Borders liquidating

[BlueRose]

and my son will lose his job.
I know they are corporate and put small bookstores out of business but this is sad. 11,000 or so people will be out of work in a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. He really liked working there, his manager was great and the people he worked with were good people. Customers were informed and he loved to discuss books and politics with them. They had live music on Friday nights and book signings and poetry readings. Pay wasn't good but it was a nice place to work. This wasn't unexpected and my son has been busy putting applications in everywhere. He's had two offers which were out of the question jobs. One from his doctor to run his wife's campaign for NYS legislator. She would be running against our legislator who is a good friend. She's a Republican. The other was from Walmart corporate! They found his resume online. He would rather live in a tent under a bridge somewhere than work for that evil corporation.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110718/BU...dyssey=mod

[mikita]

BlueRose,

I'm so sorry for your son. We are going to hear this sad story over and over. I hope he finds something, somewhere that will tap his talents.

mikita

[BlueRose]

(07-18-2011 08:01 PM)mikita Wrote:  BlueRose,

I'm so sorry for your son. We are going to hear this sad story over and over. I hope he finds something, somewhere that will tap his talents.

mikita

Thanks mikita.
This whole corporate, capitalist system stinks.
He's a good guy, has a degree and is out there trying. His life hasn't
been easy and yet he has met every challenge with such strength, that's
what I don't want to see him lose.
Another good friend has to close her store at the end of the year if business
doesn't pick up which isn't very likely. Another friend's workplace didn't know
if they could meet payroll last week. This isn't a system that works for us, we
can't tell the gas company that we just can't pay up for a while. No jobs, no health
care, our kids having to live home because they can't afford to pay rent. They say
that inflation is low? They need to go pay a grocery bill.
America, Inc. Where's the hope.

[tango-tee]

I'm very sorry to read this, BlueRose.

It doesn't help an individual to know that many more are in that same position, that they're all struggling and competing for the few good jobs left. What makes it so bad is that employers take advantage of the desperation by offering even lower pay, counting on the fact that many will say a lousy paycheck is still better than no paycheck, and cutting benefits until there are none left.

How much longer can this go on? Young, well-educated adults have to return to their parents' house and forego starting families of their own.

I hope so much that your son won't lose hope and that he'll be able to find a decent job soon. I can well imagine how much this must weigh on your mind.

[meep]

Very sorry to hear that. I hope things look up for your son soon.

I liked Borders a lot better than the competition (B&N), and agree it's a shame they pushed out the small bookstores. They were an early adopter of the "sit and read in our coffeeshop" model, and I loved them for that.

Somebody told me that Borders was actually a real estate speculating company that masqueraded as a bookseller. They were buying up lots of commercial property, and got crushed when property values tanked.

[Andrea]

(07-19-2011 03:31 PM)meep Wrote:  Very sorry to hear that. I hope things look up for your son soon.

I liked Borders a lot better than the competition (B&N), and agree it's a shame they pushed out the small bookstores. They were an early adopter of the "sit and read in our coffeeshop" model, and I loved them for that.

Somebody told me that Borders was actually a real estate speculating company that masqueraded as a bookseller. They were buying up lots of commercial property, and got crushed when property values tanked.

Meep, I used to work for an enormous corporation. We had our fingers in lots of pies. I worked in the legal department and every single document went through me. We rented tons of space to Borders. I don't know how many locations they had, so it could be that they had a lot more spaces they owned.

I agree that it's sad they are closing. They closed a bunch of locations this past winter in hopes of reorganizing and making it. We lost both locations in this market when they did that. They kept sending me emails to use my Borders Rewards card at Walden Books, which they also own, but it's hardly the same. Truth be told, I do 90% of my book shopping at Amazon. I wish I could shop the local guys more, but it absolutely kills my neck to twist around and read the titles on the spines.

BlueRose, I sure hope your son finds a new and better job soon. It's hard to find a place where you enjoy working. The employees at my local Borders were all long term and they seemed to really like it.

[Noojaras]

(07-18-2011 06:53 PM)BlueRose Wrote:  He's had two offers which were out of the question jobs. One from his doctor to run his wife's campaign for NYS legislator. She would be running against our legislator who is a good friend. She's a Republican.

If he tells her that he isn't a Republican, and she is nevertheless willing to hire him, then what is the problem?

I would see a problem if, for example, he had thought (when Santorum was running for the Republican nomination) that Santorum was the most dangerous of the people seeking the Republican nomination, and on that basis he did everything in his power to help Santorum win the nomination. In particular, I would see a problem if he thought that the odds are that Santorum would lose to incumbent President Obama, and that engineering a potentially massive disaster is okay provided that his guess is that the odds of the event occurring are low.

If she were elected, then how big would the negative consequences be? How do those negative consequences compare to the opportunity cost of him not using an opportunity to learn, and the cost of him being unemployed? Are we supposed to assume that he's never going to amount to much anyway, so that it doesn't matter?

Also, is there any reason to believe that the difference between him working to help her get elected and somebody else taking that job would have any effect on the outcome of the election? This final question might be analogous to the vegetarian butcher dilemma. If most butchers were vegetarian, then they could have some power to influence events by going on strike. Perhaps all food animals would be raised cage free today if most butchers had always been vegetarians. Sometimes swallowing some very sour or bitter medicine has strategic benefits in the long term.