Where Has All the Compassion Gone?
With all the recent market volatility, I’ve been pretty worried about my portfolio, so I sat down at my computer yesterday to check it out. The good news it was right where I left it – on the computer desk next to the half-eaten bag of Doritos. (Pause for moment of recognition and requisite groan.) But while I was at the computer, I decided to scan some business news on-line. I came across this brief notice that I thought deserved mention:
CPI Continues Downward Slide
The CPI (Compassion Poverty Index) posted a new low, according to the organization that tallies the statistic. Paul Ferris of Market Research Indexes said the index is at the lowest point since the statistic was first tracked.
“We thought that we had hit rock bottom during the Enron heyday,” Ferris said, “but we’ve seen a steady decline since then. We’re not really sure where the market bottom is.”
Ferris said that the underlying compassion poverty seems to stretch across all sectors and geographies.
“We’ve always seen a lack of civility, generosity, and good manners in large business, food service and retail,” Ferris said. “But even small companies seem to be experiencing the same conditions. No longer does it take an international behemoth to crush a human spirit. Now, thanks to the Internet, even a sole practitioner can demoralize large groups of people.”
Although the MRI has tracked the CPI for some time, this is the first public release of the data. And that was an accident, Ferris said.
“Yeah, our intern, Brian, was supposed to send out the Consumer Price Index data, and he got confused and sent out the Compassion Poverty Index, instead. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. After mocking him on our blog, ridiculing him at staff meetings, and posting the video on YouTube of his escort out of the building, we had to let him go.”
Ferris said the statistic is maintained by “some old guy in our ethics department. No one ever pays attention to it. I’m sure we’ll stop doing it once he retires.”
So I guess that sneaking sensation I have that the workplace is becoming ruder and less civil actually has some basis in fact. It must be true. I read it on the Internet.
CPI Continues Downward Slide
The CPI (Compassion Poverty Index) posted a new low, according to the organization that tallies the statistic. Paul Ferris of Market Research Indexes said the index is at the lowest point since the statistic was first tracked.
“We thought that we had hit rock bottom during the Enron heyday,” Ferris said, “but we’ve seen a steady decline since then. We’re not really sure where the market bottom is.”
Ferris said that the underlying compassion poverty seems to stretch across all sectors and geographies.
“We’ve always seen a lack of civility, generosity, and good manners in large business, food service and retail,” Ferris said. “But even small companies seem to be experiencing the same conditions. No longer does it take an international behemoth to crush a human spirit. Now, thanks to the Internet, even a sole practitioner can demoralize large groups of people.”
Although the MRI has tracked the CPI for some time, this is the first public release of the data. And that was an accident, Ferris said.
“Yeah, our intern, Brian, was supposed to send out the Consumer Price Index data, and he got confused and sent out the Compassion Poverty Index, instead. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. After mocking him on our blog, ridiculing him at staff meetings, and posting the video on YouTube of his escort out of the building, we had to let him go.”
Ferris said the statistic is maintained by “some old guy in our ethics department. No one ever pays attention to it. I’m sure we’ll stop doing it once he retires.”
So I guess that sneaking sensation I have that the workplace is becoming ruder and less civil actually has some basis in fact. It must be true. I read it on the Internet.
posted by Tom Petersen at 9:40 PM
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