Financial statement of a company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial statement of a company - Essay Example When this is done, the company has the knowledge of whether it has the liquidity to settle any debts that are due. The financial statements are also important in determining the costs of productions and the selling rates. When this is done, then the company is able to determine the profit margins that it makes. This helps develop the land increase and the bottom line. The analysis of financial statements is also important in keeping track of the inventory. This is very important in knowing if you have enough inventories that can be used to meet all the sales that are projected. Knowing the total liabilities that are in relation to the total equity of the business is very important (Robinson, 2009). This is known as the debt to equity ratio and is very important to each and every business. With a well planned and organized financial statement, an analysis can be done to know the debt-to-equity ratio. This is one of the great benefits of financial statements. Last but not least, a well organized financial statement has the ability to help an organization keep track of its improvements over time. When financial statements are compared overtime, it can be used to spot any changes that affect the organization both positively and negatively. A financial statement is one of the most important tools that organizations and small businesses use in order to realize significant changes that are in their organization. This, in turn, helps the business and management strive to identify the strengths, the weaknesses and the relationships that exist in the business and the internal and external factors of the environment (Brigham, 2010). Question 2 Yes, managers should recommend business alternatives based on financial analyses. This is because most of the decisions that concern a business revolve about the finances of the business. So for a manager to come up with a recommendation on matters that affect the business, then they have to do a lot of analyses on the financial sta tements of the company since all the financial issues that a company has are recorded in its financial statement. It is, therefore, important that every decision that is to be made on the company has to be compared with the financial statements of the company. If recommendations are done without consideration of the financial statements of the company then there is a higher chance that the decisions made might have a negative influence on the company (Taylor, 1967). For any manager to make important decisions of a business, one must know the present values of the business. The present value is the total value that a given date has on future payments. This is important in evaluation of the investments risks of an organization. For every manager, knowledge and good analyses of the financial statement are important in getting to know the present value. These give the manager the value of each and every future investment. This can, in turn, help the manager make important decisions in a business. It is for this reason that financial statements are important in making key decisions for a company. If a manager has a good knowledge of the organization’s financial statements, then he is able to make important decisions today that will affect tomorrow. Without proper analysis, the manager might end up making decisions that will have an impact on the organization later in the life of the business. Therefore, every manager has to consider the analyses of the financial statements of the company before making any important decisions in a business (O’Regan, 2006). Questions 3 The value on any given date of a payment of the future that has been discounted to have a reflection on the time value of money and any other factors investments risk included is known as present value.

Public Administration and Management Essay Example for Free

Public Administration and Management Essay Introduction Public administration in Britain takes place through a variety of state agencies with varying histories, functions, as well as patterns of political control and accountability. These comprise the civil service; a large number of local bureaucracies serving an elective system of local government; another massive organization administering the National Health Service (NHS) and, under the acronym quango, a diverse range of organizations responsible for a assortment of administrative, consultative, advisory in addition to regulatory roles. In addition there is a compound of tribunals, inquiries, an ombudsman system and the judiciary, which together dispense administrative justice. The architecture of the modern state was drawn mainly in the nineteenth century, when the rising industrial bourgeoisie required a means of supporting the emerging capitalist economy. A number of major reports and Acts of Parliament offered blueprints for a competent and meritocratic modern civil service and the system of carefully managed municipalities. Reconstruction following the Second World War added a new layer to the modern state with the making of a inclusive welfare state, including the NHS, and the nationalization of a number of chief industries in the form of public corporations. From the 1980s an additional chapter was opened, as the post-war Keynesian beliefs were challenged in the rise of neo-liberalism under the government of Margaret Thatcher. The bureaucratic terrain was re-landscaped, part of a procedure distinguished as a hollowing out of the state (Rhodes 1994; 1997). Even though talk of reform had long featured on the political program, the public bureaucracies had established a renowned capacity to resist change. However, this time the thoughts were backed by resolute political will. A significant intellectual dynamic came from interpretation based on rational individuality under the name of public choice theory (Niskanen 1973). This was usually suspicious of public bureaucracies, which were seen as principally self serving. Much of the practical reform in structure and management was stirred by the model of the private sector, where it was reasoned that the restraint of the profit motive secured greater efficiency, effectiveness as well as economy. The oratory spoke of reinventing government (Osborne and Gaebler 1992); though to critics it emerged as abandoning government in an anti-statist crusade. A program of privatization cut sheathe through the state industrial sector while giving rise to a new generation of regulatory agencies. Much of the civil service was recast into a compound of agencies with a greater level of autonomy from the centre, and the collection of quangos began to grow as responsibilities for a variety of functions were transferred from the realm of elected local government. Indeed, processes of market testing as well as compulsory competitive tendering saw the stipulation of certain services passing from the state altogether and into the hands of the private sector. The arrival of a Labour Government in 1997 did little to stem the tide of change. Furthermore, this new government occasioned further seismic shifts through devolution to Scotland and Wales. Great Britain includes the nations of England, Wales and Scotland, while the United Kingdom extends the embrace to Northern Ireland. These cultural forms were recognized in an outline of administrative regionalism. For long this motivated little political feeling; only in Northern Ireland were separatist tensions felt. Nonetheless, during the 1980s, nationalist movements gathered speed in both Wales and Scotland; this sequentially generated some pressure towards English regionalism. Thus the state has been forced to concern itself with issues of territorial management and make some chief allowances to diversity (Thompson, 1997). Rooted in a history dating from the take-over of Ireland by the Tudors and re-conquest first by Cromwell and later by the Protestant William of Orange, Northern Ireland dwarfs all other territorial problems of UK Government. Coming to office in the year 1997, Tony Blairs first official journey was to Ulster and Sinn Fein was invited into new peace talks. After indirect negotiations, which included some mediation from US President Bill Clinton, an agreement was reached which included: A Northern Ireland assembly of 108 elected by PR with legislative powers under an all-party executive A North-South Ministerial Council to reflect on issues for instance cross-border co-operation The Irish Government to give up constitutional claims to Northern Ireland and Westminster to reinstate the Government of Ireland Act A Council of the Isles comprising members from the north and south of Ireland and the Scottish and Welsh assemblies There were also to be releases of prisoners in addition to a decommissioning of arms. The agreement was effectively put to referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic in May 1998. Elections were held, but advancement began to slow down. Scotland and Wales In the UK mainland, Wales and Scotland had been governed as provinces from London, with Secretaries of State in the Cabinet and Grand Committees in Parliament. Public administration in the provinces came under Whitehall outposts, the Welsh and Scottish Offices. Nonetheless, from 1979 an extremely centralizing government heightened a mood of separatism, placing strains on the veracity of the state which were to go off in tectonic constitutional shifts in 1998. The configuration of the two new assemblies was intended to release a safety valve on the separatist pressure. On the other hand, opinion polls began to show rising support for the SNP and its objective of complete Scottish independence in the background of the EU. Comparable murmurings were heard in Wales, a country that had done very fine from its European involvement (Jones 1997). Labor’s central machine showed an enthusiastic concern to have its chosen men as the leaders of the provincial parties (and hence first ministers in the assemblies) representing a keen aspiration to keep the provinces under the Westminster wing. Nonetheless, when the elections by the additional member system (dHondt version) to the new assemblies were held on 6 May 1999, the Labour Party, with 28 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd, and 59 of Scotlands 129-seat assembly, failed to win unconditional majorities in either province. A future of alliance government loomed. furthermore, with 17 seats in Wales and 35 in Scotland, the nationalists were second placed in both cases, possibly presaging further separatist pressure (Drewry, Butcher, 1991). England Devolution debate reverberated into England with requirements for regional independence. A political split was opening as from the early 1980s voting patterns gradually more revealed the Conservatives as a party of the southeast. past the ballot box an economic split yawned as huge deindustrialization and the collapse of mining confounded communities in the north. The economic forecasting organization, the Henley Centre, found per capita income in the south-east to be 20 per cent higher than in the rest of Britain (Wagstyl 1996). A European Commission report of November 1996 established that, while post-war economic revival had closed the poverty gaps between Western Europes states, wide dissimilarities remained between regions, the greatest being within the UK.   The British public sector, with numerous of its customs cast in the nineteenth century, has for long been criticized as managerially incompetent. The post-war era saw repeated efforts at reform all through the public sector, though few made any lasting notion before the 1980s. Ever since this time there has been something of a revolution as what was phrased a new public management movement became a familiar international influence (Hood 1991; Lowndes 1997). It was to send shivers to the very foundations of the state, reforming structures as well as practices. The nineteenth-century reforms recognized a custom of elitist generalism and social superiority in which Oxbridge graduates schooled in the classics were to lead the upper reaches of the state bureaucracy. This was to stimulate substantial post-war debate. The onset in office of a Labour Government in 1964 pledged revolution and the 1968 Fulton Committee set up by Harold Wilson criticized the cult of the amateur. It resulted in the formation of a Civil Service Department (CSD) in Whitehall to supervise managerial reforms all through the service, and the establishment of a Civil Service College to offer continuing operating training. One proposal which failed to stimulate was that entrants should hold relevant degrees: the place of the generalist administrator remained unassailed. In the 1990s, Richards (1996) initiated the generalists promotion prospects still significantly brighter than those of the specialist. In the interim, the Civil Service College had fallen well short of the determined position envisaged for it and the CSD had been ignominiously wipe out from the bureaucratic map. Not until Thatcher took the bit between her teeth did a grave breakthrough come. In her first year of office an Efficiency Unit was set up headed by Sir Derek Rayner of the retail giant Marks Spencer. He initiated a system of scrutinies in which competence teams studied recognized practices and suggested reforms, an initiative which achieved more than anything before (Hennessy 1990:619). Even so, the reforms did not go far enough for those of a fundamental bent. An even greater culture shock was to come when Robin Ibbs took over the Efficiency Unit and produced the 1988 report, Improving Management in Government: The Next Steps. This was the report which led to the recasting of the Civil Service as executive agencies. Despite its structural impact the intent in this initiative was essentially managerial (Elcock 1991:236-42). Once established, the new chief executives were given a free rein to introduce a wide range of management practices such as performance-related pay and short-term contracts in the quest for efficiency. A special unit was created in the Cabinet Office to maintain the reforming impetus. The government also assisted developments by abolishing the Northcote-Trevelyan model of centralized recruitment through the independent Civil Service Commission for some 95 per cent of appointments. Responsibility was to lie with the various departments and agencies themselves. A Recruitment and Assessment Service was created to offer central assistance if required although, amidst heated controversy, this itself was privatized in 1991. The result was a variety of terms and conditions of employment throughout the service. There were limits to the revolution. Government radicals had wanted the reforms to reach the senior mandarins, subjecting them to short-term contracts, market-testing and large-scale appointments from the private sector on the revolving-door principle. For most civil servants, anticipating a life insulated from the chill winds of the market economy, much of the managerial reform process was demoralizing. While academics in the right-wing think tanks applauded the changes, many other academic critics saw in the quest for efficiency serious threats to the fundamental public service ethos (Elcock 1991:188; Chapman and OToole 1995). There was some feeling that the reforms reflected governmental antagonism towards civil servants as much as a quest for improved management; the term deprivileging was sometimes heard. The Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee noted that in 1992/3,  £768 million worth of activities out of the  £1.119 billion subjected to market testing were contracted out without civil servants even being allowed to make in-house bids. The traditional management structure in local government entailed separate departments responsible for the provision of various services, each headed by a chief officer and responsible to a particular council committee. A legion of post-war critics saw this as slow, cumbersome and diffuse. A major debate in the 1960s concerned a corporate management model in which a powerful chief executive would displace the traditional town clerk to give strong leadership at the centre. Councilors, faced with a palpable loss of power, proved resistant and traditional practices persisted, although often under the camouflage of some changed nomenclature. New impetus came with the Thatcher regime and was elaborated under John Major (Kingdom 1999). Looking as always to the private sector, much was made of the concept of the enabling authority; the emphasis was not on the direct provision services but on contracting them out to the private and voluntary sectors. Such a practice was by no means new but, from the late 1980s, it became central to government policy, with compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) introduced for an ever-widening range of functions, from refuse collection to professional, legal and accounting responsibilities. A policy of care in the community, coming into force in April 1993, added impetus by requiring local authorities to make use of private and voluntary-sector residential homes for their widening community care responsibilities. In opposition Labour had poured scorn on the policy; in government it maintained the contracting out principle under the term Best Value. The managerial implications in CCT were profound. Although local responses varied with political complexion, few authorities could remain untouched by the culture shift. Even where there was no stomach for contracting out, teams of officials had to endure considerable stress in producing competitive in-house bids in order to keep their jobs. Colleagues found themselves in competitive relationships with each other, some becoming contractors and others providers (Audit Commission 1993). Moreover, the drawing up and monitoring of contracts required the skills of lawyers and accountants rather than elected councilors. Majors Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine produced a consultation document, The Internal Management of Local Authorities, stressing that the control and co-ordination of large workforces would no longer be the central management task. The paper looked for speedy decision-making and strong leadership, advocating local cabinets, appointed council managers or, most radically, directly elected US-style mayors with high public profiles. The latter had held little appeal to Heseltines party but, in a February 1998 consultation paper, Modernizing Local Government: Local Democracy and Community Leadership, the new Labour Government declared itself very attracted to the model of a strong directly elected mayor (para 5.14). The promised Greater London Authority was seen as a suitable flagship for innovation. Here the mayor, served by three or four deputies and a small bureaucracy of around 250, would set policy objectives and an annual budget (of some  £3.3 billion). The role of the councilors in the assembly would be approving rather than determining the budget. Responsibilities of the new mayor would include public transport, the fire brigade, strategic planning, trunk roads, traffic management, the ambulance service and possibly the arts. In addition, responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Force would be taken over from the Home Secretary. The potential power of the new office would be considerable, and both main parties showed alarm as the names of some of their more maverick members were canvassed. For Labour leader Tony Blair, the nightmare candidate appeared to be the left-wing Ken Livingstone, ex-leader of the old GLC and extremely popular with Londoners. The nightmare became reality in May 2000. There was an expectation that this model would be extended to other major cities. All 494 councils were asked to submit plans to central government showing how they would separate the decision-making role from that of representing constituents. Three options were offered: †¢ a leader elected by the council who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected executive mayor who would appoint a cabinet from the council A directly elected mayor working with a full-time manager appointed by the council Conclusion The general election of May 1997 saw the end of an 18-year period of Conservative rule during which the administrative landscape of the state had been radically recast. Few corners of the public sector could be said to have escaped some aspect of the winds of change which included privatization, agencification, CCT, market-testing, public-private partnership ventures, the emergence by stealth of the new magistracy and the general spread of a private-sector managerial ethos. In opposition, the Labour Party had maintained a prolonged crusade against most of the reforms, and many supporters had looked forward to the advance of the political bulldozers to level the ground. In power the party kicked off with a number of significant constitutional moves over devolution, the electoral system, the ECHR, the House of Lords, the Bank of England and the reform of local government. However, the party in power termed itself New Labour and preservation orders appeared over the recently privatized sector; indeed further privatizations were soon mooted in the cases of the Royal Mint and Air Traffic Control, and the remodeled Civil Service and NHS. In local government grant-maintained schools remained under the term foundation schools, and the replacement of CCT with Best Value was, in the eyes of critics, little more than cosmetic (Theakston, Fry, 1998). Moreover, there remained something very much like a capping regime over local government expenditure. In managerial terms, the three Es of effectiveness, economy and efficiency continued as the holy trinity. As the millennium closed it was safe to say that, while the British public sector would remain in the state of flux allowed by its vague and unwritten constitution, the substructure had seen some tectonic shifts from which there would be little reversal.   Reference: Audit Commission (1993) Realising the Benefits of Competition: The Client Role forContracted Services, London: HMSO. Birkinshaw, P. (1997) Freedom of information, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:164-81. Chapman, R.A. and Toole, B.J. (1995) The role of the civil service: a traditional view in a period of change, Public Policy and Administration, 10, 2:3-20. Elcock, H. (1991) Change and Decay: Public Administration in the 1990s, Harlow: Longman. Hennessy, P. (1990) Whitehall, London: Fontana.   Hood, C. (1991) A public management for all seasons, Public Administration, 69, 1: 3-19. Jones, B. (1997) Wales: a developing political economy, in M. Keating and J. Loughlin (eds), The Political Economy of Regionalism, London: Frank Cass. Kingdom, J. (1999) Centralisation and fragmentation: John Major and the reform of Local Government, in P. Dorey (ed.), The Major Premiership, Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp 45-7. Klug, F., Starmer, K. and Weir, S. (1996) Civil liberties and the parliamentary watchdog: the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Parliamentary Affairs, 49, 4:536-49.   Lowndes, V. (1997) Change in public service management: new institutions and new managerial regimes, Local Government Studies, 23, 2:42-66.   Mandelson, P. and Liddle, R. (1996) The Blair Phenomenon: Can New Labour Deliver? London: Faber.    Nicholson, E. (1996) Secret Society, London: Indigo. Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T. (1992) Reinventing Government, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1994) The hollowing out of the state: the changing nature of the public service in Britain, Political Quarterly, 65:138-51. Rhodes, R.A.W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance,Reflexivity and Accountability, Buckingham: Open University Press.   Richards, D. (1996) Recruitment to the highest grades in the civil service-drawing the curtains Open, Public Administration, 74, 4:657-77. Wagstyl, S. (1996) Nice work if you can get it, The. Financial Times, 18 December, 23. Theakston, K. and Fry, G.K. (1998) Britains administrative elite: permanent secretaries 1900-1986, Public Administration, 67, 2:129-48.   Ã‚   Thompson, B. (1997) Conclusion: judges as trouble-shooters, Parliamentary Affairs, 50, 1:182-9.   Drewry, G. and Butcher, T. (1991) The Civil Service Today (2nd edn), Oxford: Blackwell.

WWE Stock Presentation :: essays research papers

World Wrestling Entertainment, INC Company Overview  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   World Wrestling Entertainment, INC. is an integrated media and entertainment company primarily engaged in the development, production and marketing of television programming, live events and the licensing and sale of consumer products featuring the WWE brand. WWE has been involved in the sports entertainment business for over twenty years and has developed wrestling into one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Economic drivers remain down from historical levels. In 2003, WWE created two separate major television programs, Raw and Smackdown!, each with it’s own story lines and talent. This was done to create two touring companies and increase the number of live events and provides the potential to increase to the contribution of the entertainment business. WWE just needs time to produce the intended marketplace results. The company consistently retains the merit of being the number one regularly scheduled program on cable TV with Raw on Monday nights on TNN, and Smackdown! Is the highest rated show on UPN. It airs on Thursdays. Revenues consist principally of attendance at live events, sale of television advertising time and sponsorships; domestic and international television rights fees, pay-per-view purchases and direct sale of merchandise. Stock for WWE can be purchased through any brokerage or online investing service. Minimums and fees will vary. Investors Choice Plan enables stockholders to purchase shares and reinvest the cash dividends paid on shares. For the past nine weeks stock prices for World Wrestling Entertainment, INC have fluctuated between a high of $14.40 at the end of April to a low of $11.52 towards the end of May. For the month of June stock prices fluctuated between $12.37 for a low and $13.45 for a high. Although stock prices are not as stable as the corporation had hoped, it expects operating profits to more than double from the prior year. WWE anticipates revenue of $375 million, compared with $374 million in the prior year. It expects operating income of $73 million, up from $27 million a year earlier. Net income should range between $44 million and $48 million, or 64 cents to 70 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $19 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. I believe the corporation and management team of World Wrestling Entertainment, INC has done a lot for its fans. Not only does WWE provide live and televised entertainment, they also get involved in matters that are important in the lives of their fans.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The Animals The daytime people called them the Animals. The store manager had come into work one morning to find one of them hanging, half-naked, from the giant red S of the Safeway sign and the rest of them drunk on the roof, pelting him with Campfire marshmallows. The manager yelled at them and called them Animals. They cheered and toasted him by spraying beer on each other. There were seven of them now that their leader was gone. They wandered into the store around eleven and the manager informed them that they were getting a new crew chief: â€Å"This guy will whip you into shape – he's done it all, his application was four pages long.† Midnight found the Animals sitting on the registers at the front of the store, sharing worries over a case of Reddi Wip. â€Å"Screw this hotshot from back East,† said Simon McQueen, the oldest. â€Å"I'll throw my fifty cases an hour like always, and if he wants more, he can do it himself.† Simon sucked a hit of nitrous oxide from the whipped cream can and croaked, â€Å"He won't last longer'n a fart on a hot skillet.† Simon was twenty-seven, muscular and as wiry-tense as a banjo string. He was pockmarked and sharp-featured, with a great mane of brown hair that he kept out of his face with a bandanna and a black Stetson, and he fancied himself a cowboy and a poet. He had never been within six-gun range of a horse or a book. Jeff Murray, a has-been high school basketball star, pulled a can of whipped cream from the open case and said, â€Å"Why didn't they just promote one of us when Eddie left?† â€Å"Because they don't know their ass from a hot rock,† Simon said. â€Å"Can up,† he added quickly. â€Å"They probably did what they thought best,† said Clint, a myopic, first trimester born-again Christian, who, having recently been forgiven for ten years of drug abuse, was eager to forgive others. â€Å"Can up,† Simon repeated to Jeff, who had upended the whipped cream can and was pushing the nozzle. Jeff inhaled a powerful stream of whipped cream that filled his mouth and throat, shot from his nostrils, and sent him into a blue-faced choking fit. Drew, the crew's pot supplier and therefore medical officer, dealt Jeff a vicious blow in the solar plexus, causing the ex-power forward to expel a glob of whipped cream approximately the size of a small child. Jeff fell to the floor gasping. The glob landed safely on register 6. â€Å"Works as good as the Heimlich maneuver† – Drew grinned – â€Å"without the unwanted intimacy.† â€Å"I told him to hold the can up,† Simon said. There was a tap on the glass at the front of the store and they all turned to see a skinny dark-haired kid in jeans and flannel waiting by the locked door. He wore a price gun low on his right hip. â€Å"That would be our hotshot.† Simon went to unlock the door. Clint grabbed the case of whipped cream and shoved it under a register. The others ditched their cans where they could and stood by the registers as if awaiting inspection. They were sensing the end of an era; the Animals would be no more. â€Å"Tom Flood,† the new guy said, offering his hand to Simon. Simon did not take his hand, but stared at it until the new guy withdrew it, embarrassed. â€Å"I'm Sime; this is Drew.† Simon waved the new guy in and locked the door behind him. â€Å"We'll get you a time card.† The new guy followed Simon to the office, pausing to look at the glob of whipped cream on register 6, then at Jeff, still gasping on the floor. â€Å"Can up,† the new guy said to Jeff. Simon raised an eyebrow to the rest of the crew and led the new guy into the office. While he was digging in the drawers for a fresh time card, the new guy said, â€Å"So, Sime, do you bowl?† Simon looked up and studied the new guy's face. This could be a trap. He stepped back and squared off like a gunfighter at high noon. â€Å"Yeah, I bowl.† â€Å"What do you use?† â€Å"I like a twelve-pound Butterball.† â€Å"Net or no net?† â€Å"No net,† Simon said. â€Å"Yeah, nets are for grannies. I like a fourteen-pound self-basting, myself.† Tommy grinned at Simon. Simon grinned back and offered his hand to shake. â€Å"Welcome aboard.† He handed a time card to Tommy and led him out the office. Outside, the crew waited. â€Å"Dudes,† Simon announced. â€Å"This is Tom Flood.† The crew fidgeted and eyed Tommy. â€Å"He's a bowler.† The crew let out a collective sigh of relief. Simon introduced them each, tagging them each with what they did. â€Å"That's Jeff on the floor, cake-mix aisle, plays basketball. Drew, frozen food and budmaster. Troy Lee, glass aisle, kung-fu fighter.† Troy Lee, short, muscular, wearing a black satin jacket, bowed slightly. â€Å"Clint,† Simon continued, â€Å"cereal and juices; he's buddies with God.† Clint was tall and thin with curly black hair, thick horn-rims, and a goofy, if beatific, smile. Simon pointed to a stout Mexican in a flannel shirt. â€Å"Gustavo does the floors and has forty kids.† â€Å"Cinco ninos,† Gustavo corrected. â€Å"Excuse the fuck out of me,† Simon said. â€Å"Five kids.† He moved down the line to a short, balding guy in corduroys. â€Å"Barry does soap and dog food. His hair fell out when he started scuba diving.† â€Å"Fuck you, Sime.† â€Å"Save your money, Barry.† Simon moved on. â€Å"This dark-skinned fellow is Lash, dairy and non-foods. He says he's studying business at Frisco State, but he's really a gunrunner for the Bloods.† â€Å"And Simon wants to be Grand Dragon for the Klan,† Lash said. â€Å"Be good or I won't help you with your master's feces.† â€Å"Thesis,† Lash corrected. â€Å"Whatever.† â€Å"What do you do, Sime?† Tommy asked. â€Å"I am on a quest for the perfect big-haired blonde. She must be a beautician and she must be named Arlene, Karlene, or Darlene. She must have a bust measurement exactly half that of her IQ and she must have seen Elvis sometime since his death. Have you seen her?† â€Å"No, that's a pretty tall order.† Simon stepped up, nose to nose with Tommy. â€Å"Don't hold back, I'm offering a cash reward and videotape of her trying to drown me in body lotion.† â€Å"No, really, I can't help you.† â€Å"In that case, I work the can aisle.† â€Å"When's the truck due?† â€Å"Half an hour: twelve-thirty.† â€Å"Then we've got time for a few frames.† There are no official rules for the sport of turkey bowling. Turkey bowling is not recognized by the NCAA or the Olympic Committee. There are no professional tournaments sponsored by the Poultry Farmers of America, and footwear companies do not manufacture turkey bowling shoes. Even the world's best turkey bowlers have not appeared on a Wheaties box or the  «Tonight » show. In fact, until ESPN became desperate to fill in the late-night time slots between professional lawn darts and reruns of Australian-rules football, turkey bowling was a completely clandestine sport, relegated to the dark athletic basement of mailbox baseball and cow tipping. Despite this lack of official recognition, the fine and noble tradition of â€Å"skidding the buzzard† is practiced nightly by supermarket night crews all over the nation. Clint was the official pinsetter for the Animals. Since there was always wagering, Clint's religion forbade his playing, but his participation, in some part, was required to ensure that he would not squeal to the management. He set ten-quart bottles of Ivory liquid in a triangle pattern at the end of the produce aisle. The meat case would act as a backstop. The rest of the crew, having chosen their birds from the freezer case, were lined up at the far end of the aisle. â€Å"You're up, Tom,† Simon said. â€Å"Let's see what you got.† Tommy stepped forward and weighed the frozen turkey in his right hand-felt its frigid power singing against skin. Strangely, the theme from Chariots of Fire began playing in his head. He squinted and picked his target, then took his steps and sent the bird sliding down the aisle. A collective gasp rose from the crew as the fourteen-pound, self-basting, fresh-frozen projectile of wholesome savory goodness plowed into the soap bottles like a freight train into a chorus line of drunken grandmothers. â€Å"Strike!† Clint shouted. Simon winced. Troy Lee said, â€Å"Nobody's that good. Nobody.† â€Å"Luck,† Simon said. Tommy suppressed a smile and stepped back from the line. â€Å"Who's up?† Simon stepped up and stared down the aisle, watching Clint set up the pins. A nervous tick jittered under his left eye. Strangely, the theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly began playing in his head. The turkey was heavy in his hand. He could almost feel the giblets pulsing with tension – the Butterball version of the Tell-Tale Heart. He strode to the line, swinging the turkey back in a wide arc, then forward with an explosive yell. The turkey rocketed, airborne, three quarters of the way down the aisle before touching down and slamming through the soap bottles and into the base of the meat case, smashing metal and severing wires in a shower of sparks and smoke. The store lights flickered and went out. The huge compressors that ran the store's refrigeration wound down like dying airliners. The smell of ozone and burned insulation filled the air. A moment of dark silence – the Animals stood motionless, sweating, as if waiting for the deadly sound of an approaching U-boat. Battery back-up modules switched on safety lights at the end of each aisle. The crew looked from Simon, who stood at the line with his mouth hanging open, to the turkey, sticking, blackened and burned, in the side of the meat case like an unexploded artillery shell. They checked their watches: exactly six hours and forty-eight minutes to exact repairs and stock the shelves before the manager came in to open the store. â€Å"Break time!† Tommy announced. They sat on a row of grocery carts outside the store, their backs against the wall, smoking, eating, and, in the case of Simon, telling lies. â€Å"This is nothing,† Simon said. â€Å"When I was working a store in Idaho, we ran a forklift through the dairy case. Two hundred gallons of milk on the floor. Sucked it up in the Shop-Vac and had it back in the cartons ten minutes before opening and no one knew the difference.† Tommy was sitting next to Troy Lee, trying to get up the courage to ask a favor. For the first time since arriving in San Francisco, he felt as if he fit in somewhere and he didn't want to push his luck. Still, this was his crew now, even if he had padded his application a bit to get the job. Tommy decided to dive in. â€Å"Troy, no offense, but do you speak Chinese?† â€Å"Two dialects,† Troy said around a mouthful of corn chips. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Well, I'm living in Chinatown. I kinda share a place with these five Chinese guys. No offense.† Troy clamped a hand over his mouth, as if appalled with Tommy's audacity. Then he jumped to his feet into a kung-fu stance, made a Bruce Lee chicken noise, and said, â€Å"Five Chinese guys living with you? A pasty-faced, round-eyed, barbarian pig dog?† Troy grinned and dug in the bag for another handful of chips. â€Å"No offense.† Tommy's face heated with embarrassment. â€Å"Sorry. I just wondered if – I mean, I need an interpreter. There's some weird shit going on at my place.† Troy vaulted back to his seat on the carts. â€Å"No problem, man. We'll go there in the morning when we get off – if we don't get fired.† â€Å"We won't get fired,† Tommy said with confidence he didn't feel. â€Å"The union – â€Å" â€Å"Jesus,† Troy interrupted and grabbed Tommy's shoulder. â€Å"Check this out.† He nodded toward Fort Mason at the edge of the parking lot. A woman was walking toward them. â€Å"She's out a little late,† Troy said; then, to Simon, he shouted, â€Å"Sime, skirt alert.† â€Å"Bullshit,† Simon said, checking his watch. Then he looked in the direction where Troy was pointing. A woman was, indeed, walking across the parking lot toward them. From what he could tell at that distance, she had a nice shape. Simon climbed down from the carts and adjusted his black Stetson. â€Å"Stand back, boys, that redhead is down here for a reason, and I'm packing that reason right here.† He patted his crotch and fell into an affected bow-legged gait toward the woman. â€Å"Evening, darlin', you lost or just in search of excellence?† Jeff, who was sitting beside Tommy opposite Troy, bent over and said, â€Å"Simon is the master. That guy gets more pussy than all of the Forty-Niners put together.† Tommy said, â€Å"Doesn't look like he's doing that well tonight.† They couldn't hear what Simon was saying to the woman, but it was obvious she didn't want to hear it. She tried to walk away from him, and Simon stepped in front of her. She moved in another direction and he cut her off, smiling and chattering the whole time. â€Å"Leave me alone!† the girl shouted. Tommy leaped off the carts and ran toward them. â€Å"Hey, Simon, lighten up.† Simon turned and the woman started away. â€Å"We're just getting acquainted,† Simon said. Tommy stopped and put his hand on Simon's shoulder. He lowered his voice as if sharing a secret. â€Å"Look, man, we've got a lot to do. I can't afford to lose you all night while you show this babe the meaning of life. I need your help, dude.† Simon looked at Tommy as if he'd just exposed himself. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Please.† Simon slapped Tommy on the back. â€Å"I'm on it.† He turned back toward the store. â€Å"Break's over, dudes. We've got some wrenching to do.† Tommy watched him go, then broke into a run after the woman. â€Å"Excuse me!† She turned and eyed him suspiciously, but waited for him to catch up to her. He slowed to a walk. As he approached her he was surprised at just how pretty she was. She looked a little like Maureen O'Hara in those old pirate movies. His writer's mind kicked in and he thought, This woman could break my heart. I could crash and burn on this woman. I could lose this woman, drink heavily, write profound poems, and die in the gutter of tuberculosis over this woman. This was not an unusual reaction for Tommy. He had it often, mostly with girls who worked the drive-through windows at fast-food places. He would drive off with the smell of fries in his car and the bitter taste of unrequited love on his tongue. It was usually good for at least one short story. He was a little breathless when he reached her. â€Å"I just wanted to apologize for Simon. He's – he's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"An asshole,† she said. â€Å"Well, yes. But – â€Å" â€Å"It's okay,† she said. â€Å"Thanks for coming to the rescue.† She turned to walk away. Tommy swallowed hard. This was why he had come to the City, wasn't it? To take a few risks? To live on the edge. Yes. â€Å"Excuse me,† he said. She turned again. â€Å"You're really beautiful. I know that sounds like a line. It is a line. But – but it's true in your case. Thanks. ‘Bye.† She was smiling now. â€Å"What's your name?† â€Å"C. Thomas Flood.† â€Å"Do you work here every night?† â€Å"I just started. But yes, I will be. Five nights a week. Graveyard shift.† â€Å"So you have your days free?† â€Å"Yes, pretty much. Except when I'm writing.† â€Å"Do you have a girlfriend, C. Thomas Flood?† Tommy swallowed hard again. â€Å"Uh, no.† â€Å"Do you know where Enrico's is on Broadway?† â€Å"I can find it.† He hoped he could find it. â€Å"I'll meet you there tomorrow night, a half hour after sunset, okay?† â€Å"Sure, I guess. I mean, sure. I mean, what time is that?† â€Å"I don't know; I have to get an almanac.† â€Å"Okay then. Tomorrow evening then. Look, I've got to get back to work. We're sort of in the middle of a crisis.† She nodded and smiled. He shuffled awkwardly, then walked away toward the store. Halfway across the parking lot he stopped. â€Å"Hey, I don't know your name.† â€Å"It's Jody.† â€Å"Nice meeting you, Jody.† â€Å"See you tomorrow, C. Thomas,† she called. Tommy waved. When he turned around again, the Animals were all staring at him, slowly shaking their heads. Simon glared, then turned abruptly and stormed into the store.

Key Issues and Problems

GAS has provided a complaint board In their official website for public to provide feedback, whether positive or negative comments to allow them to continuously Improve their services to their customers. Throughout our research, we have found that GAS had encountered with some ethical Issues regarding their hygiene problem and bad services.Rat bitten case in GAS Mid Valley Magical It was absolutely a painful night out for Christine Chin after her toe was bitten by alleged rat while watching 2 hour movie at Golden Screen Cinema, Mid Valley Magical in KILL on Wednesday. Chin is the Youth Head and executive council member for the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CM). It was a relaxing night for Chin to enjoy movie with her family, but it turned out to be nightmare when she got bitten by a rat in the theatre. She posted her picture of her bandaged toe on her Backbone page and immediately the photo had been shared by at least 700 Backbone users on that particular day. Appendix l) On 5th A pril 2014, Chin was enjoying the movie with her family but all of a sudden she felt a sharp pain on her toe and cried UT In the pain. She did not Immediately check out what actually happened to her toe, Instead she finished the movie till the end. When the lights came on after the movie ended, she was shocked to see blood seeping from her toe. Chin's family approached GAS staff instantly and they brought out a first aid kit to clean the wound. After that, they filed an official complaint with GAS about the incident and the management gave them refund on their movie tickets as compensation.Besides that, Chin was sent to a hospital to receive an anti-tetanus injection. Chin's family was told o send the medical bill to GAS and GAS will be responsible on the payment of medical bill. Chin claimed that she could not leave the hospital without the dressing and anti-tetanus Jab. She is a regular GAS patron and the rat bitten incident truly disappointed her. She Is a huge movie fan and writi ng film reviews is one of her hobbles. Public health and safety Is paramount. Chin hopes that GAS would take this Issue serious to clean up all the cinema halls before more people get hurt.Rat bites are dangerous as their saliva or mucus is deadly, as lethal as their urine. (Chin, 2014) Rat bites may be swallow or deep. Healthy rats typically avoid people and prefer to be active when buildings are quiet. However, the saliva of some species of rats carries hazardous diseases, such as Lepidopterist and Hatcheries. In rare cases, rat bite victims may contract rat-bite fever. Therefore, we can see that rat bite can bring extreme harm to human health. This kind of problem does not only affect the publics health and safety, but it will sabotage sac's reputation as well.Thus, GAS should do some preventive measures before another similar incident happens to the public again. GAS had publicly extended their sincere apologies for any inconvenience brought on their Backbone page regarding the rat bitten Incident. (Appendix II) They assure that pest control management Is part of Sac's standard practice as they take the comfort of their customers very seriously. They had been working with the relevant experts and parties on the matter. Prohibition of outside food of no outside food is allowed in its theatre.Customers' dissatisfaction and disappointment were implied from their comments on the internet questioning whether they actually have the right or is it ethical to do so. Just as similar with most of the complaints found, Ms. Mash (a professional writer) described her unhappy experience in her blob of being stopped at the movie hall's entrance because of her intention to bring in outside food. She was told that she is not allowed to go in with those foods on hand, and she was being treated in an impolite manner. It is not surprising that many movie theatres everywhere have this kind of restriction.Concessions are one of their biggest revenue streams, says Richard McKenz ie, an economics professor at the University of California at Irvine. He mentioned that theatres have no choice but must share their income from ticket sales with film distributors and studios, while snacks and sodas have a higher profit margin to them. In the early days of cinema, theatre owners actually discouraged snack consumption in the movie hall, feeling it clashed with the elegant atmosphere they were trying to create. Movie theatres began selling refreshments to boost revenue in the late sass's when snacks became an even more important source of profit.

Time for My Online MBA Essays

Time for My Online MBA Essays Time for My Online MBA Essay Time for My Online MBA Essay I am not what you would call an atypical woman, especially these days. I am married, I have two children who are in elementary school, I work full time, and spend the bulk of my remaining time running here and there between doctor appointments, school functions, and the variety of other activities that take place for us on a weekly basis. Of course, my last priority – which is often the same for women everywhere – is myself. And so when I recently began toying with the idea of going back to school, I mostly pushed it to the back of my mind; doubting that I would able to swing the schedule that would be necessary to pull off such a feat. But that was before I learned about online degree programs. Sure, I’m on the computer every day – just like everyone else. I knew there was a smattering of programs available for going to school â€Å"online.† But I just assumed that was the last resort; the only option for someone who was unable to be accepted to a â€Å"regular† school. But I was wrong. Having done a lot of research lately in finding a way to juggle my schedule and still earn my MBA (the program I was committed to doing), I learned that a majority of highly ranked, completely reputable colleges and universities (many of which also offer traditional degree programs on their campus) offer online programs including an online MBA, online IT degree, and even a Masters in Education, among others. Not only is the online MBA program that I’m considering just the same as the program I would be doing if I attended campus, it allows me to do what I need to do without sacrificing my current work and family needs. I’m starting my online MBA program next month and I’m really excited. Now I’ll be able to logon at night and on weekends to complete my reading and schoolwork – and still be able to keep up with my other responsibilities.

Succeeding as an African Student at Michigan Tech and Beyond Essays

Succeeding as an African Student at Michigan Tech and Beyond Essays Succeeding as an African Student at Michigan Tech and Beyond The African student organization hosted a panel discussion with professors, graduate, and undergraduate students, which I attended and really liked. The event was entitled Succeeding as an African Student at Michigan Tech and Beyond and occurred on October 10th, in Fisher 104. African students were invited to share and get information regarding the African experience throughout higher education in the United States. The panelists sat in front of the room and started by sharing their stories. They told the audience where they had been (in terms of schools), what difficulties they encountered in adapting, staying motivated, and culture shock. Afterwards, graduate students and professors proceeded to explain strategies to go about graduate school, such as being close to adviser, avoiding to get involved in conflicts inside the department, working as hard as possible because Africans may not be judged on same standards, taking care of documents to remain lawfully in the country, etc. Finally, they started to answers the audiences questions in debate-like fashion. The event was highly productive and informative, but it was the less formal tone, which made it a special event. Since all of the people present were African there was a sense familiarity, which broke any ice standing in the way. Everybody seemed confortable and asked innumerous questions leading to an extension of the event, which ended around 45 minutes past its expected time. The down side was that even though a significant number of students were there, it could have benefited more people had they attended. It may have a been a matter of under advertising or simply a matter of lack interest by the general African student community, but the event had the potential to enrich many more peoples academic and social experience in the U.S. Also, it could have been slightly longer since the discussions were so highly beneficial.