Archive - June 2007

What has changed in your life over the past 19 years?

What are the biggest changes the world has experienced since 1988?

Can you imagine losing 19 years of your life? A polish man has done just that.

Jan Grzebski is a 65 year old who fell into a coma after he was hit by a train in 1988. Back then he was a 46 year old railway worker. He has woken from a 19 year coma to find the Communist party no longer in power and food no longer rationed.

This article from BBC News gives some of the background on the story.

Mr Grzebski says, “Now I see people on the streets with mobile phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin.”

His wife, Gertruda, cared for him all those years, turning him every hour to prevent bed sores. What incredible dedication. Friends just kept asking when he was going to die but she just kept loving and caring. I wonder how many of us would be prepared to care that much to put in all that effort over so many years, never knowing if we’d ever see any change.

I find one of his observations on modern life fascinating. You would think that with a new regime in the country, greater affluence and easier access to the basics of life such as food, that people would be much happier with their lives. Mr Grzebski doesn’t see it quite that way. “What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I’ve got nothing to complain about.”

I guess it proves once again that happiness isn’t dependent on our circumstances. It’s a decision we must make, an attitude of the heart.

So, what would you have missed if you were gone for the last 19 years? How do you think you’d react to waking up in our new, highly technological world? Could you have imagined all those years ago that so many people would not only have computers in their homes but that they’d all be connected via the internet?

What are some of the things you wish hadn’t emerged in the last 19 years? I could certainly do without reality TV and especially Big Brother.

I’d love to hear your ideas. Feel free to add your comments below.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Jan Grzebski – Coma – Poland

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Want to make your customers feel comfortable shopping in your store?

Then maybe you should avoid posting signs on the front door that read ….

PLEASE BE AWARE OF PEOPLE STEALING YOUR VALUABLES WHILE YOU ARE SHOPPING.

I headed out to a local after hours supermarket earlier this evening to grab something for dinner. At the front of the shop they have a couple of large, hand written signs containing the above wording.

Maybe it’s just me but I reckon a little more thought could have gone into those signs.

I guess they’ve had a problem with theft inside their store but I think they could have put up signs saying something like, “Please secure your valuables while shopping” or “Please do not leave valuables unattended while in this store”. It’d say the same thing but be a little less alarming.

The “people stealing your valuables” kind of approach screams “This is a dangerous place to shop” to me.

I’m glad they warned me to be on my guard but if the problem’s that bad, I may just have to look elsewhere the next time I’m looking for something to eat outside normal shopping hours.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Shopping – Signs – Thieves

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Back in December 2004 I posted about something called presenteeism? It’s the opposite of absenteeism and it’s all about people who insist on heading into work when they’re sick.

At the time I wrote that a study had found that people who don’t take time off when they’re sick may be setting themselves up for a heart attack. Scary stuff.

Fast forward to the first day of the Australian Winter we’re being told once again about the benefits of staying home when we’re sick.

This article at NEWS.com.au tells us that Sydney virologist Peter White says staying at home when you pick up a cold is a better strategy than spreading colds in the workplace, sending more people home sick or reducing their ability to concentrate.

In a survey of 547 Australian adults, Dr White found 94 per cent of Australian workers admitted they still turned up for work with cold and flu symptoms although 85 per cent admitted thinking about the risk of passing on their illness.

Dr White said 53 per cent of workers surveyed believed that having a cough or cold was not a serious enough illness to take a sickie. However 79 per cent of respondents found it harder to concentrate at work when they had a cold.

When workers show up to work ill they run the risk of passing on their illness to other workers. Their own work also suffers for a longer period. While they feel that they’re doing the right thing, the right thing is usually to take a few days off to recover and then to head back to work at full strength.

Some research has shown that presenteeism is costing business far more than absenteeism.

I guess we all need to listen to our bodies and rest when our bodies tell us to.

What do you do when you’re sick. Do you take time off so that you can be back to 100% a lot quicker or do you tend to soldier on?

What’s your boss like when it comes to taking dys off? Do they only allow you to take time off upon presentation of a death certificate or do they see the value in looking after the health of staff?

What’s your attitude to co-workers who insist on working while sick and spreading the love around?

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Sickness – Presenteeism – Flu

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