[VRM]

I got laid off this time last year. I got a contract job 2 weeks later that I am still working at. My manager wants to convert me to full time, but the company is also going through layoffs (5500 people). My project is doing well and looks like it is going to be a very long term thing. I also have a years salary in cash sitting in the bank just generating interest. I know I am a lot better off than some others.

I've had 3 close friends get laid off in the last 2 months. One works in HR, another ran a printing press, and the third is a materials research scientist. The company I used to work for is closing the facility I worked at and sending the work to India. The 5 people that survived my layoff last year will be laid off at the end of this month, along with the rest of the staff there.

I have seen a huge problem with this country for a long time, and it involves just about everyone from the lowest paid to the highest paid. Nobody really considers quality or responsibility anymore. The CEOs only look at the bottom line today and don't seem to realise that cutting elements of the customer experience (docs, support, features, quality) lessen the likelihood that you will get a repeat customer. Bonuses for CEOs and others should be tied to customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and progress on short and long term company goals.

The flip side of that is the workers who 'phone in' their work, and don't actually care that the work they do is shoddy. This is where the model for unions falls down; they expect a basic minimum for job performance and have no incentive to to a better job. This attitude is shared by a lot of non-union workers as well, and it needs to change.

I have a (very) small side business that is a one man operation. This side business involves research, graphic design, and printing. I looked all over the US for a print shop capable of doing the level of work and detail that I wanted, but none of them had the quality I was looking for. My product is now printed at a shop in Italy because, while they are a little difficult to deal with (they don't react well to deadlines), they are also artists at what they do. They make every effort to make sure that the final product is exactly what I want.

As a result of me being ultra-anal about what I produce I have become a bit of a legend in my little niche market. I have more customer requests than I can handle, and I hear that I have taken a chunk out of a couple of my competitors (including a big Japanese one that just does sloppy research - 50 stars on a 1958 American flag!!) .

We are now a throwaway culture - many of our products are crap, and other countries are catching up (or have surpassed us). If this continues to happen our middle class will vanish, and so will the success of this country.

Steve