The Clock Stopped, Never to Run Again

"Pray, my dear, quoth my mother, have
you not forgot to wind up the clock ? ----
Good G -- ! cried my father, making an
exclamation, but taking care to moderate
his voice at the same time, ---- Did ever
woman, since the creation of the world, in-
terrupt a man with such a silly question?
Pray, what was your father saying ? ----
Nothing."

What's up with that?
Find out here.
It's quite funny.

So There's a Name for It
Subject: The Word Spy for 11/20/2003 -- warm-chair attrition


> warm-chair attrition (warm-chair uh.TRISH.un) n.
>
> The loss of workplace productivity due to employees who dislike their
> jobs and are just waiting for the right time to quit and move on to
> something better.
>
> ---------------------------------
> Example Citations
> ---------------------------------
> Surveys indicate that more than a third of American workers have
> already mentally checked out of their current jobs, waiting to pounce
> on the next opportunity, he said. "We call it warm-chair attrition,
> and a lot of employers are going to get caught short by it."
> --Cheryl Hall, "Workplace forecaster predicts skilled-worker
> drought," The Dallas Morning News, October 3, 2003
>
> ''Most employees are corporate cocooning,'' said Joyce L. Gioia,
> president of the Herman Group, a consulting firm in Greensboro, N.C.
> ''They don't like their jobs, they don't like their co-workers, they
> don't like their bosses, but they're scared. When the economy heats
> up-and we know that it will-and more jobs are created around the
> country, these same employees are going to spread their wings and fly
> away. Right now, we have an epidemic of what we call 'warm-chair
> attrition,''' she said. ''Physically, they're still warming the
> chairs, but mentally and emotionally, they're history.''
> --Judy Greenwald, "Few companies preparing for impending labor
> shortage," Business Insurance, October 27, 2003
>
> ---------------------------------
> Earliest Citation
> ---------------------------------
> HERMAN: You would think so, but there's another factor going on here.
> A lot of today's employees are looking at self-control over their own
> career destiny. And they're realizing that we do have a slow economy
> now, but things will be picking up. And that it will get better. And
> they'll be able to make the jump. One of the things that we have seen
> in our research is something we described as warm chair attrition.
> --Jerry Nachman, Roger Herman, "NACHMAN: The American Worker," MSNBC,
> September 2, 2002

Obligatory Posting
I've been a little bummed recently.
I still haven't heard whether I've been accepted to the library science program.
Rob's mother is back in the hospital.
My own brother admitted himself to a psyche ward two weeks ago. He got out last Friday but is - last I heard - staying at our parents' house. Not necessarily a good thing. I think part of his problem is that he spends too much time with our parents. He needs to play with kids his own age.

Here We Go Again
The weekend Rob and I went to the mountains, he left a niece to look after his mother. Friday afternoon, while we were on the road to Charlotte, the niece took her to the hospital. She hadn't been eating much.
She was in the hospital three weeks. Now she's in a nursing home, but she still won't eat or drink much.
Rob just lost his oldest sister in August. I had hoped things would calm down for him for a while.