How to Protect Yourself in a Hotel

No I am not going into a litany on fire escapes. You know all about that. And like me you have probably been in a first floor room with a sliding glass door to the outside. The fire escape plans make no mention of the sliding glass door but does give you a diagram of the exact location of your room and does tell you to crawl in either direction in the hallway while carrying your key.

No this is a safety issue you may not have thought about.

Another figure from international finance has been arrested in New York City for sexual assault and kidnapping of a hotel housekeeper. This time at the Hotel Pierre in a $900 a day room. Two weeks ago the head of the IMF was arrested and is on house arrest pending trial. There is no need to discuss the ultimate end for either of these men. Guilty or innocent they are possibly both finished forever. So far Strauss-Kahn has lost his job and his future job as President of France. His defense and his house arrest is costing millions of dollars. If convicted he could die in prison.

A false accusation or even a misunderstanding can have serious consequences. There is a simple way to minimize risk of the accusation of assaulting a housekeeper in your hotel room.

Never be alone in your hotel room with a housekeeper.

I have spent many nights in hotels over the years. I use the do not disturb sign when I am in the room. I use the double lock. If there is a housekeeper near by when I leave I notify her that I am leaving. If I can sense that she may not speak English I have made enough noise while leaving that she can see that I am gone. I do not call room service to deliver anything. If there is a problem in the room I try to live with it and only report it when I am out of the room.

Real simple isn't it?

While conscious of the housekeeper why not leave a tip? They don't make much money and they have a tough life even when not fighting off arrogant old men. I leave $5 a day every day. Should it be more? I don't just leave the money by itself. The housekeepers are required to turn in whatever is left in the room. So I leave a note that says "Housekeeper." I put it on a chair in the middle of the room. No need to write a note. They often may not be able to read English. But they can see that I didn't just drop the money out of my pocket. Help protect them.

To See the Future for the U.S. Look at Greece Today

Below is a most unique aerial photo from Athens Greece of Syntagma on May 29, 2011. You may well have seen it. Crowds of protesters at Syntagma are a normal part of life in Athens. The makeup of this crowd is not the normal makeup. This time it is families with children and the elderly. Cuts have been made to the safety net and more cuts are coming. To understand where the United States is headed just watch Greece today. Greek bonds are at 50% of face value. Greece cannot borrow more money. More than 1,000 government agencies have been eliminated in the last three years. Pensions for civil servants and the elderly have been dramatically reduced. Yet this is a country with high income tax and a value added tax.

I am fortunate to be somewhat aware of how small business in Greece has adapted. I can help show American small business what it must do to survive the future. Some consultants have become angry at the solutions because they are so different from what they have known in the past. Many of the assumptions of the past do not hold true in a post-industrial, post-consumer, post-government benevolence society.

Unemployment or Disemployment

I enjoy reading Krugman even though I more often than not disagree with him. His statement today should cause a great deal of controversy and discussion."Learned helplessness" may be an important new term.

Krugman says: "As I see it, policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue: the more they fail to do anything about the problem, the more they convince themselves that there’s nothing they could do. And those of us who know better should be doing all we can to break that vicious circle."

A criticism of Krugman might be that there is bi-partisan support for not dealing with the jobs issue. Our society is going through some fundamental change. We are no longer in a products economy or a services economy.

There is going to be much more unemployment. Economics is forcing it. Government is going to take what they can. 

This morning I had a discussion with some folks about how communities will be working out ways to deal with increasing unemployment. As one example the grocery stores will agree to cut shopping hours. Sunday and night hours may well be eliminated. There also could be alternating week day closures due to supply shortages that will occur. Pay frequencies will be changing and shopping patterns will change. I remember working as a bag boy at a military commissary. GIs were paid once a month and shoppers would crowd the stores and leave with several carts of groceries to last for a month. We bag boys were paid just with tips for bagging, carrying to cars and unloading.

Many of us new economy strategists  are developing individual plans for cutbacks and productivity improvements. We are changing forms of organization, whole business models, and developing new strategies for survival. In some if not many cases the goal is not growth but survival with planned lower revenue. In one case this was done by "firing" some regular customers. Smaller numbers of employees will be earning more. Many products will go away and new product development will not be to continue creating new shampoos. Rather than state planning it will be market planning.

Why eat only what you kill yourself?

Today we learned that the founder of Facebook has set a challenge to only eat meat that he has killed himself. He started with a lobster and then has moved to a goat and a pig. Why is he doing this? He says that he likes to set challenges for himself. What is the challenge here?

Hasn't he set for himself an independence challenge? Doesn't he want to return to an earlier time when people took care of themselves for the basics of life?

The Amish  are noted for the things they give up and also for what seems to be hypocrisy and inconsistency among themselves. They do not like telephones but may have a neighborhood telephone outdoors for emergencies. They may use electricity for the milking machines but not have it in their homes. Why do they do this?

They do it to avoid breaking up family life and local community life. A telephone could remove personal visits. A car could mean travel away from a community.

I wonder if the founder of Facebook might challenge himself to avoid technology such as Facebook and email so that he could have real social interaction. He might meet his neighbors. He might find more meaning in life. He might slow down.