I’ve recently made a list of goals. This is something I’ve done in the past, but the goals were more ‘wishes’ and the wishes never really happened. This time it’s a more realistic list. Things I need to get done in the next year to five years. It’s just nice to have them down on paper. It’ll be nicer to cross them off when I’ve completed them.
Anyhoo, one of the goals on said list is to start blogging again, at a minimum of once a week. So I cleaned out this ol’ thing in hopes of completing that goal. Not really sure what I’ll be writing in here, but I wanted it to be a place where anyone could read, family members included. It might mean that some topics I might not normally treat with kid-gloves will be treated as such, but I promise you that if I have something poignant to say, I’ll still say it, just not in any sort of colorful language. Heh.
So, to start off, I must again reiterate my love for working with small business. No, US Cellular isn’t small, but the location I work for is an Agent Location, meaning it’s owned and operated by local folks and the only thing US Cellular really dictates is what price we sell their phones at. This is nice, because it allows us to get close for our customers, earn their trust, do them favors and be involved in the community without having to check in with big business before we do every little thing. It’s stores like this one that make the difference in the US Cellular experience, for sure.
That’s not to say I’m against big business. It does a lot for our economy at both the state and federal level and can sometimes make the previously unaffordable, affordable. My mom and a few friends keep mentioning that it makes them nervous that everything you pick up in a store these days (even in Maine Made…heh) seems to be made in China or Korea or Taiwan. And yes, it may feel strange, but that’s part of what makes us work. If we started creating the things we buy from those countries here in America? I don’t even want to THINK of how much they’d charge us to purchase it in Wal*Mart. Things made in America are more expensive. Why? Because we not only have a higher standard of living, but we require higher wages for any job, no matter how simple. If someone in China can find a job for $2 USD an hour and support themselves or their families by working that job? I’m certainly not going to take away their income just because it seems strange that we buy so much from other countries. Besides, I’m sure China has come up with production line technologies that are 10-20 years more advanced than anything we could come up with. Things just wouldn’t get done. You think we’re in a recession now? Try getting everything we buy to be made in America.
Them’s my two cents!
