Naturalistic Observation Assignment Research Paper

Naturalistic Observation Assignment - Research Paper Example The mother is dressed in a black pair of jeans, with what seems to be a white top; the latter is overshadowed with the thick cape she wear around her. The child is also wrapped around a big cloth, and the exact attire is beyond visual range. The husband wears blue jeans and a green cardigan, apart from the seemingly thick glasses that rest on his nose. The mother seems tired, and is holding the child in her lap. She is surrounded by two small bags, one of which seems to contain the accessories of the child. She constantly is looking here and there, outside towards the sky, then towards the magnanimous screen that shows the status of all flights - delayed! The husband is sitting besides her, and trying in vain to concentrate on a newspaper. She repeatedly addresses him, and despite a small shiver of the lips, he remains engrossed in the paper. The child is finding this ordeal uncomfortable, and after every few minutes, there is an evident stretching and retraction of limbs - something that adds to the irritability of the mother. She turns again to the husband while saying something, and he looks back, again in silence. He then gets up and goes to the inquiry desk, and trots over with minimal enthusiasm on his face. He tries to find away amongst the dozens that line around the counter, possibly asking the exact same question to the flabbergasted official. The same resolute reply, gives anguish to many, and aggression to the others. The wife keeps looking at his gait, and upon his return, he murmurs something that adds a helpless frown to the wife's face. Second 10 minute period She continues to say something fretful to the husband, ended by a firm groan. With a sudden 'ok', the husband swiftly but carefully turn to his side, and grasps the existence of the child around his arms, and onto his lap. Suddenly feeling lighter, the wife stretches her legs with her hands on her knees to make sure they still move the way she wants. She again turns over to the husband, but this time without a frown, and asks if he would like to have something to drink. A nod in negation from him serves the answer, while she digs into her bag, and comes forth with a steel flask. She pours something from the flask into the cap which now is the cup, and quickly escaping steam vouches for the fact that it is still hot. Once in her hand, she again looks at her husband and stretches her arm towards him, offering him the cup again. Not being able to withstand the head-on aroma of the beverage, his eyes brightened. The wife saw that, and seeing that his arms were locked around the child, s he gave him a sip from the cup with her own hand, and then treated herself as well. Final 20 minute period After viewing the initial interaction between them, I came to the hypothesis that the wife is more likely to take the lead in the conversion. Being temporarily relieved of the slight stress she was in, she was more likely to start afresh, and deal with the situation constructively. They did start talking, and it was actually the wife taking the driving seat. However, this time, there was a greater participation from the side of the husband than a silent nod or an inaudible murmur. To add, their mood also seemed to have transgressed into a different zone for a while, and they for once actually started looking outside

A New Era for Newark Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A New Era for Newark - Essay Example Newark is a perfect example of a failed state but brought to life by an exemplary leader. Newark in New Jersey, fresh from riots in 1967, was transformed into a wonderful state by Mayor Booker. This article analyzes Mayor Booker, what made him a leader so extra ordinary that he managed to transform Newark into a successful state and how he managed to work with others with the main of transforming Newark. Newark was engulfed in violence and businesses were closed down. This effectively ensured that its economy was grounded as businesses are the main circulation of money in state. The social classes were dismantled which saw the middle class move away. Obviously, this would present quite a challenge for any leader mandated with reviving Newark. Even in the contemporary world today, it takes lots of effort from a lot of people to patch together a nation or sate that was torn apart by war. Fortunately, this was not the case for Newark for Brook was equal to the task. Lots of people were taken by surprise how the mayor managed to transform Newark. It takes a lot of leadership abilities to manage with Cory Booker managed. Four decades after the homicide, Newark is utterly different with a fresh economy. Brook admits that hard work is a key factor in making a prominent leader. It is his hard work that enabled him to effectively mobilize his team towards achieving better Newark. In essence, hard work is always necessary for one to make desire achievements, and just like anybody would do, Cory Brook was hard working, and his success is purely attributed to it. Brook s with his police officers till the wee hours of the morning. Besides this being a show of hard work, it also shows that he was a team leader. Leading by example is a character trait of any leader. In order to effectively mobilize a team, it is indispensable to first show an outstanding support for the specified agenda. By staying late with the police doing patrols, the police could easily be motivated even in the absence of the mayor. This show of solidarity with the patrolling police is among the qualities that are attributed to Cory Brook. Solidarity develops a feeling of togetherness within a particular group there fostering unity and motivation. In any case, Cory Brook is undoubtedly a transformational leader. This is in line with what he achieved with Newark. Indeed, it takes a transformational leader to accomplish what the mayor accomplished. Raising Newark from ashes is a true testimony to this fete. His lead by example philosophy alone speaks volume about his transformational abilities. However, some critics may argue that his decision to turn down President Barrack Obama’s appointment is a hint that Brook may be having a phobia for bigger duties. Naturally, a transformational leader should not be afraid of any tasks, however big they are, but he was still entitled to making his own independent decisions no matter what people though. Cory Brook would surely be a benefic iary of the development techniques. Development techniques are essential because they help leaders to become even better leader. Leadership is a development pattern in which people try to adopt their leadership style and abilities to suit the current dynamics of governance. As much as Brook was an exemplary mayor, it does not necessarily mean that he would properly fit in

Structure of Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia

Structure of Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational structure of a company and how it can be applied or beneficial to the company that have chosen. Supporting research and statements are clearly explained throughout this report. Here, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia has been chosen as the main subject of this study. Introduction Carlsberg Group was founded by J.C. Jacobsen in 1847. Since then, it has made its prestigious position to the worlds fourth largest brewery group. The headquarters of the Carlsberg Group is at Copenhagen, Denmark. Carlsberg Group extended their business to others market areas. Currently, there are more than 50 Carlsberg breweries around the world, and Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia is one of it. Carlsberg Malaysia has incorporated in December 1969. Its expanded brand portfolio includes Jolly Shandy Lemon, SKOL Super beer, Carlsberg Green Label as well as non-alcoholic drinks. Due to the high quality of beer products, Carlsberg Malaysia has led the Malaysia Sales Market and left an effective impact on the economic growth. Organization structure is important to deal with in the organizations development. And yet, a clear and an effective organization structure is the major factor and force to lead Carlsberg Malaysia in their businesss development and growth. Designing Organizational Structure Management is the major issue in operating a business, it involves four functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling whereas organizing is an indispensable step to lead a business to grow. Organizing is an important process for the managers to design a formal organizations structure. As stated by Schermerhorn, Jr. (2011), the way in which the various parts of an organization are formally arranged is usually referred to as the organization structure. Organization structure identifies roles, responsibilities and tasks of each job position and the relationships among these positions. It must be coordinated and grouped in a logical manner in order to achieve the organizations objectives. Organization structure can be shown visually in an organizational chart. Drawing an organization chart is beneficial to the top layer management of Carlsberg Malaysia. When drawing it, those managers are forced to analyze the relationships between each job position and this may help them to make improvements. When managers design or create their organization structure, they must engaged in six key elements: work specialization, departmentalization, span of control, chain of command, centralization and decentralization, and formalization. Work Specialization The term work specialization, is to describe the process of dividing work activities in an organization into separate job tasks. Its also known as division of labor. Managers of Carlsberg Malaysia have put so much efforts on this step to design the effective organization structure. In order to increase the work output, they specialize each employee in doing a particular task rather than entire task. Moreover, there are some tasks that require highly-developed skills whereas some tasks only require lower skills, the managers use work specialization to make efficient use of the difference of skills that the employees or workers own. This approach is obviously beneficial in the manufacturing department of Carlsberg Malaysia. There are various types of brands manufactured under the organization. With this approach, every worker only participate in a single task or aspect of the production. For instance, one worker participates in the production of the SKOL Super Beer, another works for the Carlsberg Green Label, and so forth. Each worker could increase productivity and perform the maximize efficiency because they concentrate on their job task. Departmentalization After job tasks have been separated through work specialization, they are grouped together so that common or related work activities can be done in an integrated way. The basis of how jobs are grouped back together is called Departmentalization. Some of the standard and common forms of departmentalization used include functional, geographical, product, process, customer and etcetera. The way that Carlsberg Malaysia utilized to group activities is by functions and it can be evidently seen in the organization chart. The chart shows the functional structure of the organization, with top management followed by the functions of business development, marketing, human resources, financial and so on. In Carlsberg Malaysia, people with similar skills or performing the similar job tasks are grouped into work units. Each department will have the experts and the experts will be given the authority to make decisions within their areas of expertise. Following are the benefits of functional structure towards the organization: High level of efficiency and productivity performed by the employees because they experienced the same job tasks. Employees are easier to train because they only concentrate on specific and narrow areas. Job tasks tend to be done consistently because common knowledge share within the experts and specialists. Chain of command The organization chart that declared before in the report shows the well-structured chain of command, which identifies the relationship between the superior and subordinate. Robbins Coulter (2012) commented that chain of command is the line of authority extending from upper organizational levels to lower levels, which clarifies who reports to whom. When the organization grow in size, the chain of command tend to become taller and there will be more layers of management. Suppose an employee from Sales Department had a problem. He or she may come up with the question like: Who would help him or her to resolve the issues? This question can be solved by the following principle. Chain of command has underlying principle, which is the unity of command. The principle of chain of command states that an employee should report to only one manager. Working in Carlsberg Malaysia, each employee understand whom to report or responsible to. They are assigned to the respective managers. For example, salesperson only will report to the head of the Sales Department. Span of control Span of control can be defined as the number of subordinates that report directly to and effectively manage by a manager. It is an important consideration in how efficient Carlsberg Malaysia will be. The appropriate span must be concerned in management because it affects coordination. Tall organization structure has narrow span of control, while flat organization structure has wide span of control. Management of Carlsberg Malaysia classified as narrow span of control. Each manager has fewer subordinates to supervise. The managers are able to administer and control the subordinates closely, thus they will have more time to train their underling. However, narrow spans have certain drawbacks such as vertical communication will be become more complex and hence the decision making will be slow down, higher costs due to high level of management hierarchy, and others. Centralization and Decentralization Should most decision be made at the top levels of an organization, or should they be dispersed by extensive delegation throughout all levels of management? (Schermerhorn, Jr. , 2011, p.251) Centralization refers to the degree of authority for decision making at the upper levels of an organization, decentralization is the distribution of authority for decision making to the lower-level employees. Generally, small firms or company that started off in the hands of a founding family often use centralized organizational structure. Each conception offers pros and cons for the organization. Carlsberg Malaysia is a decentralized organization. The top management offers the employees authority to make decision as they are closer to the problem and they have more detailed knowledge and experiences about it so that they can act more quickly to give solution to the problem. For example, Carlsberg Malaysia offers their sales department adequate authority on choosing what method to promote the new product rather than enforce them to promote in traditional ways. Decentralized structure takes some burden of day-to-day non-important problem solving off the top management, so they are left free to put more effort on their strategic planning, higher-level decision making and important financial decisions. Moreover, decentralization provides low-level employee with crucial experience in making decision. With this experience, they would be well prepared to act decisively after they are promoted into higher-level positions. Formalization Nowadays, employees are expected to deal with the same input in exactly the same way and provide a consistent output. This is a highly formalized organizations expectation. As indicated by Robbins Coulter (2012), formalization refers to how standardized an organizations jobs are and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. When formalization is high, the organization offers specific job descriptions, many organizational rules, and clear work processes. Conversely, in a low formalized organization, the employee will have more freedom in how they do their work. To make a more flexible working environment, Carlsberg Malaysia tends to become low formalized organization although formalization is needed for consistent control. Rules may be too restrictive in some situations. Thus, they give the employees sufficient independence to make decisions that they feel the best under the circumstances and would not affect the organizations reputation. However, it does not mean the employees do not need to obey the organizational rules and regulations since there will be some important staff policies such as not to use company computer to view social network like Facebook. Employee satisfaction will be increase by working in this freedom and positive working environment and employee turnovers rate will be reduced. Conclusion A well-organized internal structure is important for every organization to operate and run their business. Additionally, the size of the organization indicate the degree of work specialization, departmentalization, span of control, chain of command, centralization and decentralization and formalization required. Therefore, the management of Carlsberg Malaysia need to determine which structure will be the most effective for them.

Oliver Twist :: essays research papers

Oliver Twist By: Charles Dickens Oliver Twist provides insight into the experience of the poor in 1830s England. Beneath the novel’s raucous humor and flights of fancy runs an undertone of bitter criticism of the Victorian middle class's attitudes toward the poor. Oliver is a near perfect example of the hypocrisy and venality of the legal system, workhouses, and middle class moral values and marriage practices of 1830s England. As a child, Dickens endured the harsh conditions of poverty. His family was imprisoned for debt, and Dickens was forced to work in a factory at age twelve. These experiences haunted him for the rest of his life. The misery of his childhood is a recurrent theme in his novels. Oliver Twist expresses the unfortunate situation of the orphaned child. Oliver suffers the cruelty of hypocritical workhouse officials, prejudiced judges, and hardened criminals. Throughout the novel, his virtuous nature survives the unbelievable misery of his situation. Oliver's experiences demonstrate the legal silence and invisibility of the poor. In 1830s England, wealth determined voting rights. Therefore, the poor had no say in the laws that governed their lives, and the Poor Laws strictly regulated the ability to seek relief. Since begging was illegal, workhouses were the only sources of relief. The workhouses were made to be deliberately unpleasant in order to discourage the poor from seeking their relief. The Victorian middle class assumed that the poor were uncontroleable due to their state of nature and immorality. Since the poor had no voting rights, the State chose to recognize their existence only when they commited crimes, died, or entered the workhouses. Dickens' Oliver Twist is one sympathetic portrayal among dozens of vicious, stereotypical portrayals of the poor. However, Dickens himself exhibits middle class prejudice. He reproduces the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes in Fagin, the "villainous old Jew." The portrayal of Noah Claypole, the dirty charity boy, reveals some of the stereotypes of the poor that Dickens criticizes.

McDonaldization

Weber viewed bureaucracies as such a powerful form of social organization that he predicted they would come to dominate social life.   He called this process the rationalization of society, meaning that bureaucracies, with their rules, regulations, and emphasis on results would increasingly govern our lives.   Sociologist George Ritzer (2006) see the thousands of McDonald’s restaurants that are in the United States and more and more around the globe as having much greater significance than simply convenience of burgers and shakes. McDonaldization is defined as the process of how the principle of the fast-food restaurant is coming to take over more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the globe.   Ritzer holds that predictability, calculability and control over people through the replacement of human and non-human technology are the elements behind Weber’s formal rationality. Ritzer compares the fast-food restaurant with the home-made meal, and finds it to be more expensive and less pleasant.   You could also compare it to the traditional cuisine restaurant.   By comparison fast-food restaurants are obviously cheaper, more informal and more accessible to more people.   In such a comparison the fast-food restaurants may be seen as a kind of democratization of the restaurant services. And it is certainly something that Americans see as predictable, calculable and having control over society. Fast food restaurants have replaced the social interaction that was once a tradition of Mom staying home to cook and all sitting down to eat at a certain time (and usually when Dad had come home from work after a long day at work).   Now with the two parents working family the fast food restaurant has helped bureaucracies to expand and develop the twenty-four hour society.   The growth of the fast-food industry has also been one of the factors both enabling and resulting in the growth of female out of the home paid employment. According to Ritzer the credit car is the most important American icon, because it is a means to obtaining other American icons.   Ritzer uses the credit card as a window to get a better view of American society and culture, it expresses something about America.   It speeding planting around the globe gives other cultures and societies an American express or appearance.   Through the use of the cards other cultures, according to Ritzer, are Americanized. Through the credit card has it good points, Ritzer focuses on the darker side and attendant problems such as consumerism and debt, fraud, invasion of privacy, rationalization and homogenization in the shape of Americanization.   The money economy is associated with a temptation to imprudence and a resulting risk of overspending and going deeply into debt.   According to Ritzer, both the intangibility of money and the swiftness of transactions increase with the use of credit cards.   As a result credit cards will lead to even greater levels of imprudence. The author shows that credit card debt has become the most common form of financial liability in the U.S.   Even though the risks of imprudence are more or less intrinsic to the cards he also blames the credit card industry for luring people even deeper into debt problems.   Ritzer lays out the malaise of the American consumer society, criticizing the credit card companies for their exploitative conduct and the American government for their unwillingness to regulate industry and to give consumers adequate protection. Reference: Ritzer, G. (2006).   McDonaldization: The Reader.   New York: Sage Publication.    McDonaldization McDonaldization was a term originated by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1995). In this book, he described the process through which a society takes shape the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. For Ritzer McDonaldization displayed a rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. In his theory,   Max Weber displayed the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, through this Ritzer saw the fast-food restaurant to become a more representative contemporary paradigm. According to Ritzer there were four main components of McDonaldization. This he described to be efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. In efficiency he described the optimal method for accomplishing a task. Here Ritzer pertained to the best method that would help you reach the efficiency of reaching the fastest method to get from point A to point B. This is being displayed in your typical McDonald’s customers set up; that the fastest way to get from being hungry to being full is to eat at McDonald’s. In Calculability Ritzer showed that the main objective should be quantifiable which can be displayed through sales rather than subjective for example taste. In the rise of McDonaldization, it developed the notion that quantity should be equal to quality. This sprung from the typical goal of a business enterprise to serve a large amount of goods to deliver to its customer in a short amount of time. It was interpreted that this should be the same as high quality goods. This generally gave the people the impression that of how much they’re getting verses how much they’re paying in purchasing goods. Through this organizations want consumers to believe that they are getting a larger amount of goods for a smaller amount of money. Thus workers in these organizations also can be judged by how fast they are in production instead of the quality of work they do. Predictability – standardized and uniform services. In describing predictability Ritzer pertained to the predictability and uniformity of receiving the same service and receiving the same goods every time a person purchases anything at any â€Å"McDonaldized† organization. It is also reflected in the performance of the workers in those said organizations. Each person and organization is tasked to maintain a level of highly repetitive, highly routined, and predictable tasks. In control Ritzer showed the display of standardized and uniform employees, which was the replacement of human by non-human technologies. Through this each â€Å"McDonalized† organization is in control of it operations very carefully to achieve the predictable goals it set for itself. These four processes shows a strategy which is rational within a narrow scope but can also lead to outcomes that are harmful or irrational. In Ritzer’s book, the process of McDonaldization can be summarized as the way in which â€Å"the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world.† (Ritzer, 1996). Through this it is manifested how society is being shaped through the principles being set to us by the standards and values of the popular fast food chain called McDonald’s. It was not only through the domination of the McDonalds food chain can we attribute the McDonaldization of society, it is by how the trend of the McDonalds phenomenon of success where in we can see the reflection why such food chain has given such a large impact to society. In McDonaldization that the pattern of being set by the popular fast food chain McDonald’s is not being restricted to the domain of the fast-food market. It is even quite evident in the modernizing society that this wave of McDonaldization can be seen in the manifestations of the supermarket. It is now evident that supermarkets has now come be the replacement for the corner store and has since itself been superseded by all sorts of hypermarkets. In the world of entertainment video shop chains and Disneyland are can display McDonaldization. While in the arena of healthcare it has been also noticeable how house doctors has been irretrievably replaced by a much more streamlined, effective, all-encompassing, but, alas, also a much more impersonal system of health care. In the world of printing press, the American nationwide newspaper USA Today is sometimes referred to as McPaper (Ritzer, 1996, p. 7). This paper exemplifies how the news can be perfected through its presentation of the current events in a standardized manner, this way it is more easily digestible for the readers. This way a very specific and easily recognizable layout, and shorter pieces with no continuation of reports on later pages, as well as a number of other measures, can ensure absolute predictability and thus efficiency. Just as much as tomorrow's Big Mac in LA will be the same as yesterday's in New York, so much will USA Today live up to your expectations. â€Å"USA Today gives its readers only what they want. No spinach, no bran, no liver.† (Ritzer, 1996, p. 76) Probably, one of the most notable and important institution that was McDonalized should be the domain of higher education. Initially, we could only begin to imagine ho shocking implications of McDonaldization can pose to us and our kids. Despite that, this is exactly what McDonaldization poses to our students having that grade point averages and the ranking of institutions, giving us trends of modernized education. It is predictability is a clear manifestation that even our education system has been McDonalized through time in modernization. Through this efficiency is more and more accomplished by means of multi-choice tests and even more, by standardized textbooks and preset tests that accompany them. Modernization of the education arena is clearly making our students lose a personal and cultural touch in the spheres of learning specially when it comes to discussions of history, culture and heritage. Specifically in the context of the creation and distribution of scientific information, the ever-present spectre of â€Å"publish or perish† must be mentioned. One can hardly overemphasize the detrimental effects such policies, founded as it’s in a paradigm of quantification, has on the quality of the information disseminated in scientific journals. While the efficiency in the aspect of the different spheres of society being imposed by McDonaldization can be advantageous to man kind, I think the McWorld is being taken into to many levels by most institutions that we are revolving around today. While it may be true that a McDonald’s happy meal is an efficient way to satisfy one’s hunger, I believe we are slowly but surely losing touch of the original nutritional value that can be manifested in the cultural degradation which is evident all around the world in the manifestation of the new wave of globalization. These days it the cultural display amongst younger people of different races and religions can barely be seen as the youth is now packaged in to one technological generation where in culture can only be displayed by one standardized McMTV generation where the genre has been set by pioneers of the entertainment industry. Negative manifestations can be seen through this as the youth has now set a trend of detachment to the world around them. The rampant display of violence and sex in media doesn’t help at all as escalating levels of juvenile delinquency is now more evident in the lifestyle of today’s youth. The consumer culture is now at a wide spread like wild fire catching ablaze all that is in sight in one quick round. It is true that the McDonaldization is evident in society today. Its fast domination of the world is not only amuzing but more alarming if you ask me. Different organizations across the globe is now in a totally different level of competitiveness that they begin to lose touch of the goals and mission while focusing on how to cope with the wave of coping with the big player of each modernized and changing Mcfield of the world that is now crossing barriers of culture religion and any differences that used to divide the world for both good and bad reasons. While it is a good concept that the world can be united as one, unfortunately now Mcdonaldization is dividing it more in ways that can be irepairable as we now lose touch of our personal individuality in the mass scale of Mcpattenting each person to be one big global market. Ritzer was right that the world was being Mcdonalized, what we can only hope for now is that this trend wont get big enough for our lives to be turned into packaged happy meals because that way we lose touch of so many important levels of our individuality that we should appreciate and embrace in our daily lives. References: Ritzer, G. (1996). The McDonaldization of Society. Revised ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Pine Forge. 265p. Alfino, M.,Caputo J., & Wynyard R. (1996). McDonaldization Revisited: Critical Essays on Consumer Culture, Westport: Praege

Child care Essay

Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role MY RESPONSIBILITIES – To create a safe, happy, positive, stimulating, Multicultural learning environment in which children can be. Also To meet the children’s individual needs, appropriate to their stage and level of development. Making sure to be involved in the setting up and clearing away at the start and end of each session as required. To be involved in my key groups activities and the planning, to ensure that what the children are playing with is safe to use and age appropriate. To communicate with parents/careers is the correct manner. 1. Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards Practitioner’s expectations should be to become a valuable practitioner, to be reliable and build good relationships with children and parent carers, encouraging play whilst learning, and by having children’s best interests e.g. physical activities, outings, this would help them to enjoy their growth in knowledge and assist in enhancing their development as a whole. Also practitioners should work as a team with other staff members and parent/carers in order to support the children to promote the children’s initial learning so that the children will feel confident and would be able boost up their self-esteem, and this will also help them in their future, and prepare them in further education when they move onto school. Also the expectations that are to be done in placement at a relevant standard is to supervise the children this plays a big role in child protection Act and health and policy. Practitioners should always watch the children closely to prevent and red uce the injury to children. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided Reflective practice is imperative in order to ensure that high standards are kept continuously as circumstances, children and environments change. In order to reflect one must continuously be aware of approaches used and how they can be changed or developed to improve. Continually improving and adapting approaches benefits both children and practitioners, ensuring that each individual child’s needs are catered for. Reflective practice involves evolving in a child centred approach. The childcare benefits as his/her skills grow and develop, enabling the highest standards of care and provision. It also promotes a better level of understanding and acceptance of those different from us, taking on board the opinions, cultures and attitudes of others to ensure a diverse and positively productive daily experience that enables higher levels of understanding from all. 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect working practice everyone has different values, beliefs and preferences. What you believe in, what you see as important and what you see as acceptable or desirable is an essential part of who you are. The way in which you respond to people is linked to what you believe in, what you consider important and what interests you. You may find you react positively to people who share you values and less warmly to people who have different priorities, the professional relationships you develop with people you support are another matter. As a professional, you are required to provide the same quality of support for all, not just for those who share views and beliefs. This may seem obvious but knowing what you need to do and achieving it successfully is not the same thing. The first step is to identify and understand you own views and values. 3.1 Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards 4.1 Identify sources of support for planning and reviewing own development 5.1 Evaluate how learning activities have affected practice The reasons why it is important to evaluate learning activities are: †¢ To see what is working and what needs removing or changing. †¢ To assess how the activities are being delivered and how they could be improved †¢ To see how the activities are being received by the participants Evaluation is important as it helps out when planning and helps you to think about the learning that has taken place. Spending time going through the learning activities and seeing how students have responded to a certain question, can really help reshape it for the future classes. It is also important to look back and learning objects so you can measure what the children have learned. If you do not think carefully about learning objectives at the planning stage, it will not always be possible to evaluate whether children have achieved them.

The Progressivity of Health Care Finance

The Progressivity of Health Care Finance The Progressivity of Health Care Finance One of the main objectives of millennium development goals was to have universal healthcare services to everyone in the world at a cost that is affordable. This responsibility was laid on governments of various countries for implementation. This noble idea was to ensure that cases where people die not because of the complexity of the diseases they suffer from but because of their inability to pay for the hospital services are eliminated.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Progressivity of Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Various governments around the world have tried to come up with policies to help ensure that this goal is realized. However, Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S27) say that realization of this goal has remained a challenge to many governments. The costs of healthcare services are very high, especially due to the instruments and type of med ication that some ailments require. Efforts have been made to ensure that most of the diseases can be treated at costs that are affordable to the poor. The policy is always meant to protect the poor from being unable to access healthcare services because of the increased costs. The government of the United Kingdom is one of the many governments that have tried to achieve this millennium development goal by ensuring that healthcare services are affordable to every citizen of this country. Progressive health care finance has been considered as the most appropriate way through which this goal can be achieved. Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S56) say that healthcare services have remained very expensive, and someone must bear the cost. For the poor to be in a position to access hospital services without paying the exorbitant fee that these services cost there must be a way that the cost will be paid by others who are in better position to pay for these services. This must happen in or der to avoid a scenario where the government is forced to foot these bills. It is upon this that the progressive health care finance has been introduced in this country and many other countries around the world. As the name suggests, this health care finance is progressive in nature based on the earnings of the individuals. Those who earn higher salaries would be expected to pay more, while those with lower pay always pay a lesser amount towards this fund. The fund is always collected by the organ assigned by the government specifically for this purpose. Many countries have established National Health Insurance to be responsible for this task. This body acts as an insurance scheme where people are allowed to pull together towards financing the health of every citizen of the country. The rationale in this case is that not everyone will fall sick at the same time. For this reason, those who are of good health, which is always the majority, will health in contributing towards payment o f the few who are hospitalized.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The policy has worked in many countries around the world. However, it has also met a number of challenges in its implementation. Some people have complained why they are forced to pay more simply because they are earning more while when they go for these services they get the same treatment. They consider their effort not to be commensurate to what they get when they visit these facilities for healthcare services. Critics have also faulted this policy as being communist in nature and that it encourages laziness. One group of the society are forced to work very hard in order to pay for health services of another group who may be paying either too little amount of money or none at all. This is seen as transferring the burden of one group to another group. Others have criticized this program as not being all inclusive. They say that people can easily avoid contributing to this scheme because there are no mechanisms set in place to help monitor the informal sector. Those working in the informal sector and without a set wage rate can easily abuse this scheme by paying lesser fee or not paying at all, claiming that there were no earnings in that particular period. Despite these challenges, this idea has massively helped improve health of the citizens of this country. The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world that has come closest to achieving this millennium development goal with the help of this scheme. This scheme has been an umbrella that covers the cost of every citizen of this country irrespective of their financial status. This has seen most of the killer disease which were common in this country about two decades ago completely eliminated. These services has helped offer standard healthcare to all. Although the rich may consider going for private hospitals wher e the services could be a little better than those offered by government at subsidized fee, the poor can now get treatment from government hospitals without worrying the amount of fee they will have to pay for the service. It is the wish of the government to improve its health services to all the citizens, and for this to be realized, there must be an increased amount of money to cater for the improved services. It is on this basis that the government developed this progressive health care finance. Those who earn more money would help improve the services of the hospitals by paying more to this scheme. The society has come to appreciate the importance of this policy, and the resistance it received when it was first introduced has gradually disappeared. As Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S87) say, the policy has seen the country develop excellent healthcare facilities for the nationals of this country. In other countries such as the United States, this policy has been very helpful in ensuring that the health care service offered to the people is affordable.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Progressivity of Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More How Can the Government Influence Health Behavior Decisions According to Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S87), most of the health complications are always borne out of the behavior of people and the decisions they make in line. This scholar says that the kind of health one has is always directly related to the kind of lifestyle one leads. For instance, smoking or excessive taking of alcohol is a lifestyle that is common in this country, especially among the youth. No one is always born a drunkard. It is a behavior one picks up as one grows. Similarly, smoking is always a decision made by individual, and in most cases, people start smoking when they are past adolescent stage. This means that the behavior is acquired when one is an adul t which is an age where one is trusted to be able to make decisions that are rational. At early stages of life, these people are subjected to various forms of education which point out to them the fact that smoking or excessive drinking of alcohol is harmful to their health. They know that some ingredients in a cigarette are dangerous to their health, but they ignore all these and engage in chain smoking that has direct impact to their health. Currently, HIV/AIDS is a pandemic all over the world. Although the problem is not as serious in the United Kingdom as it is in other countries, there has been a worrying trend in this country within the past one year where the rate of infection has been considered to be on the rise. The government statistics do not come out clearly to demonstrate this because some of the victims would prefer their identity to be unknown and therefore, go to private hospitals where their demands would be respected. Obesity is also becoming an issue to worry abo ut. As Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S116) note, there has been an increasing cases of obesity in this country over the past few years. Obesity comes with various health complications, and if not well addressed, an individual can develop a series of diseases that can have serious negative effect to their health. The decision to embrace a certain behavior is always made by an individual. For instance, it would be the decision of an individual to engage in irresponsible sexual behavior that may expose him or her to infectious decisions. It is also the decision of an individual to become obese due to irresponsible diets and lack of exercise. However, after acquiring diseases related to their irresponsible behavior, it ceases to be their personal problem. It now becomes a family and a societal problem. Such an individual may not be able to work, and he or she would need the health care services offered by the government. They will need support from the society to overcome their heal th complication, and the government will be expected to play a role in elevating their status. It is therefore, a fact that no decision can be said to affect the maker.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is true that the maker may bear the greatest impact, but this impact will spread to other members of the society and finally to the government. For this reason, government has all the right to influence this behavior because it is one of the stakeholders who may be negatively affected by some of the consequences of this behavior. The government plays are very important role in ensuring that the health behavior decisions of its citizens are influenced in a way that would put them into lesser risk. The following graph shows some of the behavior that may put an individual into health risks. Some of the Behavioral Factors that Puts an Individual at Health Risk Source: (Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao 2009, p. S72) It is clear from the graph above that there are some behavioral factors that put an individual at risk, and therefore, must be regulated by the government. Smoking is one of the leading causes of lung cancer among other health complications. In order to deter or discourage this be havior, the government has been increasing tax on this commodity. This has seen its price go up. The government has also introduced a law that prohibits sale and consumption of cigarettes and alcohol to individual below the majority age. In order to curb reckless driving which is also listed as one of the factors leading to health complication, the government has developed strict traffic laws, and the enforcement agency has been very swift in ensuring that this law is not violated. However, as Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao (2009, p. S132) say, these laws are very important in deterring individual from engaging in these behavior, but this may not change their thinking towards their habits. These scholars say that the best approach to deal with this issue is to make the society believe that these decisions they make, and the kind of behavior they engage in have direct impact on their health, the social well-being of their loved ones and to the government. They must appreciate the importance of desisting from these behavioral factors. Their main reason of avoiding this behavior should not be because of the law, but should be because of their own conscience. The law will always remain on paper, and once it is not appreciated by people, it implementation can be a big challenge. However, when people appreciate it, they will defend it, a fact that will help enhance positive behavior. The government should therefore, engage in civic education. It should make the society appreciate the need to avoid some behavior. This education should be started in schools and colleges before it is rolled out to their entire public using the media. Grossman Model of Demand for Health (Increasing Food Prices and Wages) Grossman model of demand for health is based upon the premise that health is always determined by various factors and medical care is just one of them. Some of these factors include the work environment, the social class, and employment status, housing conditions, income, heat ing, diet, education and lifestyle. These factors have varying weight and in order to determine their importance, there should be an understanding of possible links that exist between the resources, the behavioral factors and health. Grossman model holds that individuals value health and they are always willing to allocate their resources in order to produce health (Wagstaff, Yip and Hsiao 2009, p. S97). This model gives a detailed analysis of health economics, and how different factors play off in the production of health. According to this model, although people value health so much, it has not been given top priority by the populace. This explains the reason why people still drive recklessly, smoke, have poor diets and drink excessive alcohol despite the knowledge that they are dangerous to their health. In this section, the focus will be on two factors which are the increase in prices and wages as discussed in this model. Changes in Wage Rates According to this model, changes in the wage rates have direct impact on production of health. This model considers health as a product that is produced at a cost. This cost will be incurred by people through their contributions. The contribution can be in the form of the National Health Insurance Fund or a direct contribution made through the private health institutions. The amount of resources that people will be willing to commit towards this production process is always dependent on the wage rate of the people. If people earn more, they will be able to pay more towards this production because of their increased disposable income. The graph below helps in demonstrating this fact. Source: (Wagstaff, Yip, Hsiao 2009, p. S41) According to this fact, health stocks are dependent on health capital. For this reason, an increment in wage rate (W) increases returns on healthy days. This would make the optimum level of health (H) to be higher. It is also important to note that investment into production of health needs ti me as an input. This has an effect of increasing the overall cost of production of health. Balancing these factors of production will help in ensuring that the product is delivered at a cost that is relatively affordable to all. Inflationary Food Prices According to this model, food prices have direct impact on the production of health. This takes place in two fronts. The first front is on the kind of diet that individuals will be forced to contend with in cases where the prices become inflammatory. As was discussed above, health starts from what one eats. Healthy eating is part of producing a healthy society. This is demonstrated in the graph below. Source: (Wagstaff, Yip, Hsiao 2009, p. S46) When the prices of food items become too high, individuals will be forced to contend with poor diets because of their reduced purchasing power. This factor will increase chances of diminished health conditions. The second factor is on the ability of the people to pay for the production of he alth. This model holds that an increase in prices of products has the same effect as reduced income. This is because the same amount that was used in financing production of health products will not be enough. This means that the budget will be constrained as the focus will shift from production of health to other factors considered more basic. Reference Wagstaff, A, Yip, W, Hsiao, W 2009, Equity in the finance of health care: some further international comparisons. Journal of Health Economics, vol. 18. no.3 pp. S1-S156.

Oil and Gas How Both Affect the Economy essays

Oil and Gas How Both Affect the Economy essays The economy is affected by many factors that determine if it is strong or weak. These factors have to do with buyers consuming goods and services and at what rate they do this. Do the goods and services that are consumed by people created wealth, jobs and a better overall economy for a country. Throughout history some economies have evolved faster and stronger than others. Policies that the government places on industry, technology and the environment can all affect the prosperity of an economy. Of the factors that affect economic growth the industry of Oil and gas is one that holds a stronghold in the world's and America's economy today. When evaluating the economic growth factor of economy and specifically oil and gas on must consider the following questions: What relationship does the factor have with the whole economy? How does this factor affect economic growth Is the factor a cause or effect of economic growth? what would the economy be like if there were significant problems with this factor? What relation does a central bank have to this factor? I will answer each of these questions in respect to how economy is affected by oil and gas. The economy in the United States today is greatly affected by oil and gas. When there are large reserves and an increase of active drills in respect to oil, the economy seems to receive a boost. This is because prices for such things like gas and oil fall and people are able to consume more gas at a lower price. There is more supply and prices fall, therefore people save money on gas and can consume other items in the economy. People working in these industries have more job openings and more jobs filled, therefore creating a lower unemployment rate and a higher national per capita income. The need for substitutes are not there so, consumers will consume oil and gas at a growing rate. Since, people use oil and gas for so many different things like heating there homes, driving...

A Dirty Job Chapter 10

– Dag Hammarskjà ¶ld 10 DEATH TAKES A WALK Mornings, Charlie walked. At six, after an early breakfast, he would turn the care of Sophie over to Mrs. Korjev or Mrs. Ling (whoever’s turn it was) for the workday and walk – stroll really, pacing out the city with the sword-cane, which had become part of his daily regalia, wearing soft, black-leather walking shoes and an expensive, secondhand suit that had been retailored at his cleaner’s in Chinatown. Although he pretended to have a purpose, Charlie walked to give himself time to think, to try on the size of being Death, and to look at all the people out and about in the morning. He wondered if the girl at the flower stand, from whom he often bought a carnation for his lapel, had a soul, or would give hers up while he watched her die. He watched the guy in North Beach make cappuccinos with faces and fern leaves drawn in the foam, and wondered if a guy like that could actually function without a soul, or was his soul collecting dust in Charlie’s back ro om? There were a lot of people to see, and a lot of thinking to be done. Being out among the people of the city, when they were just starting to move, greeting the day, making ready, he started to feel not just the responsibility of his new role, but the power, and finally, the specialness. It didn’t matter that he had no idea what he was doing, or that he might have lost the love of his life for it to happen; he had been chosen. And realizing that, one day as he walked down California Street, down Nob Hill into the financial district, where he’d always felt inferior and out of touch with the world, as the brokers and bankers quickstepped around him, barking into their cell phones to Hong Kong or London or New York and never making eye contact, he started to not so much stroll, as strut. That day Charlie Asher climbed onto the California Street cable car for the first time since he was a kid, and hung off the bar, out over the street, holding out the sword-cane as if charging, with Hondas and Mercedes zooming along the street beside him, pas sing under his armpit just inches away. He got off at the end of the line, bought a Wall Street Journal from a machine, then walked to the nearest storm drain, spread out the Journal to protect his trousers against oil stains, then got down on his hands and knees and screamed into the drain grate, â€Å"I have been chosen, so don’t fuck with me!† When he stood up again, a dozen people were standing there, waiting for the light to change. Looking at him. â€Å"Had to be done,† Charlie said, not apologizing, just explaining. The bankers and the brokers, the executive assistants and the human-resource people and the woman on her way to serve up clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at the Boudin Bakery, all nodded, not sure exactly why, except that they worked in the financial district, and they all understood being fucked with, and in their souls if not in their minds, they knew that Charlie had been yelling in the right direction. He folded his paper, tucked it under his arm, then turned and crossed the street with them when the light changed. Sometimes Charlie walked whole blocks when he thought only of Rachel, and would become so engrossed in the memory of her eyes, her smile, her touch, that he ran straight into people. Other times people would bump into him, and not even lift his wallet or say â€Å"excuse me,† which might be a matter of course in New York, but in San Francisco meant that he was close to a soul vessel that needed to be retrieved. He found one, a bronze fireplace poker, set out by the curb with the trash on Russian Hill. Another time, he spotted a glowing vase displayed in the bay window of a Victorian in North Beach. He screwed up his courage and knocked on the door, and when a young woman answered, and came out on the porch to look for her visitor, and was bewildered because she didn’t see anyone there, Charlie slipped past her, grabbed the vase, and was out the side door before she came back in, his heart pounding like a war drum, adrenaline sizzling through his veins like a hormonal ti lt-a-whirl. As he headed back to the shop that particular morning, he realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he’d never felt so alive. Every morning, Charlie tried to walk in a different direction. On Mondays he liked to go up into Chinatown just after dawn, when all the deliveries were being made – crates of produce, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, melons, and a dozen varieties of cabbage, tended by Latinos in the Central Valley and consumed by Chinese in Chinatown, having passed through Anglo hands just long enough to extract the nourishing money. On Mondays the fishing companies delivered their fresh catches – usually strong Italian men whose families had been in the business for five generations, handing off their catch to inscrutable Chinese merchants whose ancestors had bought fish from the Italians off horse-drawn wagons a hundred years before. All sorts of live and recently live fish were moved across the sidewalk: snapper and halibut and mackerel, sea bass and ling cod and yellowtail, clawless Pacific lobster, Dungeness crab, ghastly monkfish, with their long saberlike teeth and a sin gle spine that jutted from their head, bracing a luminous lure they used to draw in prey, so deep in the ocean that the sun never shone. Charlie was fascinated by the creatures from the very deep sea, the big-eyed squid, cuttlefish, the blind sharks that located prey with electromagnetic impulses – creatures who never saw light. They made him think of what might be facing him from the Underworld, because even as he fell into a rhythm of finding names at his bedside, and soul vessels in all manner of places, and the appearance of the ravens and the shades subsided, he could feel them under the street whenever he passed a storm sewer. Sometimes he could hear them whispering to one another, hushing quickly in the rare moments when the street went quiet. To walk through Chinatown at dawn was to become part of a dangerous dance, because there were no back doors or alleys for loading, and all the wares went across the sidewalk, and although Charlie had enjoyed neither danger nor dancing up till now, he enjoyed playing dance partner to the thousand tiny Chinese grandmothers in black slippers or jelly-colored plastic shoes who scampered from merchant to merchant, squeezing and smelling and thumping, looking for the freshest and the best for their families, twanging orders and questions to the merchants in Mandarin, all the while just a second or a slip away from being run over by sides of beef, great racks of fresh duck, or hand trucks stacked high with crates of live turtles. Charlie was yet to retrieve a soul vessel on one of his Chinatown walks, but he stayed ready, because the swirl of time and motion forecast that one foggy morning someone’s granny was going to get knocked out of her moo shoes. One Monday, just for sport, Charlie grabbed an eggplant that a spectacularly wizened granny was going for, but instead of twisting it out of his hand with some mystic kung fu move as he expected, she looked him in the eye and shook her head – just a jog, barely perceptible really – it might have been a tic, but it was the most eloquent of gestures. Charlie read it as saying: O White Devil, you do not want to purloin that purple fruit, for I have four thousand years of ancestors and civilization on you; my grandparents built the railroads and dug the silver mines, and my parents survived the earthquake, the fire, and a society that outlawed even being Chinese; I am mother to a dozen, grandmother to a hundred, and great-grandmother to a legion; I have birthed babies and washed the dead; I am history and suffering and wisdom; I am a Buddha and a dragon; so get your fucking hand off my eggplant before you lose it. And Charlie let go. And she grinned, just a little. Three teeth. And he wondered if it ever did fall to him to retrieve the soul vessel of one of these crones of Chronos, if he’d even be able to lift it. And he grinned back. And asked for her phone number, which he gave to Ray. â€Å"She seemed nice,† Charlie told him. â€Å"Mature.† Sometimes Charlie’s walks took him through Japantown, where he passed the most enigmatic shop in the city, Invisible Shoe Repair. He really intended to stop in one day, but he was still coming to terms with giant ravens, adversaries from the Underworld, and being a Merchant of Death, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for invisible shoes, let alone invisible shoes that needed repair! He often tried to look past the Japanese characters into the shop window as he passed, but saw nothing, which, of course, didn’t mean a thing. He just wasn’t ready. But there was a pet shop in Japantown (House of Pleasant Fish and Gerbil), where he had originally gone to buy Sophie’s fish, and where he returned to replace the TV attorneys with six TV detectives, who also simultaneously took the big Ambien a week later. Charlie had been distraught to find his baby daughter drooling away in front of a bowl floating more dead detectives than a film noir festival, and after fl ushing all six at once and having to use the plunger to dislodge Magnum and Mannix, he vowed that next time he would find more resilient pals for his little girl. He was coming out of House of PFG one afternoon, with a Habitrail pod containing a pair of sturdy hamsters, when he ran into Lily, who was making her way to a coffeehouse up on Van Ness, where she was planning to meet her friend Abby for some latte-fueled speed brooding. â€Å"Hey, Lily, how are you doing?† Charlie was trying to appear matter-of-fact, but he found that the awkwardness between him and Lily over the last few months was not mitigated by her seeing him on the street carrying a plastic box full of rodents. â€Å"Nice gerbils,† Lily said. She wore a Catholic schoolgirl’s plaid skirt over black tights and Doc Martens, with a tight black PVC bustier that was squishing pale Lily-bits out the top, like a can of biscuit dough that’s been smacked on the edge of the counter. The hair color du jour was fuchsia, over violet eye shadow, which matched her violet, elbow-length lace gloves. She looked up and down the street and, when she didn’t see anyone she knew, fell into step next to Charlie. â€Å"They’re not gerbils, they’re hamsters,† Charlie said. â€Å"Asher, do you have something you’ve been keeping from me?† She tilted her head a little, but didn’t look at him when she asked, just kept her eyes forward, scanning the street for someone who might recognize her walking next to Charlie, thus forcing her to commit seppuku. â€Å"Jeez, Lily, these are for Sophie!† Charlie said. â€Å"Her fish died, so I’m bringing her some new pets. Besides, that whole gerbil thing is an urban myth – â€Å" â€Å"I meant that you’re Death,† Lily said. Charlie nearly dropped his hamsters. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"It’s so wrong – † Lily continued, walking on after Charlie had stopped in his tracks, so now he had to scurry to catch up to her. â€Å"Just so wrong, that you would be chosen. Of all of life’s many disappointments, I’d have to say that this is the crowning disappointment.† â€Å"You’re sixteen,† Charlie said, still stumbling a little at the matter-of-fact way she was discussing this. â€Å"Oh, throw that in my face, Asher. I’m only sixteen for two more months, then what? In the blink of an eye my beauty becomes but a feast for worms, and I, a forgotten sigh in a sea of nothingness.† â€Å"Your birthday is in two months? Well, we’ll have to get you a nice cake,† Charlie said. â€Å"Don’t change the subject, Asher. I know all about you, and your Death persona.† Charlie stopped again and turned to look at her. This time, she stopped as well. â€Å"Lily, I know I’ve been acting a little strangely since Rachel died, and I’m sorry you got in trouble at school because of me, but it’s just been trying to deal with it all, with the baby, with the business. The stress of it all has – â€Å" â€Å"I have The Great Big Book of Death,† Lily said. She steadied Charlie’s hamsters when he lost his grip. â€Å"I know about the soul vessels, about the dark forces rising if you fuck up, all that stuff – all of it. I’ve known longer than you have, I think.† Charlie didn’t know what to say. He was feeling panic and relief at the same time – panic because Lily knew, but relief because at least someone knew, and believed it, and had actually seen the book. The book! â€Å"Lily, do you still have the book?† â€Å"It’s in the store. I hid it in the back of the glass cabinet where you keep the valuable stuff that no one will ever buy.† â€Å"No one ever looks in that cabinet.† â€Å"No kidding? I thought if you ever found it, I’d say it had always been there.† â€Å"I have to go.† He turned and started walking the other direction, but then realized that they had already been heading toward his neighborhood and turned around again. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"To get some coffee.† â€Å"I’ll walk with you.† â€Å"You will not.† Lily looked around again, wary that someone might see them. â€Å"But, Lily, I’m Death. That should at least have given me some level of cool.† â€Å"Yeah, you’d think, but it turns out that you have managed to suck the cool out of being Death.† â€Å"Wow, that’s harsh.† â€Å"Welcome to my world, Asher.† â€Å"You can’t tell anyone about this, you know that?† â€Å"Like anyone cares what you do with your gerbils.† â€Å"Hamsters! That’s not – â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Asher.† Lily giggled. â€Å"I know what you mean. I’m not going to tell anyone – except Abby knows – but she doesn’t care. She says she’s met some guy who’s her dark lord. She’s in that stage where she thinks a dick is some kind of mystical magic wand.† Charlie adjusted his hamster box uncomfortably. â€Å"Girls go through a stage like that?† Why was he just hearing about this now? Even the hamsters looked uncomfortable. Lily turned on a heel and started up the street. â€Å"I’m not having this conversation with you.† Charlie stood there, watching her go, balancing the hamsters and his completely useless sword-cane while trying to dig his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He needed to see that book, and he needed to see it sooner than the hour it would take him to get home. â€Å"Lily, wait!† he called. â€Å"I’m calling a cab, I’ll give you a ride.† She waved him off without looking and kept walking. As he was waiting for the cab company to answer, he heard it, the voice, and he realized that he was standing right over a storm drain. It had been over a month since he’d heard them, and he thought maybe they’d gone. â€Å"We’ll have her, too, Meat. She’s ours now.† He felt the fear rise in his throat like bile. He snapped the phone shut and ran after Lily, cane rattling and hamsters bouncing as he went. â€Å"Lily, wait! Wait!† She spun around quickly and her fuchsia wig only did the quarter turn instead of the half, so her face was covered with hair when she said, â€Å"One of those ice-cream cakes from Thirty-one Flavors, okay? After that, despair and nothingness.† â€Å"We’ll put that on the cake,† Charlie said. A Dirty Job Chapter 10 – Dag Hammarskjà ¶ld 10 DEATH TAKES A WALK Mornings, Charlie walked. At six, after an early breakfast, he would turn the care of Sophie over to Mrs. Korjev or Mrs. Ling (whoever’s turn it was) for the workday and walk – stroll really, pacing out the city with the sword-cane, which had become part of his daily regalia, wearing soft, black-leather walking shoes and an expensive, secondhand suit that had been retailored at his cleaner’s in Chinatown. Although he pretended to have a purpose, Charlie walked to give himself time to think, to try on the size of being Death, and to look at all the people out and about in the morning. He wondered if the girl at the flower stand, from whom he often bought a carnation for his lapel, had a soul, or would give hers up while he watched her die. He watched the guy in North Beach make cappuccinos with faces and fern leaves drawn in the foam, and wondered if a guy like that could actually function without a soul, or was his soul collecting dust in Charlie’s back ro om? There were a lot of people to see, and a lot of thinking to be done. Being out among the people of the city, when they were just starting to move, greeting the day, making ready, he started to feel not just the responsibility of his new role, but the power, and finally, the specialness. It didn’t matter that he had no idea what he was doing, or that he might have lost the love of his life for it to happen; he had been chosen. And realizing that, one day as he walked down California Street, down Nob Hill into the financial district, where he’d always felt inferior and out of touch with the world, as the brokers and bankers quickstepped around him, barking into their cell phones to Hong Kong or London or New York and never making eye contact, he started to not so much stroll, as strut. That day Charlie Asher climbed onto the California Street cable car for the first time since he was a kid, and hung off the bar, out over the street, holding out the sword-cane as if charging, with Hondas and Mercedes zooming along the street beside him, pas sing under his armpit just inches away. He got off at the end of the line, bought a Wall Street Journal from a machine, then walked to the nearest storm drain, spread out the Journal to protect his trousers against oil stains, then got down on his hands and knees and screamed into the drain grate, â€Å"I have been chosen, so don’t fuck with me!† When he stood up again, a dozen people were standing there, waiting for the light to change. Looking at him. â€Å"Had to be done,† Charlie said, not apologizing, just explaining. The bankers and the brokers, the executive assistants and the human-resource people and the woman on her way to serve up clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at the Boudin Bakery, all nodded, not sure exactly why, except that they worked in the financial district, and they all understood being fucked with, and in their souls if not in their minds, they knew that Charlie had been yelling in the right direction. He folded his paper, tucked it under his arm, then turned and crossed the street with them when the light changed. Sometimes Charlie walked whole blocks when he thought only of Rachel, and would become so engrossed in the memory of her eyes, her smile, her touch, that he ran straight into people. Other times people would bump into him, and not even lift his wallet or say â€Å"excuse me,† which might be a matter of course in New York, but in San Francisco meant that he was close to a soul vessel that needed to be retrieved. He found one, a bronze fireplace poker, set out by the curb with the trash on Russian Hill. Another time, he spotted a glowing vase displayed in the bay window of a Victorian in North Beach. He screwed up his courage and knocked on the door, and when a young woman answered, and came out on the porch to look for her visitor, and was bewildered because she didn’t see anyone there, Charlie slipped past her, grabbed the vase, and was out the side door before she came back in, his heart pounding like a war drum, adrenaline sizzling through his veins like a hormonal ti lt-a-whirl. As he headed back to the shop that particular morning, he realized, with no little sense of irony, that until he became Death, he’d never felt so alive. Every morning, Charlie tried to walk in a different direction. On Mondays he liked to go up into Chinatown just after dawn, when all the deliveries were being made – crates of produce, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, melons, and a dozen varieties of cabbage, tended by Latinos in the Central Valley and consumed by Chinese in Chinatown, having passed through Anglo hands just long enough to extract the nourishing money. On Mondays the fishing companies delivered their fresh catches – usually strong Italian men whose families had been in the business for five generations, handing off their catch to inscrutable Chinese merchants whose ancestors had bought fish from the Italians off horse-drawn wagons a hundred years before. All sorts of live and recently live fish were moved across the sidewalk: snapper and halibut and mackerel, sea bass and ling cod and yellowtail, clawless Pacific lobster, Dungeness crab, ghastly monkfish, with their long saberlike teeth and a sin gle spine that jutted from their head, bracing a luminous lure they used to draw in prey, so deep in the ocean that the sun never shone. Charlie was fascinated by the creatures from the very deep sea, the big-eyed squid, cuttlefish, the blind sharks that located prey with electromagnetic impulses – creatures who never saw light. They made him think of what might be facing him from the Underworld, because even as he fell into a rhythm of finding names at his bedside, and soul vessels in all manner of places, and the appearance of the ravens and the shades subsided, he could feel them under the street whenever he passed a storm sewer. Sometimes he could hear them whispering to one another, hushing quickly in the rare moments when the street went quiet. To walk through Chinatown at dawn was to become part of a dangerous dance, because there were no back doors or alleys for loading, and all the wares went across the sidewalk, and although Charlie had enjoyed neither danger nor dancing up till now, he enjoyed playing dance partner to the thousand tiny Chinese grandmothers in black slippers or jelly-colored plastic shoes who scampered from merchant to merchant, squeezing and smelling and thumping, looking for the freshest and the best for their families, twanging orders and questions to the merchants in Mandarin, all the while just a second or a slip away from being run over by sides of beef, great racks of fresh duck, or hand trucks stacked high with crates of live turtles. Charlie was yet to retrieve a soul vessel on one of his Chinatown walks, but he stayed ready, because the swirl of time and motion forecast that one foggy morning someone’s granny was going to get knocked out of her moo shoes. One Monday, just for sport, Charlie grabbed an eggplant that a spectacularly wizened granny was going for, but instead of twisting it out of his hand with some mystic kung fu move as he expected, she looked him in the eye and shook her head – just a jog, barely perceptible really – it might have been a tic, but it was the most eloquent of gestures. Charlie read it as saying: O White Devil, you do not want to purloin that purple fruit, for I have four thousand years of ancestors and civilization on you; my grandparents built the railroads and dug the silver mines, and my parents survived the earthquake, the fire, and a society that outlawed even being Chinese; I am mother to a dozen, grandmother to a hundred, and great-grandmother to a legion; I have birthed babies and washed the dead; I am history and suffering and wisdom; I am a Buddha and a dragon; so get your fucking hand off my eggplant before you lose it. And Charlie let go. And she grinned, just a little. Three teeth. And he wondered if it ever did fall to him to retrieve the soul vessel of one of these crones of Chronos, if he’d even be able to lift it. And he grinned back. And asked for her phone number, which he gave to Ray. â€Å"She seemed nice,† Charlie told him. â€Å"Mature.† Sometimes Charlie’s walks took him through Japantown, where he passed the most enigmatic shop in the city, Invisible Shoe Repair. He really intended to stop in one day, but he was still coming to terms with giant ravens, adversaries from the Underworld, and being a Merchant of Death, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for invisible shoes, let alone invisible shoes that needed repair! He often tried to look past the Japanese characters into the shop window as he passed, but saw nothing, which, of course, didn’t mean a thing. He just wasn’t ready. But there was a pet shop in Japantown (House of Pleasant Fish and Gerbil), where he had originally gone to buy Sophie’s fish, and where he returned to replace the TV attorneys with six TV detectives, who also simultaneously took the big Ambien a week later. Charlie had been distraught to find his baby daughter drooling away in front of a bowl floating more dead detectives than a film noir festival, and after fl ushing all six at once and having to use the plunger to dislodge Magnum and Mannix, he vowed that next time he would find more resilient pals for his little girl. He was coming out of House of PFG one afternoon, with a Habitrail pod containing a pair of sturdy hamsters, when he ran into Lily, who was making her way to a coffeehouse up on Van Ness, where she was planning to meet her friend Abby for some latte-fueled speed brooding. â€Å"Hey, Lily, how are you doing?† Charlie was trying to appear matter-of-fact, but he found that the awkwardness between him and Lily over the last few months was not mitigated by her seeing him on the street carrying a plastic box full of rodents. â€Å"Nice gerbils,† Lily said. She wore a Catholic schoolgirl’s plaid skirt over black tights and Doc Martens, with a tight black PVC bustier that was squishing pale Lily-bits out the top, like a can of biscuit dough that’s been smacked on the edge of the counter. The hair color du jour was fuchsia, over violet eye shadow, which matched her violet, elbow-length lace gloves. She looked up and down the street and, when she didn’t see anyone she knew, fell into step next to Charlie. â€Å"They’re not gerbils, they’re hamsters,† Charlie said. â€Å"Asher, do you have something you’ve been keeping from me?† She tilted her head a little, but didn’t look at him when she asked, just kept her eyes forward, scanning the street for someone who might recognize her walking next to Charlie, thus forcing her to commit seppuku. â€Å"Jeez, Lily, these are for Sophie!† Charlie said. â€Å"Her fish died, so I’m bringing her some new pets. Besides, that whole gerbil thing is an urban myth – â€Å" â€Å"I meant that you’re Death,† Lily said. Charlie nearly dropped his hamsters. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"It’s so wrong – † Lily continued, walking on after Charlie had stopped in his tracks, so now he had to scurry to catch up to her. â€Å"Just so wrong, that you would be chosen. Of all of life’s many disappointments, I’d have to say that this is the crowning disappointment.† â€Å"You’re sixteen,† Charlie said, still stumbling a little at the matter-of-fact way she was discussing this. â€Å"Oh, throw that in my face, Asher. I’m only sixteen for two more months, then what? In the blink of an eye my beauty becomes but a feast for worms, and I, a forgotten sigh in a sea of nothingness.† â€Å"Your birthday is in two months? Well, we’ll have to get you a nice cake,† Charlie said. â€Å"Don’t change the subject, Asher. I know all about you, and your Death persona.† Charlie stopped again and turned to look at her. This time, she stopped as well. â€Å"Lily, I know I’ve been acting a little strangely since Rachel died, and I’m sorry you got in trouble at school because of me, but it’s just been trying to deal with it all, with the baby, with the business. The stress of it all has – â€Å" â€Å"I have The Great Big Book of Death,† Lily said. She steadied Charlie’s hamsters when he lost his grip. â€Å"I know about the soul vessels, about the dark forces rising if you fuck up, all that stuff – all of it. I’ve known longer than you have, I think.† Charlie didn’t know what to say. He was feeling panic and relief at the same time – panic because Lily knew, but relief because at least someone knew, and believed it, and had actually seen the book. The book! â€Å"Lily, do you still have the book?† â€Å"It’s in the store. I hid it in the back of the glass cabinet where you keep the valuable stuff that no one will ever buy.† â€Å"No one ever looks in that cabinet.† â€Å"No kidding? I thought if you ever found it, I’d say it had always been there.† â€Å"I have to go.† He turned and started walking the other direction, but then realized that they had already been heading toward his neighborhood and turned around again. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"To get some coffee.† â€Å"I’ll walk with you.† â€Å"You will not.† Lily looked around again, wary that someone might see them. â€Å"But, Lily, I’m Death. That should at least have given me some level of cool.† â€Å"Yeah, you’d think, but it turns out that you have managed to suck the cool out of being Death.† â€Å"Wow, that’s harsh.† â€Å"Welcome to my world, Asher.† â€Å"You can’t tell anyone about this, you know that?† â€Å"Like anyone cares what you do with your gerbils.† â€Å"Hamsters! That’s not – â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Asher.† Lily giggled. â€Å"I know what you mean. I’m not going to tell anyone – except Abby knows – but she doesn’t care. She says she’s met some guy who’s her dark lord. She’s in that stage where she thinks a dick is some kind of mystical magic wand.† Charlie adjusted his hamster box uncomfortably. â€Å"Girls go through a stage like that?† Why was he just hearing about this now? Even the hamsters looked uncomfortable. Lily turned on a heel and started up the street. â€Å"I’m not having this conversation with you.† Charlie stood there, watching her go, balancing the hamsters and his completely useless sword-cane while trying to dig his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He needed to see that book, and he needed to see it sooner than the hour it would take him to get home. â€Å"Lily, wait!† he called. â€Å"I’m calling a cab, I’ll give you a ride.† She waved him off without looking and kept walking. As he was waiting for the cab company to answer, he heard it, the voice, and he realized that he was standing right over a storm drain. It had been over a month since he’d heard them, and he thought maybe they’d gone. â€Å"We’ll have her, too, Meat. She’s ours now.† He felt the fear rise in his throat like bile. He snapped the phone shut and ran after Lily, cane rattling and hamsters bouncing as he went. â€Å"Lily, wait! Wait!† She spun around quickly and her fuchsia wig only did the quarter turn instead of the half, so her face was covered with hair when she said, â€Å"One of those ice-cream cakes from Thirty-one Flavors, okay? After that, despair and nothingness.† â€Å"We’ll put that on the cake,† Charlie said.

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Budnet Bi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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