vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"Anyone who needs to DEMAND respect... hasn't *earned* it, and probably won't get it.  What he'll get instead is lip-service &amp; ass-kissing... stuff that *appears* to be ""respect"" but really isn't.  But, at the same time, you can't really ""be friends"" with employees... they're *not* their to be your ""friends"" (nor are they ""like-family"") -- that doesn't mean you cannot be ""friendly"" (i.e. civil &amp; courteous, even -- to a degree -- empathetic &amp; understanding) -- but there is a difference between being ""friendly"" and trying to make people into your ""friends"" (i.e. drinking buddies, etc).  So how do you EARN respect?  Start by being respectful -- give credit where it is due (and make sure you KNOW where it is actually *due* -- don't just give credit to the ass-kissers &amp; self-promoters).  Likewise, you can ""ASS-U-ME Authoritay"" --- or you can ""take on a role of RESPONSIBILITY &amp; ACCOUNTABILITY"" -- there is a world of difference between those two as well.  Of course -- within a ""family"" business -- you're going to have difficulties doing all of those things *unless* the current management has already established a ""culture"" that facilitates it.  Given your father's mixed statements (and the general tendency of ""family"" owned businesses -- and the fact that you are being promoted to a managerial role *primarily* because you ARE a member of the family) -- well, that seems somewhat unlikely."
This guy whines like a stepped on puppy.  While all his friends were out partying, he was having no fun building his business.  After all his workers go home and whoop it up, he's all alone at the office signing paychecks.  He sounds like some miserable SOB.  I own a business, I try to have fun doing it.  Obama's not going to stop me!  Actually, I try not to base decisions on growing the business on Washington, DC.  That'd truly be stupid.  I can make all the stupid decisions I need on my own.
That's because the only reason HR exists at all, *is to justify its own existence*. It is, in fact, the one division of a company you can completely get rid of, and the only effect it will have is to make the company run an awful lot better, and be much more efficient.  HR people are usually the most hated in any business. And for good reason.
"So this situation is fraud. -SumGuy: ""Hey Mr. Target employee can I use this to buy this.""  -Employee: ""Abso-fucking-lutely Sir"". The responsibility lies on the store, not the customer in this situation. Terms of service on things like coupons are not LAWS, they are terms a company is telling you they will accept. For this Company to then accept it makes these people a few bucks richer, not criminals. The customers did not lie or hide what they where doing, and the company accepted it. Good on em I say."
Walmart's success is built on the backs of these so called low skill workers. Last time I checked Walmart was making huge profits every quarter so maybe the people who are doing all of the hard work deserve a living wage. Also there are several trained skills Walmart employees have. For example to work in produce and the deli you have to be trained in safe food practices. A Walmart employee also has to have time management skills. Employees are often are assigned multiple tasks in several departments. Also the computer systems must be learned. If I handed you a telzon I doubt you would be able to check to see if an item was in stock and if it wasn't how to order a new one. Also anyone can be a cashier but can anyone be a fast efficient cashier. You are also putting your body at risk especially when you are tasked with unloading trucks or stocking shelves. Several of my ex coworkers have work related injuries the most common are bad knees, backs, and shoulders. In short if every Walmart worker in the nation went on strike Walmart would find it impossible to find enough skilled workers to fill their rolls. Sure they could replace them easily but it would take months for the new employees to learn the necessary skills and while they are learning Walmart would have incredibly long lines and lots of unsatisfied customers.  In an unrelated note please excuse any spelling or formatting errors I am typing this on my phone.
That's probably the most healthy way to run a workplace I've ever seen -- and it shows.   Valve's employees are very happy, motivated, and loyal to the company. Valve consistently turns out high-quality products for not much more resources than their competitors. Valve is an innovator in their industry, and customers absolutely love Valve to death.
A business which is completely dependent on highly-skilled labor should /exactly/ construct its workflow to ensure that they keep that skilled labor. It's reason #1 in the article and it is a good reason to allow remote work.  I am close to IBM, I know it is hurting from this strict return to office work - they're too inflexible and have taken the rule too far.   They've simultaneously closed a huge number of offices so they are having serious problems filling dev roles now that they are only located in highly-competitive job markets.
&gt; Businesses aren't a charity - they pay for work and exist for profit. They aren't supposed to have feelings. So austerity and getting the most out of your employees causes the company to become lean and efficient.  I agree. That's why I require that my employees sleep at the office so they don't waste time driving back and forth. Much more efficient. Sadly, the Department of Labor disagrees, so its a no go until the lawsuit gets resolved. Goddamn guvermint regulation getting in the way of us job creators.   &gt; Canadians have been becoming more skeptical of Tim Hortons since before the buyout from Burger King and 3G. 3G didn't significantly change the values and product, they cut costs and made it a less cushy environment. The ill will toward Tim Hortons was not caused by 3G, as you suggested.  *cough* http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-class-action-1.4167739 *cough*.
I'm sure part of it is trusting the employees but the bigger thing as the amount of time (and cost) it takes to manage all that cash.  If they swipe a card - that's all it takes to collect the revenue, log the sale, manage the inventory, deposit the revenue, etc.
I think it's because you specifically provide business-related information and they use this information to build services that intuitively make sense. No realy surprises, no real ’they're doing **what** with my data?‘ moments.  Have to say they're job search stuff seems really good - I'm getting jobs popping up on my screen which are 80% things I'm interested in.
I disagree with you. Yes, employees should be helpful and eager to serve.  Customers should not come in rude or disrespectful, or try to bully low-level associates to try to get their way. This is a reminder to the customer to not be an ass. The customer is always right, but not really, and employees should have the right to refuse service if they are feeling harassed and threatened.
"&gt;You call me ""naïve"" for being concerned for my fellow man? How is that ""naïve""?   Being concerned for people isn't naive, it is naive to think slightly above minimum wage retail employees ever had a fighting chance. Unskilled/uneducated workers are always the first to go.  &gt;It simply makes me sad that all these humans will suffer.   But honestly, retail employees are at the lowest rungs of these issues and obviously the most at risk and always have been.  McDonalds would be hurting too if not for fast food being cheaper than whole food and America's addictiong to cheap fast food in large quantities.    &gt;That doesn't make me naïve - that makes me a decent human being.  You are naive to think these people ever had a chance to begin with. Their jobs depend on retail profitability which has been steady and now quickly declining.   What do you suggest? Welfare? Unemployment doles? Will that make society better off?    &gt;The fact that you are willing to call me names simply because I express concern for these people speaks for itself. The fact that I've been downvoted heavily for saying it speaks badly of the compassion of the people reading this subreddit.  Naive isnt a particularly nasty name, but perhaps I should call you gullible. It isnt about compassion as much as ignorance to the facts of life.  America used to be about limitless profit so bad business models survive.  But when your business model is based on zero sum profitability in an evolving retail world where Sears has NOT been an innovator and has instead lost marketshare to more innovative companies. It is naive and gullible to think the Sears' employees ever had a chance.  The good news is a $9/hr job is easier to find than a $100,000/year job. These Sears employees can go work at Khols or Panera Bread for very little loss in income."
Youre right, but I was not looking for a specific answer. I was just looking for anyone's opinion.   I was just surprised how so many of the responses are very simple and in my opinion misleading such as:  &gt;A role of a bank is to make bankers wealthy at the expense of its clients
&gt; if Toronto wasn't refusing to give special tax considerations, they might have had this in the bag.  Yes, but their reason for it is good. That is already built into everything.  You don’t pay for employee healthcare, there is low business taxes already, etc.  They are just putting a great opportunity out there for anyone and waiting to see who takes it.  If not Amazon, someone else will.  Google is already setting a major office near the proposed Amazon site.
The problem is I can't do anything with those morals. I can't grow my company with it, I can't pay my employees with it and I can't buy things with it.   You should he as moral as possible, but when you are so moral that you start making moral choices that just doesn't cost you money but can sink the company or increase the workload on your employees you've done an disservice to your employees.
"In no particular order: - Plumbers are not the kind of trade where advertising to end-customers is very effective. People don't generally write down phone numbers and keep track of them on the basis that ""I'll probably need a plumber some day, and I might never have any way to way to learn their phone number unless I write this down right now."" - References through other tradesmen are worth 10x as much as references through end-customers. Get a network of electricians and carpenters and HVAC guys referring to you, and vice-versa. - Especially in the early stages, do whatever it takes to make it right with every customer. A lot of tradesmen offer sloppy low-ball estimates to get the business, and then get stuck explaining why the bill is 3x higher. Nobody is ever going to give you a positive review or referral in that situation. - Forget about your hourly rate and focus on building the business, even if it means losing money on some jobs. Employees get paid by the hour, owners get paid based on satisfied customers. You will make some mistakes in the beginning. Plan to eat them. Eventually, you will make less mistakes, and will learn to price variability into the job. - Don't work with impossible customers, but do whatever it takes to keep lucrative customers happy. A lot of tradesmen get this completely wrong. 20% of your customers will produce 80% of your profits, usually. Do whatever it takes to keep them happy, and avoid the customers who want 80% of your business but who produce 0% profit. - Don't be a dick. Give good customers clear and fair estimates, and tell them where and how you are charging a markup. Don't pick a fight if the guy up the road is charging less, and don't give the customer shit for not knowing how to compare quotes. Show them the meaningful difference in your estimate, explain to them why it's not worth your time to match lowball quotes for junk work, and let them make the decision. - Do every job right. This is something that pays off in the long-run, exponentially. If you can't do it right, don't take it.
Wal Mart, as capitalists are wont to do, will start by making a decent deal with employees (not make it mandatory, decent $) and will end up having people driving 10 miles out of their way for less than the costs of the employee, and use it as a cudgel to get raises and advancement.  Never trust a corporation. They are sociopaths, you know, since they are people in this greedy assed country and all.
Haha -- you are wrong about that. Companies that outsource keep the high paying good jobs in the USA because 1. They know the business 2. They speak perfect English 3. They know American culture well, which sorta helps a lot in America
That is exactly how the insurance companies work. What you described here falls under P/L. If you are buying insurances you are betting that you might get sick. Same as when insurance companies sells you insurance they are betting that you won't get sick. No one will sell you insurance if you are oreads sick. That's why you have government to take of you. Of course there are pools of healthy and unhealthy people. The healthier the better for the company. No one is in it to loose money.
Facebook is primarily a Business-to-business (B2B) company. This means that their customers are other businesses. The vast majority of Facebook's income is selling advertising to businesses.  Someone once said something about the online services business model that I thought was brilliant. If you aren't paying for the service, then you aren't the customer, you are the product. When you use Facebook, you are not really one of the customers of Facebook; instead, Facebook is selling your attention to advertisers.  Facebook probably sells a few things directly to consumers, such as games, but the majority of their business is B2B.
You sell any investment because you need to do something else with the money -- rebalance your investments, buy something, pay off a debt....
"I went to a B&amp;N the other day to buy the best selling non-fiction book of all time that was being promoted on the radio/TV/etc.... and of course they were out of it.  When I asked the guy why they wouldn't have the most popular thing at their store (like milk at a grocery store or something). He said, ""Yeah, it's usually in high demand so we don't have it."" Great way to run a company!! Stock your shelves full of the unpopular stuff and never order enough of the HIGHEST SELLING BOOKS OF ALL TIME!  Can't wait for the box stores to go down."
Cable companies that sell internet access realize that high speed internet enables high speed TV distribution that bypasses cable.  Cable companies  (which operate as de facto monopolies) don't want competition for the highly lucrative and powerful TV distribution business and therefore use whatever dirty tricks they can come up with to frustrate both internet at higher speeds and internet provided by any other entities.  They know it's ultimately a losing battle but they'll remain obstinate for as long as they can.
&gt;  the west needs to make massive gains every year short term and if the choice is screw the consumer or build loyalty  This isn't the fault of the system - it's a result of the dotcom creating irrational greed over capital gains. Once upon a time a company could be large and *not* have massive growth every year, so long as they had consistent profits. People bought their stock for the dividends, to share in the profits, and any capital gains were just gravy.   The way the market is running now is a ponzi scheme - when a company has a billion shares valued at $50, you can never actually **get** $50B by selling the stock. As stock is sold, the price will drop - only the first people to sell get that price.
"It's easy to sell things when you have a panicking misinformed and ignorant viewer base. The sky is falling because obama is a socialist muslim fascist commie, the dollar is going to collapse!!! Now a word from our sponsors cash for gold and investment companies.  Ads really do work though  http://news.illinois.edu/news/12/0119junkfoodbans_KathyBaylis.html  They don't make the sale, but they plant the idea. The next time you need, the first thing that comes to your mind will be what you've been given more exposure to and sounds familiar. The brain is not great at remembering ""source"" information for things that are not of interest but it still remembers. When you have a choice between product A or product B, you will choose the one that sounds more familiar. You will not remember if you think it sounds more familiar because of a friend recommendation or because of an Ad you heard passively 3 weeks ago. Incidentally, this is how politics work as a whole. The most familiar candidates almost always end up being the last to battle it out. People don't even consider or research the ones they hadn't heard of."
Yes, some companies sell personal data on their customers, but it almost always means a bad business due to reputation cost. The Financial Times even made a calculator to demonstrate how much personal information is worth: The sellers get pennies for the info, so that any decent business would earn more staying away from such dubious operations.
Retail companies selling their real estate holdings isn't uncommon and is actually pushed for by shareholders sometimes (see Macy's and Starboard Value). The fact that the CEO bought them seems unique but not necessarily means there was an issue. I would think that type of transaction would get a lot of scrutiny so would be surprised if he could pull off any fuckery. The disclosure seems like it might be a pretty standard disclosure known as a related party transaction that again isn't in and of itself an issue
Absolutely nothing, and it's not their call to make.  The shareholders will want to cut it into as many parts as they  can sell to recoup some of their lost investment. The judge will demand it even if they suddenly had a moral thought.  This will happen when this (and all those other companies) go under, refocuses priorities, or shuts down departments.
"&gt;Because selling gold and buying dollars has an effect on the market: it reduces the value of gold, and increases the value of dollars.  Ah, but with all the business you'd do in gold, you'd constantly be increasing the value of gold. Think of it!  I'm pretty sure that most people want to be paid in dollars not simply because of the fact that their taxes have to be paid in it, but because of it's universality. Not everyone has a use for a sack of barley, or a fish, or some gold dust. But you can buy whatever you want with an amount of dollars.   &gt;As the value of gold increases over time, the government taxes the increased value as ""capital gains tax"".  It's only taxed at a 15.5% rate, IIRC. You'd probably come out ahead."
As a customer I absolutely hate aggressive marketing . If a shop aggressively markets to me I avoid it - this is why I avoid [Shell](http://www.shell.com/) and [WHSmith](http://whsmith.com/) . It is also why I prefer to shop at [Morrisons](http://www.morrisons.co.uk/) rather than at [Tesco](http://www.tesco.com/) ( although I will use the machines there ) . And it is also why , as a corpoprate and as a personal buyer , after 15 years , I will no longer be buying Toshiba - their laptops now come infested with spyware and adware . I also pulled out of LinkedIn when they started spamming me repeatedly despite me saying no marketing emails . I also avoid getting my car serviced in the UK because of all the agressive marketing . I don't put my details on marketing lists - I keep very tight control of address details including email addresses and I use source based email addresses so I can easily cut out any offending party . Re, Ford - why does he \ they no longer sell just black cars ?! The companies that do their marketing well succeed very well . From what I have read [Steam](http://store.steampowered.com/) is one of these . We have a massive situation at the moment where many of the large corporations are having huge problems with getting sufficient sales - they are going the way of the dinosaurs . Part of this is that their customer base has been so impoverished that they can't afford to buy their products . But a large part of it is that they no longer supply the products , the price and the service that the customers are looking for . So customers look elsewhere and they get elsewhere - they find the products they want at a good price and with good service on the Internet and these are usually supplied by small and medium sized companies that are much more nimble . It's a case of bottom up progressive evolution winning over top down mass extinction events . There are a number of products that I have difficulty locating . One such range is men's clothes . The main stores don't stock what I am looking for .
"They wouldn't have a low price liquidation. ""Liquidator companies"" buy them, re-tag everything to make them appear to be deals, then put up signs like ""fire sale!"" all over. This happened with Circuit City most notably and with the internet, it was exposed and even mocked how fake and misleading the sell-off was. It was their swan song of rip-offs and they executed it perfectly...at first.     There is no liquidation sale. It was all just another campaign of behavioral economics to prime you into buying decisions."
"Reminds me of the company ""Buy-and-Large"" from the movie Wall-E.  As I recall, it was a giant corporation that sold everything.  Oh and it also ran the government.  I think it may have also tucked the overweight citizens into bed at night."
Most biotech companies do not have a product they are selling.   They have a set of possible drugs that they are developing.     If any of these drugs get proven to be better than the current drugs they can be sold at a great profit. Therefore as soon as a biotech company proves a drug candidate is likely to pass large scale trials the company is often taken over by a large pharmaceutical company and is therefore no longer listed on the stock market. So mostly profit comes after the company stops being listed, therefore the profit will be negative for most biotech companies that are publicly traded.
"Marketing, namely advertising (Facebook, Google ads, maybe magazines, etc.) Despite all the nice words about ""healthy, green, and socially responsible"", the business of this company (and many, many similar ones) is not ""providing information"". It's affiliate marketing - getting people to click through to retail sites and buy stuff, on which the company earns commissions (often they also get paid for registrations). In a very real sense, their product is customers. They sell paying customers to the retail sites, and before that, they basically have to buy ""raw customers"" through advertising. The times when you could rely on getting enough people to visit your website for free are largely over - there is too much competition for peoples' attention. They can only be profitable if they can get the raw customers cheap enough, and can convert enough of them to paying customers.  And this is really how it's talked about internally, in what is by now a highly organized industry: key performance measures are CPC (how much does it cost to get someone to come to your website), conversion rate (what percentage of visitors register) and ARPU (average revenue per user)."
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Sell half. If it's as volatile as you say, sell it all and buy on another dip. No one can really offer targeted advice based on the amount of information you have provided.