• 7 Posts
  • 146 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 14th, 2023

help-circle


  • In response to customers’ complaints about its security measures, Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocer, has repeatedly said that organized crime is to blame. “This surge in organized retail crime remains a significant problem for the retail industry,” said Loblaw CFO Richard Dufresne during a conference call in late 2023.

    Didn’t they find that there hadn’t been a surge in retail theft, that the “report” it was based on combined every source of shrink - including employee theft, retail theft, writing off stuff that spoiled in the store whether due to improper storage or inability to sell, writing off stuff that the managers over-ordered or mis-ordered, stuff that was exposed to mice and rats, etc etc etc. And that basically the “surge in retail theft” was actually just a cover to make managers feel better about mis-managing their stores?

    Last year, the U.S. National Retail Federation initially reported a startling statistic: Organized retail crime accounted for nearly half of the estimated $94.5 billion US that retailers lost due to missing merchandise in 2021. However, the industry group retracted the claim eight months later, after it was revealed that the report was based on erroneous data.

    Ah, yes, there it is. Funny how the corpos are still leaning hard on their discredited “report”.














  • Back when I took my Anthropology class, one of the things we covered (briefly) was different styles of communicating and how the unrecognized differences between those styles causes stress and frustration between different styles. My professor said the classic example were the stereotypical differences between men and women in American culture, as evidenced in the classic complaints “my husband never listens to me!” and “my wife is always changing her mind!”

    There are people who communicate that they’re listening: they nod their head, they said “uhm-hmm”, make eye contact, etc. And there are people who … don’t. When a person who does this style of communication doesn’t get that feedback, they feel unheard and get frustrated. And when a person who doesn’t do that style of feedback receives that feedback, they think the other person is agreeing with them, so they’re blindsided and frustrated when the other person ‘changes their mind’.

    I’d suggest explaining this communication difference style to your sibling, because while it’s a frustrating thing to your family right now, I’ve no doubt that your sibling finds (or will find) being on the other side of the divide just as frustrating.

    I’d also explain that for some people, making or maintaining eye contact can be difficult, but you can get away with looking at people’s chins or ears; and if even that’s difficult, that’s fine, but then other means of communicating that you’re listening (nodding, going “uhn-hunh” or whatever) becomes even more important.


  • “I know there’s a ton of skepticism about Meta entering the fediverse — it’s completely understandable,” Cottle says. “I do want to kind of make a plea that I think everyone on the team has really good intentions. We really want to be a good member of the community and give people the ability to experience what the fediverse is.”

    If I wanted Facebook shitposts and forwards from KlanMa, I’d’ve joined Facebook. And I don’t believe Meta has good intentions, I believe they want to overwhelm the fediverse, and I believe they want to make money. Middle-manager Cottle and their team may have good intentions, but corporate certainly doesn’t, and I certainly don’t trust their users.