Here’s my contribution to the current fad of “If you do this” posts on Imgur. It’s the napkin dispenser at MacD’s, and if you do this, well, you know the rest. I see my jab at being smart y’day was well received, but I wasn’t joking. The world does not pay for being smart. Specialized maybe, but not smart. And my viewpoint is not outdated. A presidential candidate last week said much the same thing but without realizing it, being a politician and all. “Borrow money to go to college” is advice from the wealthy who don’t have to do it. My experience with brains and jobs stems from my decade and a half at the phone company.
Whereas they give plenty of lip service about intelligence, and indeed, the workforce there is a much higher caliber than most other offices, there is no extra pay for being smart. The reality is no improvements can transpire except from a management level, and management does not encourage free thinking. They even discourage innovation when hiring, as one is required to sign away the rights of anything invented while company-employed. Even if you invent it at home on your own. (I still smile when I hear the odd phone company ad that uses phrases I invented years ago to fill out their paperwork.)
To be clear, I am not talking about “brains” in terms of risk-taking entrepreneurs—because most people who work are not that type. Most are employees and that is what I mean that being smart doesn’t help the paycheck. In fact, it can hinder by apparently going against the establishment grain. For example, I could increase the phone company profits by 500% by simply firing all the deadbeats. But their policy of “attracting the best by hiring for life” encourages candidates whose sole talent is boondoggling human resources. Another quick inventory shows that I now own only three radios, down by half, and I don’t listen to those. It was different when I drove long distances by car. Now, I may listen a few hours per year at most. On line, I listen to Munich radio. American AM/FM has not kept up. To many repetitious commercials, far too much talk, and who in Hell told 102.5 that Michael Jackson, Blood Sweat and Tears, and Barbara Streisand were rock musicians.
And, in 15 years since I first asked the question on-line, I officially conclude that nobody knows the origin or real name of the “Knuckle Song”. That’s the piano tune where you roll your knuckles over the three black keys. Back then, in 1997, the net was still largely unknown outside of campus and I thought I was asking the question wrong. The composer of that tune, one of the most popular in existence, is lost to history. Art gets lost, too, in this case fast country music. I examined three top one hundred lists and in each case, some 95% of the songs were slow ballads. Even if I include medium fast, I still must reach back to the 80s to find lively tunes. In a spiral of logic, I picked random tunes on the lists if the artists name was big and hit slow music every time, which explains why I’d never heard most of the music. Country music needs a complete revamp, a new Johnny Cash. His music can be sad and reflective without dragging along at 80 beats per minute. You can hunt for it on your own, but there is a device that blocks TV channels whenever Charlie Sheen comes on. Hint: PopSci.
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