Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Lexar JumpDrive Recalled for fire hazard

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling 60,000 Lexar JumpDrive Firefly USB Drives..saying they are a potential fire hazard. If you own one of these drives,you can receive a free replacement by contacting Lexar at (800) 248-2798 anytime, or visiting the firm’s Web site at www.lexar.com

While Lexar is embroiled in a product recall, Sony has just launched the MicroVault --the tiniest flash drive yet and as the folks at Me, My,Coke And I quipped "probably the easiest to lose". the folks at Me,My Coke & are also featuring some wonderful products that any business person may want. For folks who travel and miss those airline pillows, there's the Aromatherapy Travel Pillow

But the piece de resistance is the Keyboard Food Tray

This is a case where the picture says a 1,000 words about our culture, work style and the oft missed lunch break.

On Assignment with Boss Lady

The year was 1964. I was thirteen years old and riding solo on a Greyhound bus from Clearwater,Florida to Marion,Virginia. Somewhere in South Carolina a young woman sat next to me.

She was very excited. She had just gotten a full set of dentures. Our conversation made a lasting impression on me. Not because she got dentures --at the time I didn't think that was too weird--my grandparents had them. No, what I remember is that she called her boss the boss man.

I have no idea why that phrase cranked my motor but it still does. So when I recently saw that  Boss Lady had joined the Blogher Blog Roll I had an immediate urge to check them out.

As their tag line indicates, Boss Lady exists "because women run businesses." Although this blog is relatively young-- it is a reincarnation of sorts. Boss Lady's Bosses...Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears have been  producing Soapboxgirls, first as an ezine and then as a blog, since 2000.

While Soapboxgirls discussed a wide variety of issues of interest to women, Boss Lady is very targeted--focusing on the issues that are of interest and importance to women business owners. In addition to starting the blog, Bacon and Meirs are also co-authoring a book, called Boss Lady.

You might expect, as we did once, that the world would be full of books on this subject, because there are just so darned many women doing business with creativity, intelligence, and style… but the fact is, no one in the publishing world seems to have cottoned on to the fact that more and more women are heading out on their own to pursue their passions as entrepreneurs. At least, that's what we’re hoping. We’d love nothing more than to be the first to champion what we think is the most fun you can have while making a living. We started this website as a living guide to business, Boss Lady style. You can expect to find our thoughts and ruminations on business, updates on our book-writing and -publishing adventures, profiles of women-run businesses, resources for women entrepreneurs, and more than likely ideas on a few other assorted topics.

Just this week, Lauren Bacon and I had a chat about the blog, the challenges of getting a book published and why she thinks there are so very women business bloggers.

Kenneth Lay Dies aka Can't Get No Satisfaction

When you are dubbed the "most hated man in Corporate America", the news of your  untimely death at a ski resort a day after Independence Day will inspire conspiracy theories, good riddance wishes ,and the nagging thought in many  that he "got off too easy".

As expected,  the blogosphere is debating, Did he fake his death?
From Bitch Ph.D

They want us to believe that the good lord has struck Ken Lay down, but I heard he bought a body on the black market and is hiding out in Dick Cheney's garage.

And  from the comment section of Newscoma ,who had written a play by play post called "Ken Lay's Last Act, Freaking Out Wikipedia,"

"Dave said...       

       

I have hard evidence that Ken was killed by the Freemasons because he was about to reveal secrets about the Illuminati and the New World Order. It was made to look like a heart attack by the same people who tried to cover up the UFO crash at Roswell.

I also have passages from the Bible that show exactly how this incident will effect global warming.

      

7/05/2006 10:56:03 PM      

newscoma said...               

       

I was leaning toward Bigfoot, but yours is much more plausible."

Some reactions were surprising, as Barbara Walters announced the news on The View, she offered up her perspective on the cause of death, and as Jossip so aptly noted,  she used The Breaking News to transition to a segment on the stress of having dads in the delivery room. Perhaps the stress of the Star Jones pleasantries is clouding her better news judgment.

However, it's the news  being reported in the Wall Street Journal ( I would link but it's a subscription publication) that is apt to really goad the thousands of employees and investors who saw their life savings evaporate because of Lay's lies.

For many, there was some comfort that he would have to spend the remaining days of his life in prison.Turns out that since Lay died before his case could be appealed, his criminal conviction is likely to be expunged.

Mr. Lay's death likely will erase his conviction. Under prior decisions by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals -- which includes Houston, where he was convicted -- a person who dies before his appeal is completed isn't considered convicted. His death also likely will end the efforts of prosecutors to seize through the criminal proceeding Mr. Lay's remaining assets, since he may no longer be considered a felon, said Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning. Kathryn Ruemmler, one of the lead prosecutors in the criminal trial of Mr. Lay and Mr. Skilling, declined to comment.


However, existing civil suits by the Securities and Exchange Commission and attorneys representing Enron investors can presumably continue against Mr. Lay's estate. Whether those civil cases can extract much is unclear. Mr. Lay claimed during trial that his fortune, which once was estimated to be several hundred million dollars, had largely been wiped out. Much of his holdings had been in Enron stock, which fell to pennies a share after the company's bankruptcy.

As Linda Ellerbee would say, "And so it goes."

A Million Girls Would Kill For This Job

This is a story about bad bosses, books,blogs, movies and the influence they have on mass media. The book is The Devil Wears Prada. Until last weekend I had vaguely been aware of the book. Yes, I knew it was about a ridiculous boss but I just hadn't bothered to read it.(And, if I had not decided to wash my duvet cover on Sunday morning I would have finished the last 150 pages of the  book before going to the movie.)

Let me just ask, "Do you know what happens to a paperbook that goes through the washer with a Duvet cover?" While I'm at it, "Do you know how to get the pulp off the duvet cover after it's gone through the dryer?"  Your responses will be  greatly appreciated. The experience has given me a whole new appreciation for pulp fiction.


I picked up the book on Saturday afternoon after I noticed a media storm of attention on the topic of bad bosses. First, there was the contest on MSNBC.You can vote on Bad TV Bosses From Hell .There are 10 bosses to choose from ranging from speakerphone "Charlie" on Charlie's Angel, to Danny DiVito in Taxi,and C. Montgomery Burns on the Simpsons.

This contest is tied to a report scheduled for July 7th:Real Life Bosses You Have to See to Believe. For those who want to share their real life stories, MSNBC is inviting readers to share a bad boss story. They do have this disclaimer,"remember your emails may be published."  They then ask people for their names, city and state and email address.

I would be very surprised if many people share their current stories. There's something about giving your real name when asked to write about your boss that puts the fear of being dooced in  people.

If it had just been MSNBC I might not have read the book, but then, as I was driving around Saturday morning,I heard an invitation from NPR to go to their website and share bad boss stories. They are putting a slightly different twist on the story. They want to hear from people who have been bad bosses as well as from people who've had bad bosses.

The Bad Boss. Ever had one? Ever been one? Sometimes Hollywood inspires us. The new film The Devil Wears Prada is about an assisant to a powerful and difficult fashion editor, and it got us thinking. We want to hear about the bosses you've worked for -- and if you've ever been a bad boss yourself.

Not to be left behind, the AFL-CIO has just launched MyBadBoss    Contest which promises readers they can win a free vacation by telling their stories. The first winner is called Wounded Healer. Confirming my theory, Wounded Healer is sharing a story in the past-tense.

He paints by the number," was the excuse I was given when I wanted to okay a psychiatric hospital stay for a patient who was out of state. My patient was a veteran suffering from trauma triggered by watching news coverage of the war in Iraq. He had been taken to emergency and when they called for authorization, my boss said they cost too much. I tried to get the hopsital to bring the price down. So, they discharged my patient after making him put $5000 on his credit card. I tried to get the money back for him and get my boss to okay paying the hospital. It went back and forth for too long. The patient committed suicide. He shot himself in the head. I couldn't quit crying when I heard and took the rest of the day off. I used my personal time to do it. My boss complained to my supervisor . He said, "I don't know why she had to take the day off. People commit suicide everyday." I no longer work there. I'm in therapy now.

So far, over one thousand people have written their stories. The website is featuring an article by Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,who says  the problem isn't bosses by bossism.

Much as I'd like to see all these miscreants brought to justice--in something like the "thought reform" camps of the Chinese Cultural Revolution--I tend to think the emphasis on bad bosses is a little misguided.  The problem isn't particular bosses, but what I call "Bossism"--the hierarchical system that governs all known bureaucracies, both public and private.  Giving one person huge power over others is like giving a 3-year-old a hose: Not everyone will get soaked, but the chances of coming out dry are slender.

The Devil Wears Prada had a very successful weekend at the box office. Since I am not an entertainment writer I will refrain my sharing my review only to say I'm aligned with the Claudi Puig's review in USA Today.

I will watch Dateline Friday with lots of interest and I will look forward to listening to the report on NPR. The issue of bad bosses is important. I've had them. I've been one.

I once thought that simply sharing the stories of awful bosses  would help change attitudes and behaviors. I believed that if people had an opportunity to tell their real stories that corporate cultures would change. I'm not so confident. How many bad stories do we have to hear before we say-- you can't do that? As bloggers will attest, writing about bad bosses is risky business.Heather B. Armstrong, who coined the phrase Dooce shares---

I started this website in February 2001. A year later I was fired from my job for this website because I had written stories that included people in my workplace. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET. If you are the boss, however, please don’t be a bitch and talk with your hands. And when you order Prada online, please don’t talk about it out loud, you rotten whore.

Then there was Ellen Simonetti, the Delta Airlines Flight Attendent who was fired for some photos she shared--she is now writing a book.  And, there was Opinionistas who quit after she landed a book deal--just days before she would have been dooced for her tell all tales of life as a lawyer in a New York law firm.

And now there is J.Y.N's Pagan Girl In Corporate America. As far as I can tell she still has her job...but if the past predicts the future, it's only for the time being.

Elana is a Contributing Editor for Business & Careers at  Blogher-  And, at one time she too had a job that "a million girls would kill for this job."