Listen

Jon sat in his office staring at the picture frame hanging on wall. He wondered, how did he forget the most important area of his supervisory skill set.  A very simple situation got carried so far out of hand that it will take a good amount of time for everyone involved to get past the incident.  The department Jon supervised was three days away from setting a record month in fabrication sales. The boss and Jon made the decision to not tell my team of the situation. Jon did not want to add anymore stress into the workplace. Later that day Ivan came and asked to speak with Jon. Ivan was the sawman and without him cutting material the production line would come to a halt. Jon stated he was busy right now, but would come and get him when he had a moment. Thinking only of the record Jon gave no further thought to Ivan’s request. The next day Jon’s boss came a told him that he gave Ivan the next two days off. Jon became furious, thinking how could Ivan go over his head for the request. The record was achieved and Jon rewarded the team minus Ivan. Jon’s boss and the head of HR called him to the front office. Ivan reported Jon’s actions. It was explained that Ivan’s wife was hosptilized for a very serious condition. Jon’s heart dropped and he felt like a real idiot. Jon later apolized to Ivan and promised that there would never be a repeat of his non-feeling actions. Jon moved the picture frame in his office and placed it directly above the heads of people entering his office. The quote in the frame is as follows: I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway

The “EX”

Recently I was placed in an extremely awkward situation by a few so called buddies. I use the word friend very little. For all of my life there are many people that I know, but there is a limited few that I call a friend. I was invited over to a buddy’s house for a football party. We do different events throughout the year and never had any problems. You should also know that all of the guys are married and I am not. Upon entering the house I see the woman I broke up with in 2012. We were together for 15 years and left on bad terms.  Once I finished verbally trashing the guys, I enjoyed the game, the food and drinks. Just you let everyone and her know I was over the relationship, I carried on some lite conversation and laughter.  When was done I went home. The questions I have are simple. If a relationship ends badly for one of the people involved, I think you should not have the same buddies. Will the women in the group ever let the old relationship die?  Also, I don’t know the rule of introducing a new lady into the circle.

For all but 11 years of my 2 oldest children life I was a single parent. In 1984 my daughter was 8 years old and my son 5. We would on many occasions watch certain TV shows together. My purpose for doing this was so I could help them understand some of the more difficult subject matters. One day we were watching the Oprah Winfrey show and the topic was abortion. It was stated that you could abort a fetus up to the third trimester. During the call in portion of the show I hear my son’s voice come over the TV. He wanted to know if the 2^nd grade and fourth semester was too late. He laughed for days and I also get a chuckle, whenever I re-live the moment. Believe it or not this is a true event. Too this very day they are extremely close and have often made some incredible sacrifices for one another. I tell this story as a reminder to myself about love. No matter how frustrated we get with someone, or we may get overly angry. If you have “LOVE” in your heart, you would rather have harm come to yourself.  

 

My first post

     I am writing my very first couple of paragraph for my blog. This whole thing is new to me and come with some apprehension. Will the things I talk about end up in a public forum. I am not much of a talker when it comes to new people or someone I have not had a pass conversations. But I will try and come out of my comfort zone and attempt something new.

     My name is Anthony and I am currently attending City College. The Private Investigations program is my field of choice. I am going to receive a Associates Degree by the end of 2014. The hope is that I will one day open my own Private Investigations agency in Jacksonville, Florida. As far as the insurance industry goes Jacksonville is a location rich with business.

     Jacksonville and the surrounding area is somewhere I am very familiar. I was raised in Jacksonville and have a lot of family in the city. I will have a very good network of contacts that are in the law enforcement, politics, private business, and insurance. Moving back to Jacksonville will also provide me with a certain level of confidence in my field.