Statler’s Rogue Valley Views

Oh, I don’t know, it’s just a phrase that gets to me when I hear it applied to citizens who speak out against the flow in local politics. So I Googled the phrase “‘Whiners and complainers’ citizens” and I got a great list of stuff.

Well, okay, to tell the truth the first search was for “Whiners and Complainers” by it self, without the word citizens involved. I got the following quote off a column by Chris Hoffman from the San Diego Daily Transcript

“Poorly performing employees (which account for many of the gripers and complainers) should have their deficiencies addressed and be put on a schedule for improvement or termination.”

Okay, “many of the gripers and complainers”? It would be nice to see some statistical analysis of that little statement. I also wonder about about the “gripers and complainers” among top management? How about the gripers and complainers complaining and griping about the gripers and complainers? Huh, how about that? Huh? Huh?

I read a little further down the column by Chris Hoffman and found out his bias, “Hoffman is the managing partner of the San Diego office of Fisher & Phillips LLP (www.laborlawyers.com), a national law firm that exclusively represents management in labor and employment matters. ” Okay, now I get it.

Nice piece by Peggy Morrow on “How to deal with gripers and complainers”

“One technique is to listen to the complaints. Use active listening techniques like eye contact and nodding to make the person feel that you are really listening. Constant complainers usually continue because they feel no one is listening. And remember in every complaint lies the seed of improvement.”

Nice discussion on Being Direct at Workforce Management

MajMike posted on 1/24/06: “Winers and complainers may be symptons of bigger problems in the org. I have found that ‘most’ people don’t complain just to complain. I agree that complaining can be contageous but that usually happens where management turns a blind eye to the situation or ‘blames’ it on a few malcontents. Ingore it and it won’t go away!”

mmeans posted on 1/24/06: “An attorney once told me, “If you have a problem that you want me to help you solve, don’t come to my office until you have three viable solutions; because if you haven’t thought of at least three solutions, you haven’t made any effort to resolve the problem yourself.” In the thirty years since then, I’ve found that to be sound advice. Might take that approach to challenge any employee raising a concern to take the initiative to be part of the solution.”

Now we get to the links from the Google search that included the word “citizens” with the phrase “whiners and complainers”.

Here’s a quote from aan article titled The Right Way to Save a Life by Harry Carter PhD at Firehouse.com

“That is my challenge to all of the whiners in society. Keep your lip zipped until you do something for your country, your state, or your community that earns you the right to shoot your mouth off. Sound a bit rough? Not really. A lot of really neat people have died, and continue to die, to gain and keep the freedoms which are taken for granted by far too many these days.”

I agree with Harry, in a way. The problem is that most of the people who I meet that think along these lines don’t stop to ask what people have done for their community, they just assume nothing has been contributed by the whiners. I especially like the people who think along these lines who don’t consider whether the whiner has ever been empowered to make changes in their community…that might even be the underlying cause of the whining. That said, I think I’d like Harry. It would be fun to chat with him in front of the barber shop…really!

I’m sure there’s more to be found, but for now this is the end of this report~!

I was working on the post about whiners and complainers and ran across the following in a transcript of a speech on Today’s Ethics Yield Tomorrow’s Behavior by Lynn Turner posted at the Security and Exchange Commission web site.

“One thing you have not heard from me today is a discussion about “Business Ethics”. That’s because the term ‘Business Ethics’ conveys to the public and our youth that in business we practice a lesser level of ethics than is acceptable in general. And that is not a perception we want to convey, for perceptions become reality. Business ethics becomes a slippery slope, a slow trickle. It is like the dam on a lake where I used to go boating. Ten years ago the engineers noted a deviation in the lakebed. A few years later a small leak was found below the dam. The one small leak turned into several and eventually a wetlands. Today, the lake is drained, and the dam undergoing major reconstruction.

And that is just what happens to those in business who choose to make just a minor deviation to fix the current problem. Your actions begin with a trickle that invariably turns into a burst dam. And at that time there will be only devastation for you, your family and those who you have hurt. So let’s not think in terms of business ethics, but only the highest set of ethical standards that we all should strive for.”

I did a google search in quotes for “How to get a stop sign” because a visitor to City Hall, not in my Ward but a Medford citizen, asked about his application for one. Two problems appeared from his issue…one, he wanted a stop sign to solve some particular neighborhood issue and, two, he never received notice that a hearing was scheduled to hear his request so he was unable to defend his request and it was denied.

It does seem sometimes that when a citizen or business asks for a service staff doesn’t always know to focus on the issue presented rather than the problem. As a result the applicant may get refused the solution to the problem presented but then not be informed that the issue presented may be resolved with a different solution.

In this case the citizen requested a stop sign and the application was denied because the department viewed the request as a traffic speed problem (for which, apparently, stop signs are inappropriate).

It may be, however, that other solutions would have been better. Perhaps a yield sign, or a bump, or heavier stripeing at the crosswalk.

So, my search on Google…it resulted in only a few results and the pertinent ones follow.

“Warrants for Stop and Yield Signs“at www.ci.mankato.mn.us

Because the STOP sign causes a substantial inconvenience to motorists, it should be used only where warranted. A STOP sign may be warranted at an intersection where one or more of the following conditions exist:

The following is from “ How To Get A Stop Sign“ at www.ci.mil.wi.us

Residents should know that stop sign requests are not automatically approved, and there is a process that each request must go through. The purpose of a stop sign is to determine right of way and not to regulate speed. The procedure is listed below:

First a traffic study is conducted on the intersection in question. If the intersection meets the minimum standards set by the Federal Mandate on Uniform Traffic Devices, the city will recommend that a sign be installed. If the intersection does not meet the standards, traffic control will not be installed.

You know, this is exactly the kind of stuff that needs to be on a City’s web site–easily located, alternatives given and with examples and contact numbers to call.

So, after publishing this message, I thought to myself, “Maybe I’ve stopped too soon. Maybe I could Google a shorter phrase, maybe ‘get a stop sign’”. You know what, that helped a lot.

Here’s a great story about stop signs from Denver…

How do I get a stop sign installed in my neighborhood?

“A school crossing may look dangerous for children to use, causing parents to demand a stop sign to halt traffic. As a result, a vehicle which had been a problem for 3 seconds while approaching and passing the intersection becomes a problem for a much longer period. A situation of indecision is created as to when to cross as a pedestrian, or when to start as a motorist. Normal gaps in traffic through which crossings could have been made safely no longer exist. An intersection which previously was not busy starts to look like a major intersection. It really is not; it just looks like it. It does not look safer, and it usually is not.”

That is a good site, lots of other info on stop signs.

Then I thought to Google “slow traffic down” and I got some good hits.

“SLOW DOWN” LAWN SIGNS from Traffic and Parking Control, Inc.

….. …..

By the way, they sell the signs.

answers.google.com actually had a well researched answer to this (I’ll have to check out answers.googlel.com more often in the future).