Trouble in the Citi

Mike Mayo and Uncle Vik are at loggerheads once again with Mayo insisting that Citi should take a writedown, or a loss on some $50 billion of “deferred-tax assets,” or DTAs. NRO is reporting that Uncle Vik is so upset with Mr. Mayo that he has been banned from access to any of Citi's top executives.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. Make of this next manager what you will. It could be a metaphor, just saying, that is all.

MOTW: Moribund Manager

Moribund Manager dresses primarily in black, reads Kafka and Camus for comic relief and rocks out to Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor. The atmosphere in his/her office can charitably be described as funereal and sightings of the grim reaper within the building cannot always be dismissed as apocryphal. Moribund Manager’s staff members have all put in for transfers, even if it means moving to Psycho Manager’s unit, because they correctly sense that remaining much longer within Moribund Manager’s purview will cause their careers to inexorably wither on the vine and expire.

Weekend Haiku

A poor box;
four or five pennies.
evening rain.

Issa (1763-1827)

Master Blaster (Jammin)

Taking a step back in time, here is a recording of Stevie Wonder's Master Blaster (Jammin).

"From the park I hear rhythms, Marley's hot on the box."

Enjoy the reggae sound and happy Friday!

Tick off TV writers at your own peril

I always suspected that this kind of thing went on, but here now is proof in this WSJ article about the sweet revenge of TV writers.

Zoltan Mesko

He seems like a fairly colorful guy. As a Dolphin fan I will surely be happy to see him take the field multiple times when we play the Patriots. It will mean we have stopped them and are getting the ball back.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. It was just a matter of time until management itself was outsourced or went electronic, so here is the electronic version.

MOTW: e-Manager

In the future staff will no longer have a physical manager on-site. Instead they will access e-Manager, a plethora of websites where they will log all the intricacies of their performance management cycle into pre-formatted web pages. They will then receive feedback from these cyber entities at an unspecified future date via automated emails based on algorithms no one understands.

Recourse will be addressed through a telephone hotline. When dialed an IVR answers and routes frustrated callers through a complex menu system to standardized automated solutions recorded in the voice of Boris Karloff. Any attempts to speak with an actual human are immediately banished to the “All our representatives are busy serving other customers, please hold” netherworld. This wasteland sentences the unfortunate caller to a repetitive Muzak rendition of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana until death results either from cranial implosion or sheer disgust, whichever comes first. This ensures that all complaints are solved via the initial call to the hotline, a statistic Senior Management tracks religiously.

Weekend Haiku

Awake at night-
the sound of the water jar
cracking in the cold.

Basho (1644-1694)

N'Dini

Time to jam with a little world sound. Here is N'Dini from Nickodemus. Enjoy and happy Friday!

A four second lesson

Well, not quite, but here is a trick from the deceased Alexis Bespaloff, ex-wine columnist for New York magazine and also the author of numerous wine books, most notably the “Signet Book of Wine,” to cool down a too warm glass of wine.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. This next manager is memorable in one's career by the void he/she created.

MOTW: Silent Manager

Constantly withholds information. Never speaks, only stares. Makes one doubt whatever one has previously said. Leaves one wondering about one’s self-worth.

Weekend Haiku

Wading through it
her feet muddied
the spring current.

Buson (1716-1783)

Penfolds

Lettie Teague of the WSJ meets with Peter Gago, head winemaker at the Australian winery and samples some of his wines, including Penfolds' flagship offering, Grange.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. Sigh, what can we say about this next manager except that we ran into too many of them in our career.

MOTW: Evil Manager

Sporting a lot of dark clothing, Evil Manager makes Darth Vader seem like one of Jim Henson’s innocuous Muppets by comparison. This manager is in place to do as much damage as humanly possible to as many people as possible.

Weekend Haiku

The cuckoo sings
to me, to the mountain,
to me, to the mountain.

Issa (1763-1827)

Save the Population

History's so strong... A recording of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Save the Population. Enjoy and happy Friday.

JetBlue flight attendants

They are more than just a pretty face.

Revenge can be very sweet sometimes

Granted, France imploded at the World Cup with their participation becoming a global fiasco, but the Irish still wonder what could have been.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means.Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. This next manager is either incredibly naive or insincere. Either way, it is not a good thing.

MOTW: Over-Praising Manager

Heaps praise on everyone ALL the time regardless of results, rendering said praise meaningless. Is big on handing out trinkets and cards with cloying messages. Begins most conversations with phrases like:

“Great Job D. You’re the best. Keep it up!”

“Excellent work X. You’re an asset to this company! We’re lucky to have you.”