44,000 and Counting

I, along with the rest of the world, am shocked and saddened by the events unfolding in Asia. The sheer scale of the disaster is incomprehensible to me. So many children....my heart is sick. The list of countries and casualties continues to grow.

Want to help? Here's a list of charitible organizations accepting donations:

The Herath Foundation - 320.308.2189
The Minnesotan Indonesian Society - 952.882.8993
The Association for India's Development, Inc. - 301.422.4441
Action Against Hunger - 212.967.7800
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee - 212.885.0867
American Red Cross (International Response Fund) - 1.800.HELP NOW
Baptist World Aid - 703.790.8980
Care USA - 1.800.521.CARE
Catholic Relief Services - 1.800.736.3467
Christian Children's Fund - 1.800.776.6767
Doctors Without Borders - 888.392.0392
Internation Red Crescent Society - (41).22.730.4222
Lutheran World Relief - 1.800.597.5972
Oxfam American Asia Earthquake Fund - 800.77.OXFAM
Save The Children - 800.728.3843
US Fund For UNICEF - 800.FOR.KIDS
World Emergency Relief - 760.930.8001

Please open your hearts (and wallets) and give what you can.

Merry Christmas!

christmas-homecoming, originally uploaded by schadenfreude.

Sorry, been awfully busy since I've been home. Not much time to blog. I'll make up for it next week. Got loads to talk about.

Thursday Diversion

ryo2, originally uploaded by schadenfreude.

Ryo again. Same couch, different pose.

Last Week!

Well, my personal horror that is Recruiter school is nearly over. Last week we had our multimedia exercise. After you convice the sucker...er, applicant, to come in to your office, you show him a computer-based brain washing....er, presentation. The presentation will dazzle the individual so much they become putty in your hands. The modus operendi is that the applicant will be so excited to join they won't notice you convinced them to sign up as unassigned infantry.

Neat, huh?

The scenarios take for granted you have an 18 year old who knows what the hell he wants in life. Come on. Be real. When I was 18, all I wanted was beer and a biologically accomodating female. Did I mention beer?

The areas we are told everyone will buy off on are called TEAMST. I'll elucidate:

Training
Education
Adventure
Money
Travel

See how easy that is? Everyone is supposed to fit into one of those catagories. You find their two buying motives, ask which one is more important to them, and sell them on their least important one. That way, if they don't buy off on that one, you can try the one that got them into your office in the first place. Just like selling a used car.

Thursday Diversion

Chisato 2, originally uploaded by schadenfreude.

Better late than never.

Hello? HELLO??

We had our telemarketer test today. The scenario is this: you call a high school senior, recent graduate or college student. You use time-tested telemarketer techniques to bully him or her into a meeting at your office or their house. The idea is to sell the meeting, not enlist them into the Army....yet.

The testing was a joke. The student sits in a chair with a video camera taping the interview. The person testing you is off camera, acting as the recruit. You have to jump through the hoops. There is actually a format for this. What we found out is that it doesn't matter how effed up you are, you passed anyway. We had some real heroes going through this today. Not anywhere near ready for the test. It was painful to watch some of these guys do the call. Kind of like watching a car accident happening in front of you. You are powerless to help. You find your hands sweating, and you realize you are making a cringing face. I had to get up and leave. Simply too painful to watch.

Now, we are going through the multi media exercise. We use a computer sales pitch to steal young peoples souls.

Never knew being an agent of Satan could be so rewarding.

Offical Thursday Diversion

ryo, originally uploaded by schadenfreude.

Nice er....couch.