Nobody's Hero- No Way Out(Snippet)

Note: This is a work of fiction I have been writing entitled, Nobody's Hero. This is in the first chapter of the story, and the main character has been drinking and is now walking back home from his neighborhood bar. I posted this as a way of getting back into the grooved of creative writing, and eventually finishing this project.

The brunt of old man winter’s wrath was more terrifying than any thug or degenerate pacing the streets in the midnight hours. Since tonight he was particularly cantankerous, there was not much activity on the streets. The boarded up windows, empty roads, and broken-down buildings were a reflection of both my own self-image and the hopelessness of a city on the brink of self-implosion. A mix of ice-cold snow slapped me sober, or at least sober enough to pull the hood over my head before I headed further into the urban freeze. I staggered more than walked, using the crumbled shambles of commercialism as a crutch while the dull neon glows led me down the block. The toughest parts were fighting through the slush and slosh of the intersections because of how slick they were, the snow worn to mush from the day’s heavy traffic flow. In my inebriation, navigating slippery roadways was near impossible; but you manage- you fight, you slide, scrape, widen your stance and scoot- anything to get to the promise of heat and warmth you find in the arms of the one you love. A quarter of the way back, my toes began to freeze up from the walk, and my bladder was crying uncle from the excessive drinking. So far, the fact I was drinking was the second reason why I have been able to keep so warm; the first being the sheer willpower of buying a heavy coat three winters ago for five-hundred dollars. It was earning its worth tonight, as it had many a blustery night before, as I darted into an alleyway to relieve myself. Steam and urine shot out like a hydrant unbolted in the summer heat, extinguishing my discomfort on a time-worn concrete wall. As I readied myself to continue the perilous trek back home, I noticed the cop car that just pulled up to meet me at the entrance to the alleyway, and unfortunately, its only exit.

Assignment: How to Deliver Bad News

 
“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

My first thought as a manager would be to look back onto this employee’s track record and how well this employee has performed over the past two years. I will take into account the employee’s past achievements, work ethic, and potential displayed during their tenure. This will help to establish not only the expectations of myself and the company, but the level of performance the employee is capable of achieving. When approaching the employee, I will display genuine concern and use empathy to determine why this employee is acting in such a way. Likely, there are some external factors contributing to the employee’s behavior and triggering a reaction.
            I anticipate an emotionally-charged reaction, but as to what that emotion will be I cannot say. The response can range from sadness to anger. As much as I would expect a violent outburst from the employee, the potential for an emotional breakdown would be there as well. This especially if the actual reason is from devastated from a circumstance beyond their control, such as a death in the family or another traumatic situation. It would bring a new dimension in explaining the sudden change in behavior and work ethic. Instead of coming down on this employee with autocratic authority, I would attempt to find the problem by cutting through the person’s communication barriers into the source of the miscommunication.
            This is, of course, assuming I can succeed in exposing the issue. Should I fail and the individual become indignant or shut me out, then I will have to turn the conversation back to a professional tone and state the ultimatum that was given. The hallmark of an efficient working environment is the ability to work together comfortably. This is established by how we communicate with one another. Unfortunately, if an employee is not interested in promoting a positive work environment, then for the sake of other employees the individual may have to be released.
            I will first and foremost be using active listening to hear anything the employee wishes to say to clarify the situation. Using a respectful tone and phrases created to draw out answers about feelings and emotions may help to expose any influences by outside stimuli. If a link to outside stimuli is found, perhaps the resolution would be some time off for bereavement, mental recuperation, or time to refocus priorities. I feel like this communicates willingness on my part to accommodate for the person’s personal situation, and show them the company is compassionate to their situation. If no link can be found, then I will have to make sure to clearly and calmly state the situation and ultimatum so the individual understands the gravity of their actions. The sternness of the delivery of the message will be completely dependent on the individual’s overall disposition and outward attitude. I hope that the employee will not force my hand into additional reprimands by communicating with hostility towards me, as this will cause a communication breakdown between me and the employee on a professional level and possibly a personal one. Whichever the case, the employee will be notified that they must improve on their performance or they will be released from the company.

Disconnected: Modern-Day Communication

Disconnected: Modern-Day Communication

Brien Redmon

COM480: Communication Studies Capstone

Instructor Kathleen Serra

Monday, August 20^th, 2012

Within the first moments of drawing breath into this world, we are actively communicating with other people. The wailing cries of a newborn child echo throughout delivery room hallways as an infantile cry for social interaction. Human’s first step towards understanding their fellow man begins with a banshee shrieks and grunts. Progressing slowly with little steps, we quickly progress from basic jogging into a full-speed run. Our communication levels stand at the precipice of lightning fast; the progression of crawling for centuries on our knees and elbows. We can communicate faster in the modern age but the quality of our communication has lessened with technology, and our interpersonal relationships have suffered because of it. As the iterations of communication progress, we can see the distance we put between the person we’re communicating with and communication we have chosen.

Communicating vocally is popularized as caveman grunts and growls, a more guttural and primal form of contacting one another. As speech evolved, cave paintings became symbols and shape to represent the noises humans created. The cave artwork on the Chauvet Pont-d'Arc Cave in France evokes man’s observation of various animals ("Origins of language," 2007). The message has been lost in translation, but the method was eventually refined by Sumerians later, developing Cuneiform as a form of written language ("Origins of language," 2007).  With that, written language spread by parchment, letters, and books.

Even today we still use books to communicate and evoke emotion within others, isolating ourselves and losing our imagination into the literature. The relationship that people build with fictional characters in a book is a special connection to the author themselves. Curling up with a book on a rainy day continues to be a favored pastime for reading enthusiasts. They then share memorable stories and novels with friends or members of a book club. The circle of people reading is constantly shrinking, and the debate is on as to whether reading for entertainment has been eclipsed by the digitalization of the modern era. With certainty, reading is undergoing a decline, as se percentage of 18- to 44-year-olds who read a book fell 7 points from 1992 to 2002 (Bradshaw, Nichols, Rogowski & Sullivan, 2007). With the advent of reading digital reading devices that can store digital books, the resurgence of books as a major media tool is unlikely.

Radio is an innovation that has been eclipsed in popularity to audio visual media, but still remains widely used. Radios were once used as large boxes that received transmissions that reached the receiver end as sound, but are now compact and portable. Radios are still standard items in cars and trucks for virtually every major car manufacturer. Younger generations of people still listen to music according to recent studies that have been released (Nielsen, 2009). According to Nielsen, the report found out that “18-34 year olds in these markets listen to the radio 21.5 hours each week, which is on par with listening by all people 12 and older in those 51 markets (Nielsen, 2009).” That is a good demographic to build a listener base, since it is a demographic for advertisers and companies. The technology has not changed very much, but the content of the music has shifted considerably. Gone are the days of families circling around the radio and being entertained until bedtime. No more listening to the radio and making mix tapes from the broadcasts. The digital phase has overtaken the analog era, and radio stations are beamed into cars by way of satellite. The internet has helped breathe new life into the dying radio genre, and been reborn as streaming audio.

The internet, potentially mankind’s greatest tool ever created, is also where the disconnection between man and communication began. The internet originally began in the 1960’s by an MIT student and DARPA took interest in the discovery (Cerf, Clark, Kahn, Kleinrock, Leiner, Lynch, Postel, Roberts & Wolff, 2012). Through various tweaking, adjusting, adding features into the plans, it was finally finished in the early 1980’s and eventually become free to the public.

The internet can connect people that are feet away or hundreds of miles between them. It is a media format that is comparable to television with more control and interaction. Society soon started to build around the idea of the internet becoming more commonplace. The issue generally comes up with people lacking compassion or empathy for one another. There are people who use the anonymity of the internet to tear others down or bully others. The internet is a double-edged sword that is showing of the state of our society, because it can be used for both really great and really terrible things.
          Perhaps the fastest growing medium should go to text messaging, exploding into popularity in a matter of a couple of years. “As of June 2008, over 75 Billion text messages are sent every month compared to just 18 Billion in December 2006. That number has grown by 250% each year for the last two years” ("Text message statistics," 2008). Text messages are popular in society, the ease of typing into a portable device such as a phone allows for an instantaneous transmission of words, pictures, and video to a friend or loved one.
            It is so convenient that we no longer even talk on the phone anymore and rely on text messages for major components of conversation with even loved ones. 

“Americans ages 18-29 send and receive an average of nearly 88 text messages per day, compared to 17 phone calls. The numbers change as we get older, with the overall frequency of all communication declining, but even in the 65 and over group, daily texting still edges calling 4.7 to 3.8. In the TIME mobility poll, 32% of all respondents said they’d rather communicate by text than phone, even with people they know very well” (Kluger, 2012).

Overall, words in a text message cannot convey the same level of vocal tones, verbal cues, or intimate interactions as talking to someone on the phone or in person.

The way we communicate has been irreversibly and eternally altered by technology. While it seems to be for the worst, it may just be in need of adjustment so the levels of communications can get closer to the original connections. Perhaps we should stop liking Facebook posts so much and talk to old friends over the phone. Cancel that e-mail and send a loved one a hand-written letter instead. We can communicate faster in the modern age but the quality of our communication has lessened with technology, and our interpersonal relationships have suffered because of it. This means we have to find ways to repair these lines of communication in a way to benefit us all both emotionally and mentally.