Compensate this

So, Sunday was the last day of our fiscal half - our store was #3.  Our Success Sharing (bonus) has always been calculated on fiscal halves - we get 2 per year.  That is changing, however.  Now they're are calculating it on the quarter.  Our store was #1 for the quarter.  We're are going to get a big bonus... maybe.  From what I've heard this is just going to be for the quarter, not the half... so, what happened to the first quarter of 2018?  A 3 month bonus is going to be less than a 6 month bonus.  Oh, and we're going to be getting this 4 times a year, as long as the store makes plan (forecast, or budget, use the word of your choice). 
While some are dancing around like they were wearing their very expensive glee sneakers, I'm scratching my head.  You see, I read financials.  There's a growing trend  among corporations to treat frequent bonuses as part of an associates yearly compensation package, rather than as a 'bonus.'  This turns it into a payroll expense which, in turn, effects your yearly increase.  By using these 'bonuses,' companies will, in reality, reduce that expense.  It works like this:  Say your yearly increase amounts to $2000 and (if your store performs up to par) your bonus is $800.  They take that $800 and deduct it from the $2000 leaving you with an actual increase of $1200.  This is legitimized, in their minds, by saying it is now your responsibility for your store's sales.  Wall Street likes this approach.  Some stores will make out well, others will not.  What it really means is that a lot of people will get lower raises.
Oh, and in case you didn't hear me yesterday, I suddenly burst into loud, almost hysterical laughter.  Why?  A headline in the WSJ.  I was sitting next to our Customer Service Rep when my phone buzzed.  It does that with breaking news flashes.  To my amazement, I saw that Bob, in posting his Sunday Funnies, had revealed one of the cartoonists to be a Gypsy Fortune Teller.  This one right here:

Holy Shit!  The Idiot Jerk in the White House wants to have a 'sit down' with Iran.  Doesn't he remind you of the lowest form of life possible?  Anything for attention, for a chance to get his name in the headlines, to feed his ego.  My money says he'd eat a scumbag if he thought it would garner him headlines.  Like a washed up actor, he'll perform in anything for any price.

Heroes and shitheads

Well, when I got home from work last night I did a free weight workout - upper body.  The end result was Bojangles arms, you know?  Rubbery.  If I was from Pittsburgh, I'd say I had gum band arms.
And the Tour de France ended yesterday.  The winner:  Geraint Thomas was the winner from Team Sky, UK.  I'm glad he won.  I'm also glad this year's tour is over.  It as definitely not one of the best.  Right from the start there were issues.  Chris Froome should have withdrawn right from the start.  You see Chris tested positive for having twice the legal limit of an asthma medication in his blood.  Does Chris have asthma?  Let's just the Team Sky doctor gives him the prescription.  Protesters following him through out the entire race.  The wave signs.  The yelled angry words at him.  They spat on him.  If he and Team Sky thought he'd win a 4th Tour they were mistaken.  Did he possibly end his career?  Maybe.
There were serious crashes right from day one.  Oh, and Cannondale showed up in their hideously pink kits.  I like pink.  It's an aggressive color.  But no one should be riding in the Tour wearing Spandex from the Barbie cycling collection.
And then there were the farmers.  Evidently there is some way Brexit is going to effect the subsidies they receive.    In their minds the best way to bring attention to their plight, their most opportune method for gaining sympathy, would be to roll bales of hay onto the route in Stage 16 and stop the race.  What they actually accomplished, on the world stage, was to shit in their pants.  No one said... "oh, those poor farmers."  What they ended up with was a mini-riot... with tear gas.  Ils ont les tetes de merde.  Oh, and it seems they are now under investigation.
And yesterday, sometime in the morning I think, the Idiot Jerk in the White House tweeted out another threat to shut down the government if he didn't get his wall.  Holy Crap!  Didn't he sing this song before?  And fail?  Of course this isn't about building the wall.  Nope, his dimwitted base loves this shit.  And this shut down is supposed to occur in September, just before the mid-terms.  Whether you know it or not, this is 'the art of the deal.'  Oh... my... let's be scared.  He caved before, he'll cave again.  Empty threats.
I'll end with a pic of Lawson Craddock - from the Cannodale Team.  He crashed on stage one and broke his scapula.  And came in last place on the stage. 

A lot of cyclist would have dropped out.  He didn't.  He is a certified Lanterne Rouge - last place finisher.  He also did something wonderful along the way.  Lawson pledged $100, for every stage he finished, to help rebuild the velodrome in Houston he had rode in as a junior.  A little storm called Hurricane Harvey did a lot of damage.  So he rode, and finished every stage.  And along the way people started taking notice... and started donating to help his pledge.  By the time he rolled across the finish line in Paris yesterday, in last place, he had raised almost $200,000.  Can we talk about heroes?