School pictures

Apparently it is school picture season, and I just read that there are some high school girls (and we aren’t talking just twelfth grade) who are having their make up done professionally for these photos.

Why? I understand that the 12^th graders do it for the yearbook, or even so they have a shidduch photo. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it. Why does a 15 year old girl need this? The first time I had my make up professionally done was my first wedding. The second time was for my son’s barmitzvah. Third time was for my second wedding and the last time was for my second son’s barmitzvah. For those occasions it was worth it to me to shell out the money to look my best.

For school pictures? I shudder….

Advertisement

WWYD – Interview

So, you sent in your resume and cover letter to apply for the position that you recently saw advertised. The business is local, and you are excited at the prospect of working for this dynamic company as part of a team.

After a few nail biting days you receive an invitation to come for an interview next week. You do your homework on the company and find out that you know someone who works there. So you call them up and go through your list of questions.

This contact tells you that while the person interviewing you is extremely competent at his job, he has a bias when hiring. When it comes to the interview, you are told, you should wear a shorter skirt, make sure you show some leg, wear a tight top too, leave your hair loose, and that way you are guaranteed the job. If you dress down or not-sexy there is a chance that you won’t be successful.

Do you:

a)      Follow instructions because you really want to work there?

b)      Dress as you normally dress and hope for the best?

c)      Decide to do the opposite, dress completely dowdy, and hope you are hired based on experience?

d)     Cancel the interview because you don’t want to work for someone like that?

To Encourage or Discourage?

One of my sons is an enterprising sort. He comes up with schemes and plans to raise money – not necessarily just for himself. He has raised money for charities, collected soda tabs in the tens of thousands for a local rehab hospital, and he has sold school supplies to his classmates at vastly inflated prices because demand was high.

He approached me recently to help him with his next endeavour. He wants to sell soda cans at school – Dr Pepper, Coke, Pepsi etc. He wants me to buy cases of the stuff, and he can take them to school and sell them for a profit. He said that the school rules don’t expressly forbid such sales, and anyway “the worst they will do is ask me to stop, they won’t suspend me”. Oh to be so young and sure of myself!!

So my issues are these: Do I allow him to set up shop without asking the principal and risk his wrath? Do I give him my blessing so long as the principal agrees? If I do indeed allow him to go into the soda selling business, and he repays me the money I have laid out – how much of the profit that he makes is fair for me to claim? I need to cover the expenses for the gas, mileage etc… and he needs to learn that the middlemen get paid too. Should he be concentrating on his learning, not improving his business sense? Should I encourage such enterprise being that one day he will be a grown up and needs to develop business acumen?

What are your thoughts?