Need of HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Need of HRM - Essay Example Need of HRM: It is studied over the years that the Industrial relations in countries and regions have come under the influence of various situations and players such as economic imperatives, political philosophers, the role played by state in determining the direction of economic and social development, the business communities and the unions, the role of the colonial governments and their legacies. The objectives of the labour welfare have been achieved via freedom of the unions, right to strike and collective bargaining. (Syrian Desilva) Industrial relations shall influence the employers and employers’ organizations, so as to make them aware of labor law, labor welfare and the industrial competitiveness. Many of the organizations in Asia-Pacific are poorly equipped with this type of knowledge which can make valuable change in their policy decisions. These facts suggest that the employers’ organizations has to develop planned Industrial relations in order to nurture th e growth of Human Resource Management (HRM) policies for augmenting the competitiveness. It becomes a matter of debate that in view of HRM policies whether the labour markets are to be deregulated or not. The objectives should be properly understood and legitimate areas of legal prescription are to be carefully identified. In the Industrial relations the efficiency of the labours plays a vital role. Inequality makes the labours inefficient.

Marxism And Economic Liberalism A Comparison Politics Essay

Marxism And Economic Liberalism A Comparison Politics Essay It is the cause of trade that the science of economics existed, although both are the two sides of the same coin and their effect on the nations relations as well as their direct impact on the people cant be overlooked. It was also said since the existence of trading it was fundamentally international and we cant be basically engaged with trading if it was not open to the outside world. Fundamentally speaking, trading can be categorized as internal or international trading, the first said to happen with the boundaries of the state whereas the latter go beyond the boundaries of the state either between two countries or more which also includes the total sum of trading and the exchange of monies, goods and services. It is therefore, may be said, that there are two major theories that governs the international trade or political economy. First, the freedom of trade and industry as a general rule, although there might be some exceptions, but these exceptions do not make international tra de a license or trade monopoly of that nation only. But the state perform as a guarantor or protector to those traders from its nationals who trade with other nations by finding or creating corporations or institutions, their main tasks is to prosper the states trade and propose the necessary guarantees towards the political, monetary and commercial risks. Some time the state allow trading companies to use the countrys official label on some national products especially those agriculture products, as a mark to its quality and to promote and attract foreign investment to invest in those product and the whole sector thereafter. United state, Japan and the European Union are the world leaders in this regard. International trading in these countries is under the guardianship and supervision of the state, in terms of which products are allowed to be imported and those products that are not allowed to be imported, at the same time, the state (s) made regulations for some products to have proper licenses for the foreign trade transactions to be made. However, nowadays, the restrictions are declining and the countries are leaning towards easing some of these restrictions to promote the balanced international free trade. Marxism and Economic Liberalism comparison Marxism and Economic Liberalism as commercial policies were questioned by Smith as to whether they would increase or decrease the wealth of a nation. Smith proposed the following criterion in support of free trade rather than protectionism.  [1]   High tariffs created domestic monopolies resulting in higher prices leading to sloth, mismanagement and a failure to innovate. The most efficient allocation of resources was attained by self-interested individuals acting on their own behalves. Opportunity costs as to resource constraints meant that protecting one sector of industry from cheaper outside competition would distort resource allocations thus increasing production costs to another sector already efficient and competitive. The second theory was the formerly know Soviet Union Economic Theory or what is known to be as the Marxism, whereby the state was solely monopolizes the trade and exercises it through public institutions founded within municipal departments inside the state that has independent character for the trade to be one source from the total resources of state whole production, to fulfill the states economic plan. In the Marxist approach the economy is a site of exploitation between social classes, especially the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Politics is to a large extent determined by the socio-economic context. Economic liberalism is the dominant perspective today due to the end of the Cold War, the influence of free-market capitalism, and globalization. However, the following specifies the major differences between the two international political theories  [2]  : Free Trade or Economic Liberalism: Liberalism as a coherent social philosophy dates from the late 18th century. At first there was no distinction between political and economic liberalism (economics was not considered a separate discipline until about 1850). Classic liberal political philosophy has continued to develop after 1900 as a purely conservative philosophy.  [3]   Whereas, Economic liberalism emerged as a set of criticisms of mercantilism, understood as the comprehensive political control and regulation of economic affairs which dominated European state-building in the 16th and 17th centuries. Economic liberals reject theories and policies which subordinate economics to politics. Adam Smith was the father of economic liberalism. He believed that markets tend to expand spontaneously for the satisfaction of human needs, provided that governments do not interfere too much. Economic liberals assume that economic policies should increase peoples prosperity. They favored specialization to achieve comparative advantage, free trade, and free markets. Since the 1980s, the global economy has witnessed its renewed dominance. Todays neoliberal economists see a greater role for economic institutions than did classical economic liberals.  [4]   An import liberal economic concept is that of comparative advantage. The law of comparative advantage was developed by David Ricardo. He argued that free trade commercial activities that are carried out independently of national borders will bring benefits to all participants because free trade makes specialization possible, and specialization increases efficiency and thus productivity. Paul Samuelson summarized the argument for free trade as follows: Whether or not one of two regions is absolutely more efficient in the production of every good than is the other, if each specializes in the product in which it has a comparative advantage (greatest relative efficiency) trade will be mutually profitable to both regions.  [5]  According to this logic, in a world economy based on free trade all countries will benefit through specialization and global wealth will increase. Marxism Marxist political economy, in contrast, starts from relations between people and classes, and tries to understand the economy not as a perfect clockwork mechanism but as a dynamic system full of contradictions and doomed to be replaced. Marx did not begin from scratch: he started from the insights of classical political economy a school of thought that the early capitalists gave birth to, as a means of advocating the new system against the defenders of feudalism.  [6]   Marxism sees history evolving through class conflict and revolution in which inequality is progressively eliminated. It achieved great influence after the Russian Revolution but has become less significant since the end of the Cold War. Today the only countries that call themselves Marxist are China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba. Marxian economics remain influential in analyses of underdevelopment.  [7]   Marxism then has had a significant effect on the world of international relations. Whilst it is fair to say it is not as popular approach as realism or liberalism, it is perhaps the foremost critical response to these long-standing theories. The key ideas of Marxist thought, based in a questioning of what appears at first to be self-evident, is an indispensable tool to any study, let alone to one based so strongly on subjectivity as politics. It is also crucial in a world dominated by capitalism that we strive to look beyond it wherever possible; capitalism is not the be all and end all of political and economic systems even if it does set itself up to be so. Key thinkers such as Cox and Wallerstein have expanded on the basic ideas of Marx and as such made the theory far more applicable to the field of international relations, showing the importance of economics and social trends in state relations rather than the narrower view supported by other theories. Fundamentally, the leading role of the state has been challenged by Marxist authors, and here is where it looks like the approach will bear most fruit  [8]  . The modern world is a dynamic system where the historical power of the state appears to be subsiding in favour of global social movements and inter-state organisations such as the IMF and World Bank. The Marxist approach offers some of the best accounts of both these new sources of power, and no study of international relations would be completely without at least considering what a Marxist approach has to say about them. Different countries in different times has seen many political drifts throughout the history of mankind. Most of the time all of these drifts had the same ideas and goals but they tended to offer different methods of their success. All were mainly intended and focused at the wealth of the public but few of them managed to lead this or that nation to happiness. Liberalism and Marxism are among those political philosophies that have become popular in some countries as the principal forms of political principles. These movements are characteristic of relatively different attitude towards the role of government and political movements in the state. In order to answer the asked question in the beginning of this paper, we shall answer the following question: what are the differences of liberalism and Marxism and which tendency is more relevant nowadays? It is to be noted however, that the liberalism principles have been so popula in many countries around the word. Liberalist theorists claim that the government should play the most possible minimal role in life of the society. As liberalism evolved and during its development, its supporters had to face different allegations or accusations in leaving the public to the mercy of fate and due to various circumstances; some liberals had to change their prospects. Therefore, there appeared different trends among liberal adherents. Theorists of classical liberalism hang on to the idea that in any state individual freedom should be encouraged. The state should limit its regulation of business and economy and it should be assigned by state constitution. Individual property rights, defense of civil liberties and support of free markets are the guarantee of the successful development of a liberal state. In contrast to classical liberals social ones insist on more intensive governmental regulati on of economy, creation of state enterprises and welfare state. Social liberal theorists stand for creation of so-called positive liberty for people which will give them more opportunities, for example health care, education, material assistance (Richardson 263). While comparing the above state intervention to the life of society with the Marxist approach we immediately and clearly can realize their differences they are opposed. Marxist main idea as stated is the following: the state plays the leading role in the life of people at the same time the state is the only authority who can lead the society and provide it with welfare. In The Communist Manifesto (1848)  [9]  , Marx and Engels argued that the means of production determines the very nature of society. This is the linear idea of the base-superstructure relationship: The economy is the base of all social structure, including institutions and ideas. In capitalistic systems, profit drives production and thus dominates labor. Working-class groups are oppressed by the group (in power) who benefit from profit. All institutions that perpetuate domination within a capitalistic society arise from this economic system. Only when the working class rises against the dominant groups can the lib eration of the worker be achieved. Such liberation furthers the natural progression of history in which forces in opposition clash in a dialectic that results in a higher social order. This classical theory is called the critique of political economy. Think of the recent financial crises in Malaysia, Japan, Russian, and Latin America, thanks to the rapid (uncontrolled) movement of money. Marxist-based critical theory thrives today. Not all adherents to Critical Theory are strictly Marxist however. The basic ideas of dialectical conflict, domination, and oppression remain important. Much contemporary critical theory views social processes as over-determined, as opposed to Marxs simple base-superstructure model. They see social structure as a system in which numerous elements interact with one another. A number of approaches to Marxist communication theory can be taken. They all focus on two kinds of problems. As clearly stated above, both of the theories (liberalist and Marxist theorists) have different approaches to the state role in the life of the society. I believe, with what is seen now a days of modern development of countries, liberalism is the best fit political trend with all of its forms, but with more transparency from the politically and financially dominant countries like the United State, who is monopolizing the international authorities especially the financial bodies (IMF, world bank) to their interests. Today in many countries, especially in the undeveloped world, the right of individuals are exercised and can be seen interims of individuals rights to own property in equal way with the freedom of choice. The Current Financial Crisis The financial crisis of September 2008 probably surprised the conventional economists of benign globalisation  [10]  . However, it was expected and been anticipated by many economists (without having predicted its actual date), simply because for those who were predicting it was due to the natural development of the long crisis of late capitalism set in motion in the 1970s. To get a better picture of the current crisis, It is important to take a look back and revisit the first long crisis of capitalism, which shaped the 20th century, as there is such a striking parallel between the developmental stages of these two crises.  [11]   In 1873 of the nineteenth century the crisis of the industrial capitalism evolved. At the time profits levels collapsed, for reasons made clear by Marx. In its turn Capital reacted with a double move, by becoming more concentrated and expanding globally. Creating new monopolies seized profits at the highest possible value, derived from the exploitation of labour. They accelerated the colonial conquest of the planet. These structural transformations allowed profits to take off anew. In recent history, the crisis of capitalism took off in the 1971, when the dollar value went off the Gold Standard. To the same extent this effect of the 1873 crisis took place in the same terms of shrunken Profit , investment and growth levels collapsed again and had never recover their earlier levels between the years of 1956 and 1975. In its terns, Capital here responded as it did in the previous crisis, with a double move both to concentration and to globalisation. It also put in place structures which were to define the second Belle Époque (1990-2008) of financialised globalisation, permitting the oligopolistic groups to take their monopolistic dividend. The same discourse accompanied these moves: the market guarantees prosperity, democracy and peace; this is the end of history. The same rallying of European socialists to the new liberalism. However, this new Belle Époque was accompanied from the beginning by war, of the North against the South, starting in the 1990s. An d as the first financialised globalisation gave rise to 1929, the second led to 2008. We have now arrived at the crucial moment which heralds a probable new wave of wars and revolutions. And this despite the fact that the powers that be envisage nothing other than the restoration of the system as it was before its financial collapse.  [12]   As revealed by the crisis over the capitalist system, the current crisis showed a defect in the global capitalist system, where it was previously based on the commercial capital, and then turning to industrial capitalism, and has now shifted to financial capitalism. The fallback of the role of the institutions of the real economy whereby banks, large financial institutions, stock and bond markets played a major role in maximizing wealth, to an extent whereby the volume of world production of goods and services estimated to 48 trillion dollars compared to 144 trillion dollars the amount of money circulating in the financial markets. In the absence of the proper monitoring mechanisms for financial institutions, this crisis rocked the holiest of holies of capitalist (the lack of state intervention in economic activity). The crisis also brought to surface another problem, the problem of the international financial system, it is necessary in this regard to identify the nature of this system and identify the underlying mechanisms of its association with the dollar: Before 1914 the international monetary system was based on gold (the gold system) and the exchange rates of currencies against each other was based on content of gold behind each of them. Therefore, gold played a prominent role in self-regulation of the economic conditions of the countries and therefore to restrict the volume of money and stabilization in the value of currency. Between the period of 1914 1929 and due to the impact of the global economic crisis at the time when World War I disrupted the economic conditions in the monetary and financial world at large, global changes have taken place and the gold system was no longer appropriate to that era circumstances, and the result was, most countries abandoned the gold standard being utilized. In 1944 the International Monetary Fund was created under the Bretton Woods Convention whereby a new monetary system was introduced which was known as the (exchange in gold) which was based on the U.S. dollar exchange for gold at a price of $ 35 per ounce at the rate of $ 1 per 0.888671 grams of gold, and accordingly, the Central bank in America was committed to convert dollars into gold on this basis and according to the price advertised. the enormous potential of the United States of America in international trade and material resources available to it enabled them to undertake this role, the U.S. Central Bank took it upon itself to maintain the exchange rate of its currency against other currencies for the purchases and sales to the same price as advertised.   Therefore, other countries had to use the dollar in their official reserves alongside the gold and thus the Bretton Woods Agreement has added a unique feature to the dollar and made it the only currency to have a balanced price against gold. America at the time took advantage of its influential role in international trade, particularly with the massive gold reserves they maintain, making it in fact a rival to the International Monetary Fund and the role of the Fund has become a supplementary to the United State. Now a days the dollar is an important component of international liquidity next to gold, and maintained by most countries. Hence, and as a consequence to this situation, it became the duty of others, in particular the European Economic Community to defend the dollar exchange rates, and therefore made the United States to act on fluctuation of exchange rates from the site of the unconcern. Since 1971 and because of the shortage suffered by the U.S. balance of payments and the large decline in U.S. reserves of gold due to its replacement, the ability to exchange dollar with gold was stopped. Dollar began to experience sharp fluctuations in its value and thus emerged a new international scheme based on the currency floating. Following the new style of floating currencies, the turmoil emerged in the international monetary system and started a massive fluctuations in many currencies including the dollar itself, which resulted in redistribution of income and wealth at the international level for the benefit of rich countries.   Americans logic and believe that the U.S. economic recovery should be borne by the international community, particularly the European Union, because according to the American perspective, the revitalization of their economy will inevitably lead to revitalization of the economies of these countries, which means that these countries are countries in support of the actions of America. How can we come out of the current international financial crisis: To be able to come out of the current crisis countries must be able to restore confidence in the financial markets, first through the intervention of governments and central banks to ensure the availability of liquidity to the banking system, and then work on an international level to resolve the crisis. Whereby the crisis has revealed the interdependence of the global economy as a whole it is therefore every state responsibility to come out of the crisis to work together on condensing international efforts to re- investigate the current international monetary system, to give all countries full economic freedom and political right to choose to link their currencies to a basket of currencies to be agreed upon internationally. It is all countries responsibility to work on the repair of work mechanisms in the institutions of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and to reform the foundations created these institutions to reduce Americas hegemony on it. Work on the treatment and issues of financial control of the financial institutions through the management and supervision of international regulatory bodies by independent and fully transparent bodies. And finally, find a better management of international liquidity and stop the reliance on the dollar and the adoption of the special drawing rights with the composition of international reserves. Listen Read phonetically Dictionary View detailed dictionary

Essay on the Dysfunctional Family of The Glass Menagerie

The Dysfunctional Family of The Glass Menagerie      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dysfunctional. Codependent. Enmeshed. Low self-esteem. Emotional problems of the modern twenty-first century or problems of the past? In his play, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams portrays a southern family in the 1940's trying to deal with life's pressures, and their own fears after they are deserted by their husband and father. Although today, we have access to hundreds of psychoanalysis books and therapists, the family problems of the distant past continue to be the family problems of the present.    The three family members are adults at the time of this play, struggling to be individuals, and yet, very enmeshed and codependent with one another. The overbearing and domineering mother, Amanda, spends much of her time reliving the past; her days as a southern belle. She desperately hopes her daughter, Laura, will marry. Laura suffers from an inferiority complex partially due to a minor disability that she perceives as a major one. She has difficulty coping with life outside of the apartment, her cherished glass animal collection, and her Victrola. Tom, Amanda's son, resents his role as provider for the family, yearns to be free from him mother's constant nagging, and longs to pursue his own dreams. A futile attempt is made to match Laura with Jim, an old high school acquaintance and one of Tom's work mates.    Jim is very self-assured and attempts to help Laura with her problems of self-esteem and shyness. Laura seems to be responding to his efforts of help when he unexpectedly announces his engagement to be married. Of course, this brings an end to the well-planned evening. At this point, there seems to be a wake-up call for these characters. A... ... yet, escape into their own, personal cocoon of fear and insecurity.    In conclusion, nothing really changes from beginning to end. Laura is still dependent, very shy, and lonely. Tom still has no real future, even though he runs away to fulfill his dreams. Amanda has no job and continues to relive her past. We really don't know what happens to Jim. In an effort to free themselves, these characters become more entangled in their problems. The ending is sad, without hope. However, The Glass Menagerie is timeless. Many of us can relate to these characters in some way. Most of us struggle in some way with fear, insecurity, dysfunction, codependency, and the complexities of life. Yes! The problems of the past continue to be the problems of the present. Works Cited Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions Publishing, 1999.

Country of Origin

Country Of Origin Image The Country of Origin Image or COO can be described as the motivation behind the tendency for consumers to make buying decisions, guided by their perception of the country which is associated with the purchased product. It is essentially one of the building blocks for brand equity when introducing new products into new markets internationally. This could be attributed to consumer’s need to make quality inferences via brand cues, which will help them move forward faster in the buying process.In recent times, the validity of COO image as a brand metric has become arguably questionable, as the arrival of globalization has diluted the efficacy of the country of origin term. These days, an Apple Iphone could be designed in San Francisco, California and manufactured in Taiwan at lower operating costs. Based on this phenomenon and the study by Essousi and Merunka (2007), the COO concept can be further evaluated on the basis of two sub categories, which are cou ntry of design (COD) and country of manufacture(COM) image.A lot of companies remain ethnocentric in their business operations, this means that they restrict their resources to the initial country of origin, but sell to varying markets on the international scene. This is in contrast to the truly global companies that distribute their resources worldwide and operate in a global market. It begs the question of whether country of design or country of manufacture, is the influencing factor with regards to consumer behaviour and a product’s country of origin image.Referring to the previous example of Apple’s Iphone, is the product quality amplified in the consumers eyes by virtue of its American design or is its value downgraded by Taiwanese production? , considering Taiwan’s COO image as one of cheap but low quality products. Reardon et al (2005) suggest that with the products being unfamiliar to the market, country of origin image becomes the most viable source of quality identification for the consumer, an opinion backed by Balabanis and Diamantopoulos (2008) and Carvalho, et al ( 2011) studies on brand associations with country of origin images, among consumers.This is akin to celebrity endorsement of brands, with countries playing the role of celebrity ambassadors to those new to the brand. Harun et al 2011, proposes a different perspective to the discussion with country of brand origin (COBO). This is far more effective as a brand metric because as the name implies, the focus is placed on the brand itself rather than the product. For a description of the slight differences between the two concepts, Consider a consumer’s choice to buy a virtually unknown suit brand, because it was made in Britain.Britain’s strong COO image for products like suits, is the major player in this purchase decision. On the other hand, the buyer could decide to go for a Louis Vuitton Suit to feel ‘French’, as Louis Vuitton is primarily a French brand, thus illustrating the concept of the COBO effect. From this, it is clear that the country of origin effect still maintains some relevance with regards to influencing purchase decisions, whether it involves the design origins or place of manufacture or even down to the general associations the brands has with a country.Place Brand With the ever constant battle for the consumer’s disposable income and foreign direct investment by businesses, there has been an upsurge in the marketing of entire geographical locations, as suitable places to spend money. According to Medway& Warnaby (2008), the focus of the process is on creating favourable or attractive image associations for places and downplaying any negative images it may already have, unless demand for its resources outgrows supply.It can be argued that products and services become brands by virtue of the benefits they offer. This implies that if the benefits are negative, the product or service gains a negati ve brand image and vice versa. Similarly, places become branded by what they have to offer, usually in terms of culture, heritage, art, natural resources (Kemp et al, 2012) and many other variables. This phenomenon known as place branding, seeks to create identity, differentiation and personality for a place(Kavaratzis & Ashworth, 2005).It typically involves any residential geographic entity, and is usually most evident in the marketing of nations and cities. In examining the tenets of place branding further, the branding of cities can be utilised as a sample from which reasonable inference can be drawn and applied to a larger population such as countries. Pfefferkorn (2005) outlines the effects of branding on cities and the ingredients common to strongly branded cities.Included in the requirements for strong city branding are attractive employment opportunities, affordable cost of living, efficient public transportation and school systems, recreational/ cultural attractions, and go od climatic conditions. These are described by the author as functional values, but for truly strong place brands to exist, there must also be added value that differentiates it from others.The added value is unique to each city, as residents may tend to make meaningful associations between themselves and a place. Examples of this include the marketing of Jerusalem and Mecca as ‘holy cities’ of pilgrimage to devout faithfuls, Rio as a destination of choice for carnival lovers, Paris as the city of love for romantic individuals or in the most popular city branding efforts for sports enthusiasts, English soccer (Edensor & Millington, 2005) and the Olympics (Zhang & Zhao, 2009).An observable common denominator amongst these examples is the presence of images or perceptions, associated with orchestrated activities that result in the brands of a place. (Kavaratzis S& Ashworth, 2005). Global Brands The definition of globalised companies in contrast to international companies lies in the distribution of its resources (Abdulrazak. R, 2013). One of the foremost issues with brand globalization is the standardisation versus adaptation debate.A global brand is one which has been able to extend its brand identity across the world from its country of origin, and therefore the argument falls largely in favour of standardization with an adaptation of certain variables where necessary. Discussion Global brands offer consumers a sense of familiarity and streamlines the decision making process for purchasing from a range of both local and international alternatives. The country of origin image as well as place brands associated with the place brand may further serve to amplify the equity of the global brand. SIRRA

And We Walked Right Through the Door Essay

â€Å"Anything I can help you find? † inquired the chubby female clerk wearing a cheesy red uniform vest complete with â€Å"Hi! My name is Amy, How can I assist you? † BS name-tag. Right away I recognize this this to be the limited dialog that clerks are required to resort to when they feel certain shoppers are suspicious, to remind them they’re being watched I suppose. I replied smiling, â€Å"No, my buddy’s in the bathroom, just looking around thanks. † the act starting to make me a bit queasy. â€Å"Alright then† she creaked, an undertone of distrust. From there I’m left to my own devices, or so they would like me to think. However I know otherwise as I’m using the very same tools that insurance managers and loss prevention employ – namely strategically placed fisheye thief catching mirrors – to keep an eye on the store walker who, after that terse conversation, started following me. Interacting with people who have an inkling that I’m up to no good while cradling nearly $150 worth of stolen goods in my coat, (just under the federal limit mind you) brought on strong feelings of sickness mixed with a rush of adrenaline†¦ maybe I was getting too old for this shit. After skirting my tail, I head for the back entrance which has posted up what looked to be a normal run of the mill alarm system. However having worked this place over several times before, I knew that this was simply cosmetic and no longer functioned properly. My best guess is the store was too broke to repair it, in part due to klepto jack-asses like me and my crew. Most likely they allowed this skeleton of a system to stay standing in hopes that it would deter those that didn’t know any better. In fact most of the security equipment in this place was for show. From the dozens of shaded domes mounted in the ceilings where maybe one quarter of them actually held security cameras, to the magnetic tags – or bugs as we coded them – that had no activated strips in which to trip the alarm systems that did work. Their security measures were as false as my attitude towards clerk Amy, only I felt I was better at hiding the fact. ?This was my hobby. I started at a very young age, six, maybe seven years old and only because I hated being told that I couldn’t have candy or toys that seemed to me within reason. The usual excuse always came back a whining â€Å"Because we don’t have the money, Craig† despite the fact we always seemed to have enough for coffee, cigarettes and booze. It was at that young age where it seemed straight forward enough to me take the item of my simple fancy, slip it in my pocket, and – most importantly – try not to be seen doing this. It wasn’t until a few years into my â€Å"hobby† that I was finally discovered in the act by, of all people, my little sister, Melissa. We were on our way to school when I suggested a stop at a small grocery mart, where she made a bee line for the freshly made donuts. While she was busy ogling the poignant sweets, I went to work finding fruit roll-ups to procure. As I started stuffing the box of snacks into my brothers’ oversized, hand-me-down, blue-green Dolphins starter coat, my sister caught up, discovering me in mid-theft. She asked â€Å"Why are you taking that? † wide eyed and confused. Hushing at her â€Å"Because I wanna share some with my friends, and you know how Mom and Dad are about money! † I pleaded quietly, the cashier’s too busy dealing with the morning flood of coffee and newspaper sales to notice. This line of reasoning seemed well enough for her and she agreed not to tell anyone, the deal sealed by sharing some of the spoils. I thought that would be the end of it†¦ turns out I was wrong. Over the next few weeks she wasn’t just stealing shit left and right, but bragging to me about it! It was no surprise to me when later that month my parents had to pick her up from the local mall security center, having been caught shoplifting Barbie accessories. Even worse, she dragged a friend of hers along for the ride and, after being caught red handed, tried to frame the poor girl she brought along as the evil master mind behind it all. Though I felt raw about leading my little sister into my bad habit, I still thought to myself â€Å"better her than me†. At the time, we had just moved into a newly built Habitat for Humanity home in a strange sort of raffle for low-income families. Though it was nice to live in a new house, one of the downsides was that one could hear everything that was happening in every other room, which left the feeling of having little to no privacy. It was excruciating to hear punishments that either of my siblings might receive, like say in the case of my little sister getting caught shoplifting. From down in the living room, my mother and I attempted to focus on The Andy Griffith Show though I couldn’t help overhear the post punishment conversation between my father and sister. â€Å"What were you thinking!? How many times have we told you that taking things is wrong!? † he yelled, my sister still sobbing from the hot ass-whopping she’d just received. He continued the inquisition â€Å"What made you think you could even get away with something like this, huh?!? † she answered near yelping â€Å"Because I saw Craig take something from the store! I slammed my eyelids together hard hoping it would make me invisible, though I could feel the scorching glare from my mother who was eaves-dropping on the conversation as well. After my own hot ass-whopping, I was ordered to gather up all things I’d stolen. Though I didn’t give them everything, what I did pile up was still a pretty impressive haul, namely cheap toys like yo-yos and Gak; I’d be damned if I was going to give up my Sega games, it was no picnic acquiring those gems. It didn’t take long before I felt safe enough to get back in the saddle, my only lesson being a stricter discretion toward my parents finding out. Oh yeah, the crew I mentioned earlier. While there were always a few lame duck part-timers that came and went the main trio consisted of Dustin B. , code name â€Å"D†, Walter R. aka â€Å"Strangler† the muscle, and me whom they had dubbed â€Å"Slyde†, or â€Å"Sly† for short. This was actually based on some form on confusion as Slyde was what I had named my â€Å"customized† coat for all intents and purposes. The customization of the coat was simple: cut holes out at the bottom of the pockets enabling me to hide cargo all the way round the back with the insulation fluff, some of which I had removed to avoid looking too lumpy as I added new items. D was the first to join my group and a sort of protege. He’d say things like â€Å"You never know when you’ll be in a position to have to steal stuff, like if the government falls! † and considered my rabble rousing to be more of a hidden art form. We’d play games of risk with one another, upping the stakes to hone our skills. Strangler wasn’t really a thief, more of a muscle guy. He wasn’t into games of risk, but he’d happily beat the living shit out of anyone who might get in our way. A perfect crew for what we were doing. ?We had codes for everything, bugs and spiders for mag-tags and stickers, hawks and Tony’s for cameras and walkers. We even had codes to let each other know what was to be bought (purchased) and what was to be stolen (buy) while still speaking in laymen’s terms. In my home state of Michigan, thankfully, one could wear a coat for nearly eight to nine months out of the year, and no one would consider it suspect. Though when dealing in the art of theft, you’ll need more than a custom coat to get by. I had put together a base set of five rules through my tenure, which I regularly preached to my fledgling group: 1) Never go on a run alone. Sometimes you might need the muscle to help you out of a bind; this was Strangler’s territory. In one particular incident, a well-built bald white guy came from, what seemed to me nowhere, placing his hand on my shoulder, â€Å"Sir, I’d like to talk to you about the items in your coat†. The next sounds heard were a shopping cart being revved up to ramping speed, Strangler behind the bar. The large man having no time to react, literally went head over heels into the cart, and off into the sunset. His ride was only cut short by a parked van he crashed into mid lot, where he and the cart crumpled over in a sad heap. We had a good laugh about it as we jaunted away. ) If you frequent a place, at least buy something to make it look a bit less shady. There’s nothing more obvious than your ugly mug walking into a place and never buying anything. After the third or fourth occurrence, they’ll stop to search you on principle alone (This is Detroit). 3) If you’re going to steal something, act like you’ve been there before. There’s nothing more hideously obvious than someone who looks around to see if they’re being watched. Also, the occasional outburst by local crazies or crotchety old men – any form of sudden distraction really – was a quick and easy pass to get the hell out of dodge while the gettin’s good. ) Get off the grounds as soon as possible! Store walkers are legally obligated to stay on company property, which led to another obvious conclusion: don’t hit a place up if it already has actually law enforcement on the premises, na mely because real pigs don’t have such limited jurisdictions, and probably because they’re already there for some other fool who’s been caught. 5) Lastly and to the point, don’t steal more than the federal limit. It’s not like it was difficult or unthinkable, just more risk than what it’s worth to my thinking. This was shoplifting 101 and I was the head instructor. It was a few years into our chaotic campaign when all my concerns were to be quantified; when new-bird Marty R. hit the scene. Though we’d known Marty for years (due to the fact that I was dating his younger sister), we were apprehensive to have him join our little club because of his garish nature. He was a tall sum bitch, at least a full nine inches taller than me, and I was six foot myself at the time. Big knarley knuckles, rail thin from a ridiculously high metabolism mixed with malnutrition, and bright Irish red hair earned him the code name, â€Å"Red†. There’s a saying that red heads are either drop dead gorgeous, or butt ass ugly, Red here was the latter. Aside from being really tall, he had a pension for the dramatic which meant he always spoke loudly, attracting attention. If that weren’t enough, he also tried to sport a mo-hawk that was supposed to be dyed atomic red, but came out neon pink. He had done well enough on his first few excursions, though as I tended to do with all newbies, first timers got the benefit of being surrounded by us young punks ready to throw down as they got the chance to exercise their sticky fingers. Not to mention, first timer’s targets happened to be large places where we had little issue with security, and where there were several other casual shoppers to take focus away from us. This was particularly effective on busy shopping days like Black Friday, one of my personal favorites. ?Red and I had stopped in a larger chain for nothing more than a two liter of soda for the troops back at one of our crash sites. Now not every visit to a store is made to pilfer items, because as the saying goes, ‘it’s not a party if it happens every night’. Red being the new guy wasn’t really hip to this idea yet, and was still very anxious to take what he could, as if there were no tomorrow. As I sleepily moved to the cold drinks at the back of the store, and not from the wall of tepid soda they displayed for chumps and out-of-towners up front, Red informed me that he was going to use the rest room, where vagabonds like us would normally go to clean up a bit. It may have been the way he said it, but I instantly got a bad feeling. Realizing that I had just woken up to take on this small task for the group, I shook off the vibe and told him to meet me outside in our usual spot when he was done. Sometimes, I hate it when I’m right. Red took it upon himself to yank a few items without me knowing, a wallet, a crappy ten dollar watch, and a fake gold necklace/locket combo for some girl he was crushing on. From this, he might as well have broken rule number one in not letting me know his intentions. As I stood waiting in the check-out line cold pop in hand, I noticed Red making his way out trying to look as though he hadn’t taken anything, a sure distinction to my eye. I had the mind to drop the pop and run over to him: not so much to help him, but rather to chew him out for being such a chud. However it was too late, the horrible scene I’d sought to rally against unfolded before me, as if I was given a front row seat. After the fact, I could only guess that this store had some idea about our group and its past debauchery, since they used three Tony’s to surround and take Red away. I wasn’t ready, we weren’t here on a mission, we were here for fucking soda! I felt like screaming at him, the mix of helplessness and anger at his dishonesty keeping me anchored to the floor as I looked on, holding the building express line up. As he was ushered past, he looked at me with those sad sorry eyes, where all I could do was look back, mouth agape. This moment also felt like a strong message for yours truly, the Tony’s eyes staring at me, warning â€Å"You’re next hot shot†. Unfortunately, this wasn’t Red’s first offense and he was later sentenced 2 years for what amounted to less than $30 worth of merchandise. Now Marty wasn’t much of a fighter, and considering his height coupled with the fact that his hair had mistakenly come out neon pink, brought a whole other hellish dimension towards the thought of time in jail for him. Yes, this was a sad day for our company indeed, but an affirmation of the rules I had laid down to begin with. I scorned the others with the story, probably because I wasn’t able to yell at Red, or more likely out of shame that I wasn’t able to do something about it myself. ?Some time has passed and I’ve all but stopped stealing. I might yoink a pack of batteries here and there, or occasionally walk out on a check if the server makes me wait too long, but these trifles are rare. Recently, I landed a position in loss prevention for a small chain of stores; the irony of this never fails to cheer me up. I even tried to stay in decent shape for the job by making it a point to run/jog in, or maybe old habits of being ready for a chase die hard. I was assigned a new store where they were going through the normal jargon, giving us the cue codes for theft in progress, blind spots to patrol, and all the other dirty little secrets I would have killed for back in the day. As I was being briefed by my new manager, I realized just how much of a royal prick he was, just from how he thought so much lesser of people that resorted to stealing. The more he talked, the more I indulged a day dream of feeding his pretentious ass to Strangler and how that would pan out. My first shift was painfully uneventful, right until the last hour as I started to get in the mindset of what to do once I was free again. It was at that time when Mr. douche-bag manager busted in to the surveillance room, like he was hopped up on too many energy drinks. â€Å"Look alive ladies, we got some kids in the liquor isle, and I’m damn sure they’re gonna grab something. They’ve been casing it for a while, looking all sorts of suspicious, so let’s get out there and NAB ‘EM! trying to be all team player, as if we were all supposed to put our hands in or something. To be honest, this was the part of my job I hated most, seeing new jacks like this give my former hobby a go in the worst way. Ducking their heads about, apprehensive yet obvious about whether or not they’re going to put an item in their jacket. Sure enough, scoping out these scrubby teens through a large fish eye mirror, I saw firsthand one of them squirrel a fifth of whiskey into his windbreaker, and make his way for the exit. Panic was written all over his face as he wrangled up the other two snots with him, simply disgraceful. The worst of it was when they neared the exit. We didn’t even have time to start in on our usual spiel before it suddenly turned into a free for all, the three of them sprinting off in unison. The two â€Å"friends† that the holder came in with, bolted in the exact opposite direction, leaving the actual target on his own. I’m not sure if they did this thinking they’d fool us with misdirection, or if they just ran out of fear; my guess was they got scared and bailed. At this point, I’m not the only one giving chase; two other Tony’s and the dick-head manager were also trailing. The manager was the first to go down, no surprise, tripping on his own stupid shoe-laces not even 20 feet from the entrance, biting off a piece of his own tongue as his chin smashed against the asphalt. One of the Tony’s was a fat guy and gave in shortly thereafter, claiming â€Å"I’m gonna see if the manager’s O. K. , you guys keep going! † pathetic. Two down, two to go, and we’re gaining on him. This kid must not have known the perimeter rule, because he cut around heading for the back of the store, towards the receiving docks. Since e insisted on staying on the grounds, as far as I was concerned it was still game on. Thanks to my daily regimen, I felt as though I could run like this forever! Primal instincts kicked in, I felt as though I were a lethal cheetah closing in on its prey. It was about the time we were rounding the docks that the defeatist thumping footsteps of the other Tony sounded, signaling his dropping out of the chase no more than 70 generous yards from the door. Never mind all that, I was about to end it, he was going down, this kid was mine! I reached out grabbing at his shoulder, my hand getting a taste of slick fabric from his blue wind-breaker, when something clicked. I stopped chasing and let him go. I didn’t even bother to gloat out loud that I could have caught him if I wanted, it didn’t even seem important anymore. I stood there watching him continue to run for his life as I caught my breath. I contemplated the awesome story that the kid would have to tell all his friends – the ones he presumably stole the fifth for – and to call out his two accomplices for bitching out the way they did. Thought flooded me near the point of tears as I recanted my own misguided youth, and the thrill of getting away from a near miss as he had just encountered. If I had brought him back, I would have had no say in his punishment, and I’m sure they would’ve done to him the same as they did to Red. I no longer wanted to be responsible for the incarceration of others this way. I strolled back acting more tired than I actually was giving the staff some bullshit excuse as to how the kid eluded me; I mean, what the hell did they know, right?