Monday, July 25, 2011

A Perfect Job & Monday Kindness

I have no idea how to react to today's first story. Something about it doesn't feel right and I doubt the character of the women featured in the article

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/07/22/office-assistant-jill-mcglone-paid-12-years-for-a-job-she-didnt/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk1%7C219787

I know what I think about the following article. Good for anonymous. Doing good and not wanting the credit for it.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43678751/ns/today-good_news/

The following article goes in my good column. I do believe that random acts of kindness are not only catching that they also make people better.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-koh/random-acts-of-kindness-_b_904100.html

Comment Away.

QUOTES

"Women more than men can strip war of its glamour and its out-of-date heroisms and patriotisms, and see it as a demon of destruction and hideous wrong." She was born in 1867 and died in 1940. She was a nurse; social worker; public health official; teacher; author; editor; publisher; activist for peace, women's, children's and civil rights; and the founder of American community nursing. I don't know what she did in her spare time. Her unselfish devotion to humanity is recognized around the world and her visionary programs have been widely copied. She extended her mission as founder of the Henry Street Settlement which later attracted the attention of Jacob Schiff, a prominent Jewish philanthropist who secretly provided her the means to help more effectively the "poor Russian Jews" whose care she provided. She authored two books. She was the first president of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing. Not content to improve people's lives just through nursing she also taught women how to cook and sew, provided recreational activities for families, and got involved in the labor movement. Out of her concern for women's working conditions. The New York Times named her as one of the 12 greatest living American women in 1922. Do you know of the HOUSE ON HENRY STREET? If so you can tell me who authored today's quote.

4 comments:

Pat said...

I'd say clearly there's something wrong with a person collecting a salary, let alone pension benefits, without working for them for that long. She's a freeloader and the Board that suspended her are idiots for not following up and either terminating her or making her come to work. How it should be resolved, I have no idea.

Lovely thing the anonymous donor did, with or without taking credit. I also love random acts of kindness. I'm rarely in a position to offer one, but at least I try to let other drivers and pedestrians go ahead of me whenever I can. I guess that's something.

Lady DR said...

First, I can't believe an organization would pay someone for twelve years, without realizing the person isn't in the office. Second, I think the woman is probably liable for fraud, taking the money after being terminated.

Yea! for the anonymous donor to the health center and yea! to the center for providing a means for those women to regain their health (and probably self-respect and self-esteem) under financial stress and strain.

I was glad to see the article on Random Acts of Kindness. I think we need frequent reminders of all the good people who are out there. It was interesting to read through some of the comments that were posted in response.

Pat, I suspect you perform random acts of kindness, without even realizing it. Sometimes, a simple smile at a stranger or a frazzled mother is enough to make their day look a bit brighter, for example. A listening ear. Being able to answer someone's question. Encouragement and support you give here. Granted, you may know the people, but it's still kindness and I think it still counts. Heck, sometimes, just letting a cashier or clerk or some such know you appreciate them, with a smile and comment, is the bright spot in their day, given how other customers may have treated them.

William J. said...

Hi Pat

I agree with DR my guess is you are doing many acts of kindness every day. I think you do a lot when you go visit your mother and many times you have told us something you have done when you were there. It doesn't have to be big, I cannot tell you how kind I view it when somebody gets up in a restaurant and runs to the door to open when I am pushing mom in a wheelchair. Little to many but large to me.

I know if I was collecting a paycheck that I wasn't supposed to get I would have let the company know the first check I received. I think it should be resolved by putting her in jail and then throwing out her lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Bill

William J. said...

Hi DR

Talk about bad accounting and bad outside accountants if the company was being audited and if they had an HR department I'd fire the whole damn lot. Then the woman has the balls to sue the company after it is discovered that she has been taking a check for not working all that time.

I like the anonymous story for all the reasons you stated.

We need good news to keep us going and we need the good feeling that random acts of kindness give us.

Bill