A Necessary Evil

Most managers are detested
It has been frequently suggested
But if you ask my opinion
They rule the whole dominion

Without a manager most are lost
And very much the company will cost
For to encourage productivity
We must have their managerial proclivity

Though most view managers with disgust
Their presence in a company is surely a must
So a manager some of us must become
And the others to our power must succumb!

Love Blogging

Blogging was not really new to me. I had an English class before, in which blogging was part of the homework assignment. However, I don't remember much about that anymore. That's just because the entire procedure was ineffective: We would just post the blogs, but did not need to respond to anyone. We were only 15 in the class, but I did not know them at all.

I think blogging was a great aspect of our Management class and I enjoyed it a lot! It was an awesome tool to get to know the many, many classmates in the beginning. And as time went by, I realized that I got addicted to blogging. My boyfriend was complaining why I had to spend several hours reading and responding to blogs!

I am a shy person and I usually don't speak up in class, but through the blogs I also could express myself about the issues we discussed in class. Also if we actually have to write something that happened in class, we remember it much longer. I still keep talking about the egg activity like it was yesterday because we had to write about it. I wish the blogs would count for more than 20% of our grade. It's a fun assignment to boost my grade for me. I highly recommend blogging for future classes.

My one suggestion is to have a rotation of who responds to whose blog for a particular entry, such that in the end everyone gets 3 comments. I found that some people would get many comments and some people would get none. Also this is a good way to make sure that we read postings from all of the classmates.

Dinner at Mc Donald's

I haven’t been to McDonald’s for about a year and frankly speaking I only go there for the ice cream. I had a very friendly looking cashier at McDonald’s who took my order. I ordered a hamburger with 4 pickles and well-done French fries with no salt. Also I repeated my order and I showed her four with my fingers to make sure that she got everything correct. The cashier punched everything in the POS and it seemed that she totally understood what I had ordered. Then she told the personnel who prepared the burgers that I wanted 4 pickles and she got me my French fries. I paid my order, saved the receipt and when I checked my order I was shocked because my hamburger had about ten pickles and the fries were well-done but very salted. When I looked at my receipt she actually punched in a hamburger with extra pickles. So I went back and told her about the mistakes. She was still nice and told the preparer for the burger again that I wanted to have exactly four pickles and showed him as I did by holding up four fingers. I got the second hamburger very quickly and this time it was correct. However, I had to wait for the fries because they had to cook. Meanwhile she was serving other customers. After my second encounter with the cashier I realized that her English wasn’t very good. I was standing next to the counter and I saw that the entire McDonald’s staff heard about my strange order and looked at me as if I were crazy. One worker smiled at me and the other two looked annoyed.
When I finally got the French fries without salt 8 minutes I placed my order, even the cashier looked at me annoyed and frowned. I thanked her and I felt bad because I caused so much trouble. After all I got a cheap dinner meal.


In total, two people got involved during the process: the cashier and the hamburger preparer. I was greeted with a smile and friendliness, however, as time went by, I made everyone upset. The cashier started to get annoyed by me when I was waiting for my French fries. Probably she had to fix a new portion extra for me.
The preparation is smooth when it comes to the hamburgers. On the other hand, French fries without any salt are a rare order and as a result I had to wait almost five minutes for it. There is also miscommunication going on, party because the cashier was not a native speaker. She did understood that I wanted to have four pickles, but she punched the wrong note in the POS. In fact there probably was no button for four pickles so she had to enter “extra pickles” and verbally tell the chef the exact amount. Even though she did tell the hamburger preparer about my extra wish, he got it wrong. This is likely because he reads whatever is on the monitor and prepares the orders as quickly as possible according to the readout. The customer service was initially very good, but then it went downhill. When I was waiting for the fries I did not feel welcome at all. After my experience I would like to recommend the staff to be more patient in order to enhance customer service. It’s not a big deal that the cashier has some difficulties with English and it would be still a nice encounter if she would keep up her upbeat attitude.
In all I got the impression that McDonald’s is set up like an automobile assembly line. They perform best when orders meet certain standard criteria, as they are set up to handle some minor order customization but not all. It seems their system works well for the vast majority of orders, and for those orders the process is very efficient. So I would not recommend that they change their order fulfillment practices, despite the difficulty with my specific order.

Disc Assesment Surprise

Whenever I did personality tests, I found the result too general or it did not capture me right.
Surprisingly, after evaluating the result, I had to confess that the Disc test found out my inner me. I am an I high C.
Usually I try to convince people about my ideas and I avoid to be dominant.
At the moment, I don't necessarily want to be another type. However, it is definitely possible to become another type. Actually I am pretty sure that my type will change as my experience grow and my personality changes. If one day I'd have a leadership position, it would be preferable if I would be a D.

The Disc test is a good tool to figure out where someone stands when it comes to management types. Especially for companies, it is very helpful when they are hiring to accept the right person for the position.

In my opinion, a D-type would be an advantage for "STRANDED!" because in such a big group of 80 people we need someone who guides us and keep us together, otherwise everyone would do whatever they want and crisis would occur quickly. Without a clear leader, it would be hard to make definitive decisions and stick to them. In a survival situation I think it is very important to promote group adhesion because (as we've learned from pop culture shows such as Lost) the general survival motto is, as the D type in one such show so eloquently put it, "live together, die alone".

My life after Baruch...

I am planning to graduate from Baruch College in Summer 2010 if everything goes well.

After college I have several goals. The first is to move to California with my boyfriend. I've never been there before but he has always tried to convince me that it's the best place ever. So for him, I'll give it a try. To be frank, I am a little worried about this move because I don't know much about California. Also, moving there means I will have to drive a lot. To be honest I am scared of driving after my first accident shortly after I got my license (it wasn't my fault, but a total shock!!). And it is hard for me to leave the friends I got to know in New York.

Optimally, after the move, I want to work for 2 years or so. I think I would enjoy a sales position as this will help my future career plans. However after a couple of years of working I would like to take time off to have a baby. If for some reason I can't have a baby, I want to adopt children. I wouldn't want to work during this time because I definitely want to put family before career. Like my mom, I am very traditional in this matter--we both believe that children are the key to true happiness.

After that I will be ready to start my dream job of owning my own store. I've never liked bosses, so I figure this is the only job I could really handle. Being my own boss! My mom currently owns her own store and she is very happy with it. When I lived with my family, I used to help out my mum at her store and I love to deal with customers. So I know that running a store will come naturally for me. Since I love to use all-natural health care products and I am convinced that they are the best for people and the environment, this is what I would like to sell in my store.

Finally, if my boyfriend and I are succesful in California, I would like to bring my brother to the States to stay with us. He loves the U.S. and he dreams of going to High School here.

It's hard to put one goal ahead of any of the others because they all are very important to me. So I guess I'll just keep putting action toward my visions and hope that with dedication all of my goals can be fulfilled.

Vote for change

The results from the first midterm was quite disappointing for most of the people, myself included. Our professor gave us the chance to make changes for the next test and for the first test, but he required 100% support from all students. Thus, everyone has to agree to the new terms.

Not even a second had passed and ideas were thrown around across the classroom. Then Teddy stood up and asked if someone could write the ideas on the board since his handwriting was too bad. Gabriel volunteered right away. That was a great way to organize the ideas visually and calm the crowd down a bit. We only had 45 minutes to come to an agreement. Reaching an agreement is not an easy task for a large class of college students.
I wanted to suggest a curve for both exams, but soon I had an avoidance behavior. Many people in the class seemed to be so ambitious and some were also screaming. I thought things were already lively enough, so I decided to wait and see how things went. While observing some people, I discovered that some were fully convinced of their suggestions. At one point, one person gave up and wanted to leave the classroom instead of continuing to debate. Towards the end, in my opinion listing the ideas on the board was helpful. We could label the one we want and cross out the others. In the end, I had a compromised attitude towards the end result of the debating. In my opinion, it was not the best result, but still a very good one. Teddy and Gabriel helped us leading during the decision making process and after all everything went pretty smooth.
Another idea is to divide the class in small groups and each groups would come up with their package. After the groups had decided on their solution, everyone could vote on the ideas of the groups and the majority wins. I think this would have been a better solution because then the inefficiencies caused by a large group would be removed in the brainstorming phase. In the larger group, it is only the loudest voices which are heard. But in the smaller groups, more timid participants such as myself would be able to contribute more and thus more ideas, and perhaps better ones, would be considered.

Falling egg experiment

I found the egg activity was exciting and a lot of fun! Our professor gave us the goal and objective to build a structure to protect an egg when we drop it 10 feet into the basket. We had 25 minutes to plan our construction and to put it on paper, and another 10 minutes to actually build it.
The resources for the egg protection were already determined by our professor: It should consist out of 8 straws and 10 feet of tape. The group I was in was quite lively. Three people were leading in the discussion, but all suggestions were considered thoroughly. We named our egg " The egg that could". Then we thought about all possible alternatives. Soon it was clear that we want to have a device like a basket, so we could hold it when we drop it. It wasn't so clear how the egg should be in the basket: upside down, straight, on the side. We switched from one possibility to another with all pros and cons. Later we had a tactical plan for the egg. The basket should be upward and with cushion all over the entire half. We hoped that though the cushions on the bottom, the egg wouldn't break. In the end time was running out and we drew the construction in the last minutes. The 10 minutes for implementing our plan were very hectic. Several people worked simultaneously on the construction: One was giving out tape, the others made the cushions. Finally, the egg was done! I was chosen to drop the egg since I am the shortest in the group and before I went up my team suggested that I take off my boots. After all the planning and work, our project was a success because it didn't break. When it fell, it did land on the side, but the cushions and the strings kept it from being broken.
I really enjoyed working my team in which teamwork was fully promoted. I'm especially glad that my shortness (or, vertical challenge to be more polite) finally had a positive effect.

Babysitting versus Internship

I am a full-time student at Baruch and I work as a part-time babysitter for a German American family. I take care of a 4-year old boy called Noah who lives in the Upper West Side. I have been working for the family for almost two years. I really love my job because I love taking care of kids, especially Noah. He is such a sweet and smart boy. We get along very well and we have a lot fun. Moreover, his family is very nice and we have a healthy relationship. However, I will be a senior next semester and my family and my boyfriend urge me to get an internship. I know that they are right – it’s definitely time to get one. Furthermore, I want to have some working experience before I look for a full time position after graduation. Unfortunately, it is easy to talk about my plans, but it is very hard to do. My schedule is full of classes and work, but in order to find an internship I need to invest a lot of time and effort. So time is definitely an issue. In addition, I can’t really imagine how I could tell the family I work for that I am about to quit. Taking care of children creates personal attachments which are not easily broken. I know that they trust me and that they don’t want me to quit. I even have nightmares about the day I will have to stand face to face to them and tell them my internship plans.

As a matter of fact, I am still not sure how things will be and how I can manage this dilemma. I wish I could have my babysitting job and an internship at the same time, but that is not possible because of school work. The only solution I see is to quit school. I hereby tender my resignation to Baruch College effective immediately. Just kidding!

Hi there!

My name is Thuy and I am 24 years old. I am happy that I transferred from Queens College to Baruch. I am still undecided about my major, but I am sure that I will figure out this dilemma within this semester. Currently, I work part-time as a babysitter, but I am looking for an internship.
About my background: I was born in Hanoi, Vietnam, and I moved to Germany when I was 5 years old and I grew up there. Thus, German is my first language. I have a very sweet brother who is 11 years old. I have been living in New York for over 4 years. The beginning was pretty hard because I had to get used to be without my family. However, my New York life is great now- I enjoy living with my boyfriend and my parrot Louy.
My hobbies are traveling, tennis, inline skates and movies.