You Should QUIET QUIT. Today.

"Quiet Quit", today, now. 

Silent Lucidity 

"It was all a bad dream spinning in your head

Your mind tricked you to feel the pain..."

Somehow, working normal hours, fulfilling your responsibilities on a 9-5 schedule, or in the #WFA world is being demonized by corporate America.

To use a common vernacular, the #RTO movement has been weaponized.

If the goals of your job can only be achieved during non-paid, post-regular business hours, your employer is taking advantage of you. - you're not being paid to fall for the "after five is when the real work begins" dogman.

The 2nd Amendment DOES NOT GUARANTEE being heard.

By now, if you have any presence on social media, you probably have heard the name Andrew Tate.  To summarize, Tate sticks up for men. 

He says being a man has been under attack for decades. He is a showman.

To me, he is part of the social commentary team of men; Jordan Peterson, Steve Harvey, and the like. His opinions and pontifications are not the issues I find interesting.  

What I find most intriguing is how Tate has been removed from ALL social media channels.

ALL.

Imagine your organization and the different departments, agendas, opinions, views, and feelings around change.  How often do all the decision makers align?

How easy is it to get everyone on the same page?  It's like herding cats.  But for some reason, Twitter, Instagram, FB, Google, on and on, all these separate companies act as a single brain.

They all banned one person.

"...in order to be able to think you have to risk being offensive..."

 - Jordan Peterson

How Did You Get Into (#copier) Sales ?

I've said it many times, "Nobody grows up wanting to be a copier salesperson...or in sales.'  Your sons and daughters do not look up from that Tonka truck and say, "Daddy, someday I want to sell trucks."  

Right?

So how did you get into the crazy world of static electricity, fire, and black powder?  More importantly, 

What can you learn and take with you to your next position? 

Ford Shedding 3,000 Salaried Folks to Reduce the Cost of Transitioning to EV

Transitions.

 

I like big, loud, powerful American muscle cars - but - that war is lost. This administration has enticed or threatened American auto companies and old Springsteen songs into the historic abyss. 

Every shift in technology has collateral damage; from the Luddites of the 19th century to paint booth operators of the 80s - when new tech evolves, labor shifts into other areas.

Railroads, looms, computers, typewriters, newspapers, department stores, shopping malls, Beanie Babies, Saturday Morning cartoons,  - gone.  Next, the V8, filling stations, and auto dealerships.

That's right, the American staple of automotive nirvana, that one place nobody likes to go, but everyone does, the car dealership follows the internal combustion engine into oblivion.

It was a good ride

Live Stream August 24, 11AM

Join us.

Lively, informative, entertaining, salty, contrarian discussion. 

• Robot dogs are real
• UFOs are real
• A3 or A4? Neither
• Print is evaporating
• OEMs have a huge blindspot
• Nobody wants another reason to stand in front of a copier
• Don't be so negative
• Don't be a bully
• Selling 'soft-close' paper drawers
• Sell the basics
• Criticize but have answers
• There once were 8,000 dealers
• Luxury Submersibles
• The Clouds
• The Fermi Paradox
• Etc.

Electrifying -

Hunger Stones Reveal 'Ominous' Warnings #ClimateChange

Dropping river levels in Europe are revealing historical artifacts while here in the States, Lake Mead gave up the remains of five folks 'sleeping with the fishes'.

A recent article in Morning Brew states, 

"Perhaps the most ominous findings are the “hunger stones” etched along the banks of central Europe’s rivers. These inscriptions date back centuries, and generally offer the same message to future generations: “If the water is low enough for you to read this, prepare for pain.”

#Apple Has Become What They Once Hated

It's happening. Ignoring reality,  the Establishment hierarchies are taking a hard stance with employees pushing return to the office protocols, policies, and edicts. 

For all of us providing office technology services, there is nothing more important than getting the workers back in the cubes, back to the office, computer, printer, desk phone, electricity, coffee machines, fax lines, and Wifi.  Nothing is more important.

"We're going to get you in here three times a week, at first.  You're going to love the new expresso machine and the monthly, themed lunches so much, you'll want your old desk back in no time."

Walt's Words Week 16

Walt's Spin 

This week, HP hits the market with 23(!) A3(???) devices - in color. 

Not to be outdone, Toshiba puts hope in the cloud when it comes to printing. The Apple Watch continues to help manage your health as Amazon buys big in healthcare. A convergence of print, telephony, and managed print services for a London firm, Queen sets a record (in records) and here in the US, nobody wants to work on Fridays.

#Journalism is dead.

"Both Michels and Kleefisch falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged, a lie Trump has pushed in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden."

Tell me what's wrong with this sentence from an article in the Press Democrat written by SARA BURNETT AND SCOTT BAUER, AP., regarding the Wisconsin Rep primary -

"Both Michels and Kleefisch falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged, a lie Trump has pushed in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden."

What two words destroy the journalistic credibility?

I'll answer: "falsely", and "lie".

Here is a better version of this one sentence:

"Both Michels and Kleefisch claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged, an ARGUMENT Trump has pushed in an effort to overturn his loss to Joe Biden."

Can you feel the neutrality? And I'm not a journalist.

Amplify this by all the channels - social, TV, cable news, print, radio, and other information outlets - and you've got a propaganda machine, not a news service.

There is more.

Inject a narrative into entertainment vehicles - like Star Trek Discovery, A Million Little Things, or Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and you've got an insidious, almost subliminal, indoctrination program that would make Goebbels proud.

Gladwell's Views Sum Up most of the Old School, Establishment Mindset.

No. No. No.  #WFH is not casting people out, it is unleashing the most potential possible.  

The office is the plantation fields of the 20th century.  

His thoughts and words of the past are all now in question - his upbringing sounds like a smorgasbord of villages and communes.

He grew up without "broader anxieties".  

Well, get ready for more anxiety than you've ever experienced.

Gladwell, "...the people who have tended to leave are the ones who are the most socially disconnected from their organization, who came into the office the least or who were not based in another city and we hired them largely to do remote work..."

"...it's very hard to feel necessary when you're physically disconnected and ... we Face the battle..."

Mr. Gladwell assumes that getting to the office is desirable.  This is not the case, as the current #WFH movement continues to prove.

New to Copier Sales: How to Sell at a Higher Price

For the SMB, “How do I sell my stuff now that pricing has increased?” is a classic question, if not a timeless one. In the post-COVID era, rising costs across the board for everyone is the new reality.

First off, we’re all in the same boat when it comes to cost increases so broaching the subject with your prospect should not be a surprise.  But in selling, it all comes back to value balanced against “costs.”

Here are some ideas to help you sell higher price.

Acknowledge the issue – internally.

Your prospect is experiencing higher rates everywhere, so you don’t need to mention supply chain issues or rising fuel expenses as it applies to their specific solution. I’m not suggesting you ignore the realities of the economic challenges; rather, it is safe to assume your prospect already knows about rising expenses, so don’t be intimidated about talking about the stressful concepts...

Read the rest, here.

Higher Ed Is Out of Touch

"Five Skills College Students Will Need for Their Future Careers" - WSJ. #Paywall: but come on!  

New classes in AI ethics, climate-friendly design and how to be an entrepreneur in the metaverse are coming to campus

No Way is higher education future-ready by promoting TOPICAL curriculum.  By the time the TA gets a syllabus together, it is obsolete.

Arm your students by teaching them the basics. Teach them HOW TO LEARN real world, on the street, business acumen, instead of empty course work designed to increase tuition, and sell professor's books.

Maybe the fall semester should include, "How to deal with a Recession.", "How to lay off employees during an economic downturn." or "Keeping the Social and Business Issues Separate."

But what do I know...

Week 15 - July 15

Walt's Spin

"What's old is new." A statement uttered by countless generations before and leagues to come. For me, and I am sure many timeline-compatriots, today's world seems eerily reminiscent. Certainly not identical, and more than nostalgic. More like a Renaissance.

Managed Print Services is still alive and experiencing a bump. Partly due to some pent-up demand and a reduction of IT resources.

The demand is provisional. I still believe pivoting into IT services is possible, not strictly because of an existing print-centric relationship as much as the supporting infrastructure of MPS practices is a solid foundation for the transition.

Sales and marketing will shift demographics and talk tracks, but needs assessments and proposals are parallel paths. But again, the demand for IT services has a shelf life.

Consolidation runs rampant, and the larger, establishments remain overconfident in their temporary position.

Smaller, more agile companies bite at their ankles, stirring up turbulence and poised to disrupt the onetime disruptors.

 

On a more celestial stage, the Webb telescope released stunning photos of our both crowded and sparse galactic neighborhood. The pictures are sure to give a great perspective.

The DOTC Office Technology Partnership Ecosystem continues to grow as we welcome All Associates to the realm. These guys have been measuring office output usage and Running Up That Hill, since the 80s.

Have a great weekend!