Confessions of a Chronic Shopper :: Personal Narrative Shopping Toys Papers

Confessions of a Chronic Shopper It began with Barbie. I received my first at age four, and for awhile, I was happy with just that one. But when I walked down the all-hot-pink aisle at Target, I couldn’t help but need another. Magic Moves, Peaches and Cream, Crystal. Barbie and the Rockers. And then came the accessories. Barbie’s pink Jeep. Barbie’s bed and bedroom furniture. Kitchen accessories. Gym equipment. A tall Barbie house with an elevator. My sister and I had the works. We would set up luxurious Barbie mansions and would select from a bottomless Barbie pit four or five Barbies apiece, creating elaborate plots that could contend with any of the afternoon soap operas. Their days consisted of primping, changing clothes at least 35 times, ordering miscellaneous stuff advertised on the radio, and dating. And with only a Ken and a Derek to go around for eight Barbies, there was much stealing of boyfriends. They led extremely enriching lives. Then Cabbage Patch Kids were born. Since they were in such high demand, it was agony wondering if I’d even get one. But Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Leo were successful on Easter of 1985. Although Grandpa had to literally fight with a woman in the aisle of Toys ‘R Us over the last Cabbage Patch on the shelves, he won, thank goodness, so that I could have Martina. Martina Dorisa. But after awhile, Martina needed a playmate. And another. And a fourth. So, I acquired three more—Billy, Gary, and a little premie named Felice. My sister had four as well, and ironically, when we played with them, we would pretend that we were destitute single mothers. The home we set up was underneath the ping-pong table in our basement, cramped quarters for two girls and eight babies. But we were impoverished, after all. In all honesty, however, I cannot remember a day when I ever felt the scarcity of money —whether it was the fear that I might not be getting another meal or that I might not be getting another Christmas present. As the fourth and youngest child in my family, my parents were in their thirties and well-established when I was born. While my older siblings felt the consequences when my parents struggled to make ends meet, I never had to witness such financial straits or worry about money at all. I grew up knowing only affluence, receiving almost any desire I entertained, and so consumption naturally became a part of my life, just as some children who are born into poverty naturally understand privation and want as a natural way of life.

Case Study: Starbucks’ Structure

Barista: This job contributes to Starbucks success by ensuring our service and store standards are met. We do this by providing customers with prompt service, quality beverages and products. Starbucks and partners will experience a friendly, upbeat and clean atmosphere. Key Responsibilities: Develops enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. Welcomes and connects with every customer. Discover customer needs and appropriately suggests product with every customer to enhance service and meet sales goals. Offers customers demonstrations, and samples using brewing equipment.Howard Schultz became convinced that he could turn coffee drinking into a cultural experience. He had traveled to Italy and watched with interest as city dwellers would stop to begin the day at a coffee bar. Using the same type of model, Schultz purchased and opened his first location as Il Giornale. The company evolved into Starbucks, where multitudes of consumers began purchasing designer coffees, such as espresso, cappuccino, and coffee mocha. Store interiors encourage lounging and relaxing with a newspaper, magazine, laptop, or friends.Each cafe featured enticements such as jazz music in the background, additional merchandise to examine, and comfortable seating. (Reilly, Minnick, & Baack, 2011). Until the 2008 recession, Starbucks had continued to grow. Some of the units in larger cities experimented with selling additional products, including lunch service. Then a quickly collapsing economy, possibly coupled with other problems, including over expansion, sent the corporation on a downhill slide. Founder Howard Schultz worried that the addition of so many locations had watered down the Starbucks experience. Reilly, Minnick, & Baack, 2011).. Starbucks should be using is departmentalization by geographic region. Starbucks locations are all over the United States. According to our text, â€Å"Geographical departmentalization makes it possible to tailor managerial efforts that addres s territorial differences. †(Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Departmentalization can be defined as an effective organizational tool in that it involves dividing people up into different departments or divisions in which collections of tasks are placed together, such as accounting, marketing, and production.Going through Starbucks case study, the best suited departmentalization for Starbucks would be by Geographic Region. Starbucks has its financial affairs, legal affairs separated from stores. It has also added talent management, human resources and training and development as part of being specialized departments. This structure works, because it is separated from day to day business and does not interfere with store operations. This will help in the different locations to adapt the menu to accommodate. For example the Starbucks in Florida may sale more ice coffees than in Washington State where it is not as hot.When the increase of competition began the decli ne of sales for Starbucks, the leadership shouldn’t try to centralize power. With the leadership being centralized the organization may start making bad decisions because it only allows for two or three leaders to be overwhelmed and start making wrong decisions, where as if they were to have more ideas from their employees they may be able to come up with a structure that can help them through the decline of sales The configuration that best fits Starbucks would have to be the divisional organization.This is because Starbucks has different products and many business units all around the world. According to an article, Mintzberg’s Organizational Configurations, â€Å"The benefit of the divisional organization is that it allows the line managers to maintain more control and accountability. †(Mindtools, 2012). In conclusion, Starbucks organizations have been a great place for people to work, customers to hang out at, and overall a great place to have coffee.From wh at I see, the structure that Starbucks has been using, so far has been doing a good job. According to Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, â€Å"Starbucks continues to expand our global Starbucks footprint and accelerate the innovation and momentum in our CPG business† (Financial Release, 2011) ? References: CNN Money, (Feb. 7, 2011). CNN Money, 100 Best Companies to work for. Retrieved on September 10, 2012 fromhttp://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/snapshots/98. tml MindTools, (2012). Mintzberg’s Organizational Configurations, Understandingthe structure of your organization, retrieved on September 10, 2012 fromhttp://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newSTR_54. htm Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. (2011). The five functions of effective management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. Starbucks Coffee Company, (2012). Starbucks Investor Relations, 2011 Financial Release, retrieved on September 10, 2012

Censorship Essays (888 words) - Freedom Of Expression, Censorship

Censorship Essays (888 words) - Freedom Of Expression, Censorship Censorship CENSORSHIP Censorship and the ideology supporting it reiterates concepts from ancient times. In early Greek civilization, Socrates was accused of worshipping strange gods and corrupting the minds of the youth. He preferred to sacrifice his life rather than accept the censorship of his teachings. Socrates advocated free discussion, and is the first person in recorded history to formulate a philosophy of intellectual freedom. Ancient Roman society endorsed that only members of the Senate, or persons of vast authority, enjoyed the privilege of free speech. However, the extensive Roman Empire could not have remained intact for four centuries if it had not maintained a tolerant attitude toward the diverse religions and cults of the races it ruled. In our own country, the American Revolution branded the beginning of an era with an emphasis on toleration and liberty the Age of Enlightenment. It affected all aspects of society, from religious belief and political life, to science and literature. The De claration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution sanctioned that restraint on publication is unconstitutional. Such repression is only justified in extreme cases, such as times of war. In modern times, censorship refers to the examination of books, plays, periodicals, films, television and radio programs, news reports and the internet for the purpose of suppressing material thought to be objectionable or offensive. Censorship can be defined as the supervision and control of the information and ideas that are circulated among the people within a society. It concerns objectionable materials, such as those which may be considered to be immoral, obscene, treasonable or injurious to national security. The rationale of censorship is that it is necessary for the protection of basic social institutions: the family, the church and the state. It is a guardian of morals, and intrudes in many aspects of society: it supervises our communications, suppresses our freedom of speech, alters and edits our media and reduces the knowledge base that we can gain access to. It is claimed that permissiveness in the arts and mass media debases the public taste and corrupts all sense of dec ency. One aspect of censorship is that it omits some of our freedoms of speech when addressing a large group of people. For example, no person has the right to shout Fire! in a crowded theatre when no fire is present, or urge an angry mob to riot. This, as stipulated by Congress, would be a clear and present danger to the peace and security of the community. In some local communities, school boards have exerted pressure on publishers to omit certain areas of text relating to various sensitive issues, such as evolution, the biblical account of creation, or discussions of racial or religious groups. When publishers, authors or broadcasters trespass the political or moral boundaries set by law, they may be subject to fines, imprisonment and confiscation of their publication. The U.S. film industry practices a form of self-censorship. The Motion Picture Association of America imposed on its constituents a system of film classification. The Federal Communications Commission implemented v ague rules for television and radio about program content. They restrict the use of explicit language and direct references to sex. Religious, ethnic and racial groups have attempted to prevent plays, movies, and television programs because of elements they find offensive. In terms of my own opinions concerning censorship, I do not believe that it should be completely eliminated from our society. Instead of the materials we have access to being filtered and limited, I believe that the information should be available to those who choose to, and are mature enough to view it. One aspect I feel strongly about is that any individual should be able to openly criticize, through speech or publication, any government or public official. If we do not have the right to question or criticize our authority figures, than there is nothing to set our democratic society apart from that of a dictatorship. I do not believe that censorship should interfere with our correspondence, privacy, family or with our freedom of thought, religion or opinion. In terms of how censorship should be dealt with in our classroom, I think that omitting all profanity from music selection would eliminate a huge portion

lincoln essays

lincoln essays In March 1861, when Abraham Lincoln took the oath as the sixteenth president of the United States, the country had been struggling with the question of slavery for years. Kansas was bleeding from it, laws had been broken over it and in early February, seven southern states had finally seceded because of it and formed the Confederate States of America. In Kansas, pro-slavery and anti-slavery partisans engaged in a bloody war for control of the territorial government. Prior to these events, the voters who supported Lincoln in 1860 preferred preserving the Union rather than abolishing slavery; however they both became major issues of his presidency following his election. Contrary to many beliefs, the election of Lincoln was not the result of his followers, the majority of them being Republicans, wanting to completely remove slavery. He was known as the  gGreat Emancipator h and yet he did not publicly call for emancipation throughout his entire life. Actually, Lincoln denied continuously that he was an abolitionist. In two separate debates, he refused to believe that blacks should enjoy the privileges of American citizenship. Secondly, much as he hated slavery, he accepted it fs the law of the land, which he held sacred,  gas if the Almighty had written it in golden letters a yard high h. Throughout his inaugural address in March of 1861, Lincoln gave additional evidence suggesting that as President he really had no intention of advocating emancipation. Lincoln insisted he had  gno purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the states where it already exists h. He continued by stating he had neither the lawful right nor the inclination to do so. His speech plainly states without doubt that Lincoln fs primary motive was not to abolish slavery. Instead, during the election campaign of 1860, Lincoln fs highest priority had been to keep the country united. He felt that any decision he would make as president wou...

Conduct Disorder in Young Children Research Paper

Conduct Disorder in Young Children - Research Paper Example It can, however, be extremely difficult to diagnose a mental disorder in young children because the criteria used to recognise the symptoms of disorder in children are same as those used in adults. Diagnosis becomes even more complicated because children often do not have the skill to verbally communicate their thoughts, feelings and reactions towards certain situation. The difficulty in diagnosis also arises from the normal growth and development of young children. There are several symptoms like anger ‘outbursts, irritability, sadness, shyness’ which can be considered as characteristics of emotional disorders among children but such symptoms can also be features of normal adolescent behaviour under specific circumstances (Walker & Melvin, 2010, pp.1-2). This paper focuses on conduct disorder which is a specific kind of behavioral disorder common among children and adolescents. Conduct Disorder Characteristics Conduct disorder is a common type of mental or emotional problem that happens to children and adolescents. Children who suffer from conduct disorder generally show persistency in patterns of disregard for rules and antisocial behavior for a long time. There are some typical symptoms like aggressive behavior, running away from home at night and causing destruction to property. These symptoms increase with age as children pass on to their adolescent stage (Searight et al., 2001). Conduct disorder among young children can also result in deterioration of academic performance because children suffering from the disorder can exhibit learning inabilities that apparently do not have any â€Å"intellectual, sensual or health† reasons. It becomes difficult for them to maintain normal interpersonal relationships with friends and teachers. Even in normal situation they tend to behave in abnormal manner. Moods of depression can be seen in them all the time and they show signs of disobedie nce towards parents and teachers. These children also develop a fear in relation to personal and school related problems (Behavior Disorder/Emotional Disturbances, n. d.). Young children with conduct disorder can display certain patterns in their behavior at home and schools. Negative traits are seen in them like bullying, threatening or intimidating other people. Such children can often get involved in physical fights and can use dangerous items as weapons to physically harm people and animals, something like knife, gun or a broken bottle. It is also common among these children to get engaged in stealing. Other people can be forced into sexual activity by them. Properties of others can be destroyed by these children by setting fire on them. Another trait that can be seen in them is that they can stealthily enter into other people’s houses or get into their cars. These children often show tendency to lie to obtain things they want and can also get engaged in shoplifting. The rules of schools and home are violated by them as they play truant at school or run away from home at night. (Facts for Families: Conduct Disorder, 2004, p. 1). Prevalence There are different ways to evaluate the prevalence of conduct disorder and, hence, it becomes difficult to compare results from different studies. While some studies show prevalence during a definite period of time, there are other studies which show â€Å"cumulative prevalence†. Different studies are conducted during different age ranges of children and methods also vary with each study. As a result of this, different studies produce different estimates for the prevalence of conduct disorder. The prevalence of conduct disorder generally gets enhanced among girls as they leave childhood and move into adolescent periods. This feature is not common among

Assignment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assignment 2 - Essay Example Considered as one of the best living American writers, McCarthy has written 10 novels in the span of four decades, but never once was he interviewed on television. This is what makes this Oprah interview special. Because this is a first for McCarthy (Winfrey, 2008), we might expect that he will be uncomfortable and might find it difficult to answer some of the questions. To prevent this from happening, Oprah went to Santa Fe where McCarthy is working so that he will be in a familiar setting and reduce the anxiety since there are no other people in the room (except for the camera man, of course). Moreover, Oprah chose to open the interview with the obvious question: Why did McCarthy never had any TV interview? This was something that the world renowned author can easily address this because he probably rehearsed this a number of times in different interviews before. From this question, Oprah went on to ask subtle, more personal questions so as to understand how McCarthy works and what inspires him to do what he does. Oprah’s interview had a good combination of direct, open-ended questions. The progression of her questions were well timed, starting with question pertaining to the author’s work before going into details which will force the interviewee to â€Å"think deep† and â€Å"reach into the heart† to find the answers. Aside from the questions, Oprah also showed a real interest in the information being provided by the interviewee. She looks directly at McCarthy and she provides her own reactions to his responses. While I am pretty sure that she had an interview agenda, she does not have it written down, she has remembered all the questions she wants to ask, but she phrases it in the same language used by her interviewee. This way, she improves the communication between them, and it also allows the interviewee to feel that Oprah was really listening to what he

AED Wk 8 DQ 1 Replies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

AED Wk 8 DQ 1 Replies - Coursework Example John smith: exceptionalities addressed include john’s outstanding intelligence, his ability to learn things fast with little help from instructors especially if they are hands on. in addition, John thrives on organization, structure and procedures as they provide him with balance. This is revealed by the fact that any change in school program leaves him confused and emotional. The teacher should incorporate instructive technology to keep John’s attention considering he enjoys working with electronics. Few, short and doable assignments should be given enabling him to complete tasks. Organization and structure should also be emphasized in the classroom environment and dealing with behavior (Rosenberg, Westling & Mcleaskey, 2007). Ethan Andrew: exceptionalities addressed include his academic excellence especially in mathematics and reading. He is also good at sports including basketball and swimming. His lack of attention is caused by lack of proper rest, as he is not sleeping well. This could be because of watching TV after bed as he does after eating. The classroom environment should be organized with everything placed in its designated location to ease finding things. At home, the mother should provide procedures of things to do while getting ready for school. The teacher should also eliminate distractions in class (Rosenberg, Westling & Mcleaskey, 2007). Sumer smith: exceptionalities addressed involve her capability to work one-on-one with the teacher and other students. Additional information is that she is a below average student hence will need attention and adaptation from the teacher to ensure she catches up with the other students. This is indicated by her inability to process information, as she should at her age and grade. The teacher should make use of instructional technology that converts texts to sound, has images and colorful illustrations. One-on-one and peer