I hate working for the man!!!!!

Just be happy you have options you government contractor ho!



Oh, and if you go there, I hope you have access to a internet connected computer. What would do if I opened off topic and didn't hear from you?

You work for one of the most annoying, hateful banks there is, and that might be a big part of it. Maybe CITI is worse. My lover works for MBNA and loves it. He practically rushes out the door every morning. Of course, he tends to find grey pinstripe to be incredibly erotic!
I was working for the Federal Government and was miserable - mostly out of sheer frustration. There is an entrenched bureaucracy of the most hateful, lazy, incompetant bitches you could ever imagine. They couldn't be fired or transferred, and any attempt to get an honest day's work out of them resulted in even more shirking and various attempts to dish me. When my boss started mentioning that I ought to see my vaccinations and dental work seen to before I got posted to Baghdad, to troubleshoot a few problems for him, I gave my notice. That's a young guy's posting and I hear the dry cleaners in Baghdad suck.
I now do my old job, but as a private consultant, and it's great. I don't have to deal with ancient computers, a crappy office with no view and chasing staff to get them to make some kind of a commitment to doing their jobs. An opportunity to quit a government job should always be taken, especially if you can make more money doing something you like.

From what I hear, a lot of great things are getting done in Afghanistan. The death rates of women, infants and young children are down by about 80%, roads and buildings are being repaired, historical sites are being restored, and it is all going pretty smoothly. You could really make a difference there if you applied yourself.

"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home." Betty Bender

No idea who Betty Bender was/is, but she's dead right. Leave that job, Neehai!

Are you mad that a)Wachovia is tainted by a distant connection as a successor firm to slavery, b) their slavish political correctness in apologizing for something that happened hundreds of years ago, totally unrelated to any person living today, or c) that you had to write and make such an absurd and almost certainly unfelt apology yourself as a company spokesman/hack?

Slavery ended 120 years ago. The last people born into slavery died within the memory of several persons still living. Many people now in their 30s or 40s have only two degrees of separation from slavery, having heard stories from their parents or grand-parents about loved ones who lived in bondage.

Companies whose predecessors profited from slavery built their fortunes on labor stolen from as many as eight generations of Africans. In material terms, the descendants of slaves have been deprived of the personal inheritances that labor might have produced, here or in Africa. Culturally, slaves were cut off from any past continuity of knowledge and custom, and their capacity to amass and pass on new knowledge was powerfully suppressed.

In the decades between the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement, many of these same companies refused to employ, house, or do business with blacks, or offered them the least desirable work, goods, and lodgings, continuing to oppress and exploit these citizens to the corporations' gain. Only in the last generation or two have average black Americans had any opportunity to educate themselves and amass wealth, lifeskills, and connections to pass on to their children. Meanwhile, the stolen labor of their ancestors reaps massive dividends they will never see.

Ignorance of history won't stop it from shaping your life. Events of the Crusades and Roman times are not "unrelated to any person living today;" American slavery is only a couple dominoes back in the line.

Slavery ended more like 140 years ago. Even so, I know people, white and black who are still bitter. The past is the one thing we cannot change, so trying to apologise or excuse what happened is particulary pointless. Best to let it go and move on. Judging people or companies now for things that happened so long ago is an equally pointless pursuit. While I certainly regret that slavery existed I wouldn't ever apologise for something I have no connection to either historically or emotionally. I would venture to bet that many many of the employees and shareholders of Wachovia are the descendants of people who immigrated since those times. Are you going to blame and penalise them, too? Wachovia has many blacks in senior positions in the company so they are doing the right thing now, regardless of the past.
My great great great grandfather suffered huge financial losses during the Civil War but I don't piss and moan about it now. If I did I'd be looking for pie from the sky; pie that wasn't my due and that I had not earned, the same as anyone looking for such a belated handout as reparations for slavery. You might as well ask the Queen of England to apologise for burning down the White House.

Mmmkay...well anyway, back to issues relating to people who are living in pretty bad conditions *today*...

Going to Afghanistan: Well, someone has to do it, if the country is going to ever modernize. And if it's going to happen *ever*, now is the time... Just make sure you know you're going over with people who know what they're doing, Neehai. Not some inefficient organization with halfass planning..

If you decide to go over there, dont forget to raid the local dump first for some good quality "armor"

If its good enough for our troops, must be good.