RECCE ROOM

Obituary for Kathleen Jones ... "Aunt Kathy."  This is where I was yesterday. 

Continuing on with observations on the job market. This was found on Reddit. As is often the case, the entirety of the article is repeated here, in case the original post is deleted for whatever reason.  10 Lies I was taught about work: 1. Do well in school, work hard, apply yourself and you will have a successful career. 2. White collar work is more elevated, important, respectable and lucrative than blue collar work. 3. Get in with a good company, stay there for years and you’ll be fine. 4. Your performance review is extremely important, and staying on your manager’s good side is one of your top priorities. 5. People much smarter than you have spent countless hours thinking through and analyzing company decisions and processes so if there’s a policy or initiative you don’t agree with, keep in mind that you don’t have the perspective those higher up executives do. 6. Once you have a job, you should commit fully to that job and stop thinking about the world outside ...

On a bustling Sunday afternoon—the very weekend Avengers: Endgame exploded onto screens—a tight-knit group of friends and family gathered at a packed movie theater. Among them was our Hero, a dad known for his booming voice from years of commanding attention on the firing range, and his son, alongside a handful of his son’s closest friends, the “peeps.” With his wife and daughter still en route, our Hero and the crew snagged a cluster of seats, staking their claim like generals before the battle. As the chatter buzzed and the lights lingered bright, our Hero sensed an opportunity for a bit of theatrical mischief. Spurred on by the peeps to do something funny that would also be embarrassing for the son, a decision was made.  Before the previews could even roll, he rose like a Shakespearean actor taking center stage, arms spread wide in a grand gesture. Then, with a voice trained to carry over open fields and echo through shooting ranges, he bellowed, “Am I the only one here who i...

Durham’s Shame: A City Refuses to Pay for Its Mistake The city of Durham has found itself at the center of a troubling legal and moral scandal. After a wrongful conviction that cost an innocent man decades of his life, the city has now refused to honor a $6 million court-ordered verdict in his favor. Instead of owning up to its responsibility, Durham has doubled down on denial and legal maneuvering. The result is a stunning display of injustice, fiscal irresponsibility, and betrayal of public trust. The Wrongful Conviction of Darryl Howard The case centers on Darryl Howard, a man who was wrongfully convicted of second-degree murder after a Durham police officer, Darrell Dowdy, fabricated evidence to secure a conviction. Howard spent years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. On appeal, new evidence—including DNA—proved his innocence and revealed the misconduct that led to his imprisonment. This should have been a straightforward case of the system correcting itself. Instead, Du...

There is a popular meme of late: "if not friend, why friend shaped?" Well, this one is not even friend shaped.  More on the person known as Marc Victor, from Attorneys on Retainer.  This author has said some very pointed things about Victor  and AoR in the past. The video linked above confirms some of these things.  What say you? 

  Why You Don’t Owe a Two-Week Notice Anymore A reader writes: "I like your take on what you call 'Wacky Hiring Practices.' So, how about the employee? What’s your take on workers ghosting jobs or leaving without a two-week notice?" Great question. Let’s dig in. Two Weeks Was Built for a Different Era There was a time when people worked 35 or 40 years for one company, then retired with a pension and a gold watch. That era is over. Today, the smartest way to move up—financially or professionally—is to change jobs every 2–5 years. Loyalty doesn’t pay like it used to. And given how common toxic jobs and managers are, sticking around too long can actually hurt your career. The two-week notice tradition came from an age when companies viewed employees as people, not “resources.” Managers knew how to lead, not just bark orders. And when someone left, companies had the time and willingness to train a replacement. In that world, giving notice made sense. In this one? N...

When Companies Cancel Jobs After Interviews: What’s Really Going On? If you’ve ever spent weeks going through multiple interviews—only to be told the role you were chasing has been canceled—you’re not alone. It happens far more often than people think. Companies invest time, resources, and attention into the hiring process, only to abruptly pull the plug. Sometimes they say the position was eliminated. Other times it’s “on hold.” Whatever the phrasing, the end result is the same: you wasted your time. This frustrating pattern isn’t just poor communication—it reveals something deeper about how many organizations approach hiring. In most cases, it’s not that the candidates weren’t good enough. It’s that the company never figured out what they really needed. Below are three common—and costly—reasons why jobs get canceled after interviews. The Search for a Unicorn Many companies start the hiring process with an impossible wishlist. They want one person to do the job of three, with ten ye...

A friend sent this author this link . From the link: This job market is absolutely wild. I was introduced to the [ceo] of a startup through a mutual contact. He was enthusiastic. He chased after me. He asked me to complete an assessment. I did. Carefully. On time. Then I had two interviews. One of which made me feel like I was already being welcomed to the team. The other felt more like an interrogation. Still, I held out hope. And then… silence. No update. No rejection. Nothing. I didn’t apply cold. They came to me. And now, after all that effort, I feel like I just got used, like my time, my energy, and my hope were just absorbed into some vague maybe-pipeline with no intention of follow-through. I honestly don’t even want the job anymore. I just want to understand why. You dont like it when candidates ghost you so why would it be ok for you to do it? Why pull someone in, make them work, and then talk to multiple people, only to completely disappear? [Inbalance] of power in your fav...