would really miss the daily workout and excitement of trying to drive away the postman. And enjoying that apparent success. Everyday.

Office Positions A Plenty

I was recently looking at jobs on Craig's List--a few months back. There are all kinds of jobs out there. Of course with unemployment being at the current rate of 9.6 percent nationally, I'm certain that the good jobs get snatched up fast while the not-so-hot ones linger awhile. And I'm sure there are a lot of those crappy ones listed.
But that's usually how it goes, huh?!
As I was looking at education jobs--just because I think I'd eventually really like to teach--I somehow began looking at both writing jobs and office positions. Because there are a ton of those out there. And I imagine that an office position has a decent amount of writing involved. You know: memos, email, meeting minutes and proposals. I'm sure you do a good amount of PR writing and document scanning and stocking supplies and opening mail and greeting clients perhaps. I think it's probably not a bad position, working in an office as long as the other staff members are tolerably nice or at least courteous. Yeah, I could probably handle a job like that. I'd especially really like the writing part. Of course. That's what seems to feel most natural to me.

The Joy of MCom 320

I'm taking MCom 320 this semester. It's a college requirement and I have to say that it's been a little bit annoying to have to review (at the college level) things as basic as font sizes and basic page layout on a business document. And the primary color wheel. Really. Am I to assume that I'll be tested on this stuff? That's part of the lesson I'm currently working on.
Now I know that's not review for some 19 year-old kid out there who's never painted or colored but I'm guessing that they're few and far between. Some people--I suppose--do come into college not having taken art in elementary school (if they attended say...Gulag elementary). Come on.
Sure, maybe they all didn't have basic television broadcast classes in which you are taught to compare and contrast the additive and subtractive color systems.
So I get that part.
Anyway, I'm a bit older than the average student and I did have that training back in the day.
I also have to review symmetrical and asymmetrical layout on the page. And document scanning and email protocol. Some of these things just seem so remedial to be studying--y'know, at this point in my life.