The Appeasement Initiative

Q: Mr. Solomon what is the Appeasement Initiative?

A: Good question. I don't get asked this question often because the Initiative works so well.

Sometime ago, way back in the day, the founder of the company I work for sat down with his other high ranking managers. Many of whom he, more than likely, considered great, loyal employees and maybe even friends.

The company was in an upswing but he had envisioned the day when his company which he had started in his garage would gross roughly $16 million or more every year. The problem was with all the new employees he would have to bring on to handle such a work load he couldn't possibly afford to pay them as generously as his good friends. Naturally they'd have to be moderately underpaid to protect his profits. Severely underpaying them would be a terrible, terrible thing to do.

The men sat around and talked about ways to fool their underlings into forgetting that they are underpaid and lull them into a sense of complacency. Keep them happy, appeased if you will, despite their situation while they can continue to make millions off their hard word. So began the Appeasement Initiative. It includes a whole host of things. but have 2 major parts. Fun & Games and Incremental Bonuses.

By fun and games I'm talking about things like the "employee lunches" and "spring fling". Once a quarter spend $200 on some chick-fil-a nugget platters, about $50 on can sodas and chips, let them eat and not have to clock out for break. Once a year put together a little after work cookout, let the employees bring the kids out, play a little music. This works on underpaid employees like salve on a fresh burn. Fast soothing relief. "ooh child We had fun at work today."

Part 2 you go to the bank get a big ol stack of $100 bills. Give one to each and every employee after a big staged company meeting. Right out in the open, hand them a $100 bill in front of everybody. Shake the employee's hand and basically blow thick, billowing smoke right up their asses. They walk around feeling good because let's face it getting a $100 bill for any reason makes for a great day. Maybe a great couple of days depending on the person. The bosses can sit back and do the math. Employee gets under paid at minimum $2-5 per hour times 40 hours a week 51 weeks a year (does not include holidays), add $100 to an extremely underwhelming salary and another $300 for "end-of-year" bonus (which is another issue considering the "end-of-year" bonus is based on the performance of the department). All that times 150-175 employees. Estimate savings hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

The Initiative is the gift that keeps on giving. Those same employees go home to their families and tell the story about cookouts and bosses making it rain $100 bills, the most common response will be "Wow they gave you $100! You got a good job, girl" "they don't do that at my job". That makes them feel special like "yeah I got a good job" and you really don't. Your job is actually stealing you life away. Steadily and slowly killing you. It sucks because I see people working the same job, same position for 15 years struggling the whole time still thinking "I got a good job. I can't go anywhere else and get what they give me". Not even considering how much they're getting played. When the do start getting a little suspicious of the bosses week long vacations or new cars in the parking lot, it's about time for another perfectly scheduled lunch.It's a trap my friend.

I hope that answers your question.