Tata Nano †a Study on Business Challenges in India

TATA NANO – A STUDY ON BUSINESS CHALLENGES IN  INDIA Introduction Tata Nano, pet project of the chairman of the Tata Group Mr. Ratan Tata was a car which was expected to change the face of automobile sector in India. In the highly competitive small-car market of India, Tata Nano promised to set the bar so high that it would become extremely difficult for the competitors to match. The dream of owning a car for as little as Rupees 1 lakh (Rs. 100,000 – roughly USD2500) was too tempting for millions of Indians who cannot afford even a small car.The kind of extensive media coverage Tata Nano received right from the day it was announced through the entire period until the first units were handed over to the owners was something that its competitors dreamed of. However, after two years of launch, the Tata Nano manufacturing plant at Sanand in Gujrat, India is running at around 20% utilization. People’s Car- It is a common sight in india to see an entire family of fou r travelling on a two-wheeler in heavy traffic and bad road conditions all through the year. Car Ownership across countries – Present and FutureAs can be seen from the IMF report above, car ownership in India is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades. India’s Growth in GDP Per Capita Combining the predictions about car ownership in India with the growth in GDP per Capita in India, we can clearly see why the automobile sector, especially the small car market is one of the most competitive sectors in India at present. In a market like this, a car like Tata Nano had the potential to sell like hot cakes. But it didn’t. Let us now try and understand why Tata Nano was not able to meet industry expectations. Reasons for SetbacksTata Nano (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Too Many Crises – Since its launch with great fanfare in 2009, the Nano has survived from one crisis to another. There was opposition to Tata’s original plans to site the factory in West Bengal, as discussed later, forcing a last-minute scramble to switch the site to Sanand. It opened last summer, but not enough cars came off the production line to fulfill the early orders. To make matter worse, a few cars catching fire on road, raising fears about the Nano’s safety. Price –Nano’s price, which was supposed to be its USP, is apparently one of the major reasons behind its low sales.For majority of Indians, owning a car is not about utility or mobility; it is a dream, ambition and status symbol; just like a house. So, the low price of Nano does not turn it into an asset. It becomes more like a commodity. Also, the initial marketing and promotion of Nano gave the average consumer the idea that owning a Nano would somehow be a confirmation of their poverty, and not a way to get out of it. Ironically, a big number of Nano’s buyers buy Nano as their second or third car after already owning another car. This segment is not the segment initi ally targeted by Tata.Resale-The re-sale car market gives stiff competition to the Nano. A 3-4 year old used car originally costing 3-4 lakh in on-road price (like Chevrolet Spark and Maruti Alto) can pose a stiff challenge to Nano given the relative price-parity that emerges when it comes to re-sale. For instance, Nano’s Mumbai on-road price for Std BSIII model pegged at 1. 51 lakhs is a few walks away from the Rs. 2 lakh plus used-car-version ‘Spark’. People, who may go for the advanced model Nano Cx BSIII, may consider opting for ‘Spark’ or ‘Alto’ given that the said Nano model costs around 1. 2 lakh rupees. In fact, Nano seems to have failed to pose a challenge to the market players in this re-sale car niche segment. Needless to say, there is not much value extracted from a Nano upon resale either. Rescuing Nano – To improve Nano’s market performance, Tata motors is trying to expand to other regions searching new market s for Nano. Given its modular design, Nano can be assembled and manufactured in practically everywhere on the planet. Hence, Tata is looking at SAARC nations, Latin America and other regions, where the economic conditions are similar to India.Also, Tata is contemplating coming up with Nano electric models and even a Nano diesel version After suffering setbacks with the initial market response, Tata Motors hired Carl-Peter Forster, a former boss of General Motors Europe as head of Tata Motors in February 2010. After taking charge, Forster realized that he will have to reinvent the Nano business model. There was no real national distribution scheme, very little marketing and advertising, and no effective system of consumer finance. The irony was that many rural Indians never got to hear bout or have the opportunity to see the car that was supposed to help transform their lives. Issues with Nano The Nano’s marketing problems began with its product positioning. The price crept up by around 15%, putting it out of the reach of first-time buyers with no regular employment or payslips to back an application for credit. And by emphasising its cheapness rather than its basic but appealing qualities, it deterred slightly better-off consumers who could afford one but aspired to more sophisticated vehicles, such as those from Tata’s biggest rival, Maruti, the leader in India’s small-car market.Political Controversies – Nine months after the Tata Nano was unveiled to much fanfare, and with only weeks before the first car was scheduled to roll off the assembly line, Tata announced it was pulling out of West Bengal where work was near complete on the assembly plant. Company Chairman Ratan Tata noted that Tata Motors had already invested 15b rupees (US$343m) in the small car project. But they had forgotten a vital detail which is a must for big investors looking to start big-idea investments on land owned by poor, mostly illiterate peasants in devel oping countries.At the bottom of the Singur peasant resistance was the need for a land reform that enables peasants to have real choices on whether to continue farming or do something else. For Tata Nano, the government of West Bengal persuaded more than 10,000 peasants in Singur to accept compensation for 1000 acres of farmland on which the Nano plant would be built. However, almost right from the start, as many as 2000 peasants refused the compensation, and demanded their land back. Farmers complained that the state communist government forcibly took their land to give to Tata.With the help of the opposition parties, peasants opposed to the land acquisition filed petitions in court. In January, a Calcutta High Court threw out all the complaints, ruling that there was â€Å"no violation of the Land Acquisition Act or any other regulation† by the West Bengal government in acquiring the land. But never ever underestimate the tenacity of angry peasants. When legal avenues were shut, Singur peasants took to the streets, organising daily protests and roughing up workers employed of the Nano factory.As the protesters grew more menacing, Ratan Tata was forced to acknowledge the possibility of never seeing a single Nano roll off the plant in Singur. While Tata was contemplating the future of his pet project, ad one of the most audacious projects in the history of Tata Motors, Narendra Modi – the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujrat approached him and promised to provide all support needed for Tata to move the plant form Singur to Sanand. Finally, Tata decided to move to Sanand and the first Nano rolled off the assembly lines at Sanand soon after.Yet, even as it managed to relocate and hit the market with slight delay, Tata needs to reflect on what happened in Singur to avoid running into the same problem elsewhere. Part of the problem was lack of clear and transparent negotiation between peasant representatives, Tata and the government of West B engal. Although the West Bengal government gave peasants compensation package that was way above the going rate, the lingering perception among the peasant was that a huge chunk of the money was creamed off by corrupt government officials.To avoid this perception, true or false, Tata should have negotiated directly with peasants, by-passing the West Bengal government. Secondly, even as Tata boasted of an initial start-up of 250,000 Nanos from the Singur plant, providing thousands of jobs to residents, it failed to make Singur residents take ownership of the plant. To the people of Singur, wealthy Tata was coming to grab their land to make billions of dollars for itself. Nano on Fire –  To make matters worse, three Nanos have caught fire because of some reason or the other since its launch raising serious questions about its safety and severely damaging its Brand Equity.Though Tata Motors has not commented on the reasons behind the fires, there has been strong word-of-mouth negative publicity towards the car. Recommendations Tata Nano has been a very interesting case about studying business in India and other emerging markets. It has seen some very interesting highs and lows which are unique to the Indian market. However, following recommendations can be made: 1. Clean up the Brand Image – Nano first of all needs to re-establish itself as a credible brand. This might be the hardest thing to do given the beating the brand image has taken because of the fires.Nano would need to aggressively work on its PR and show how the accidents are not because of flaws in Nano’s design but because of some unfortunate external factors. 2. Define a clear Marketing Strategy – Nano needs to have marketing strategies to target its real consumer segment which is the masses of India and showcase the Nano as an aspirational product for them instead of coming across as an accessory for the rich. 3. Focus on Other Countries – Export Nano to Indonesi a, Eastern Europe and also Brazil as well as Southeast Asia where it can be sold without the bad name it has earned in India. . Use Shareholder base of Tata – Tata Motors have a shareholder base of around 350,000 right now. It could be utilized to boost Nano sales through discounts etc. 5. Rework on Pricing – when Nano started, a major challenge was to prove whether it was possible to manufacture a car which can be sold at the price of Rs. 1 lakh. That point has been proven. The real challenge now is creating profitable car business. If Tata starts pricing its Nano in a range where it is more cost-effective, it would first, reduce the losses Tata incurs per car, as well as give the brand a facelift.

Marketing and Pottery Barn Essay

1. If Williams-Sonoma continues with its’ present strategies and objectives, where will it be in 5 years? Given today’s economy, and the bleak economic outlook, I do not believe Williams-Sonoma will continue to exist with its’ current strategies and objectives to serve its’ below target market consumers. Bottom line is many consumers cannot afford the products being sold by the company. Although, the company’s target market is in the 10% of wealthiest consumers, and had total earnings of over 3.5 billion. (2010 shareholders meeting). Other avenues of generating revenue must be explored. I fear that even the 10% will eventually become more cost conscious in the years to come. On the lines of the company improving its’ position in the next five years, I think the company should continue to improve on concepts already in place. An example is the Pottery Barn Teen website. (pbteen.com). Williams-Sonoma had used the concept in moderation starting with WS bridal registry. The idea took flight and as a result, moved the concept to its’ retail operations such as Pottery Barn, resulting in a 500% jump in online sales generating over 1 billion in revenue. (Prophet.com). Still with all these profits and improvements, if WS cannot hold by decreasing its’ prices so that others not in the 10% range can afford their products, the company will fail like the housing market. Over the next five years, the company should consider expanding its’ product line to include bath dà ©cor to complement the already established retail home furnishings. 2. If you were CEO of Williams-Sonoma, what strategies would you recommend? There are so many recommendations. I would first build on the internet base I talked about earlier. If I can improve internet sales over 500% I certainly want to keep that going. I would incorporate interactive websites. Having the ability to talk to, chat with an associate while I’m shopping in my underwear is always helpful. Next I would improve my e-commerce presence by advertising on social media outlets and improve accessibility to shopping by posting web-apps. I would consider lowering price points so I could tap into the more than 10% of consumers without becoming â€Å"Wal-Mart†. Now the company did do something to increase its’ position that I found useful. That was to decrease its’ overall lease space by 2%. (2010 shareholders meeting). This reduction in retail occupancy costs attributed to the 1 billion dollars the company enjoyed last year. I would also consider expanding the company’s customer base by broadening the product line to similar to Home Goods or Bed Bath and beyond who currently double the revenue of Williams-Sonoma. (Redistribute assets earmarked for traditional cataloging to online accesses. Not only will this save money, but will also impact paper usage. I believe advertising in this was has all but outlived its’ usefulness. 3. Describe the competitive strategies used by each of Williams-Sonoma’s competitors. Which of these are most effective? Williams-Sonoma has six major competitors plus one more in their market. The company holds only 7.9% market share (FY10) to main competitor Bed, Bath and Beyond with an astonishing 34.4%. (William-sonoma.com/investors) BBB’s strategy is to offer competitive prices for quality products. Its’ target market is middle to upper middle class and this is the reason it fairs better in the current market. The Bombay Company’s strategy was to increase its’ footprint by increasing outlet store locations so it could offload clearance items and increase sales to the outlet mall customer base. (Homeaccentstoday.com). Crate and Barrel decided to complete a nationwide marketing campaign that targeted catalogs and websites. While Pier 1 Imports, in a bold move consolidated chains, and licensed their name to Sears in Puerto Rico. (turnaround.org). Door to Store decided to convert and market to style-minded customers at low prices capitalizing on web selling and shipping nationwide. (buyfurnitureyoulove.org). Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium switched most of its locations to upscale malls and targeted marketing thru websites and catalogs. While Restoration Hardware seemed to advertize to its wealthiest customers targeting the top 10%, attempting to expand its base. If I had to choose one of these strategies I would have to go with the one I mentioned first. I am aware that this was not a in the original case study but in researching I found the Bed Bath and Beyond strategy to be most formidable considering the company doubled the revenue of Williams-Sonoma last year. There is a reason why the company commands 35.4% market share in FY 09 while WS was at 7.9%. (Williams-sonoma.com/investors) Williams-Sonoma is only utilizing a portion of marketing power while watching other companies progress thru a tough recession and recover by constant restructuring. 4. How is Williams-Sonoma using the Internet as a distribution channel now, and how would you recommend that they us the Internet in the future? Williams-Sonoma launched a bridal registry as a test bed for furthering the use of the internet. (prophet.net).This shift was so successful it moved the use of the internet to Pottery Barn, and other retail outlets. The result was 500% increase in internet sales and a 1 billion dollar profit. They also used the web to launch PB Teen which focused on the gap in age between Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids. Each website is interactive now but PB Teen was the first with outstanding success. This appealed to dialed in kids wanting something to improve their own piece of sanity, their bedrooms. The interactive site allows the exchange of ideas, instant feedback and the customer has the ability to view products they like. Williams-Sonoma has already completed its’ internet shift. I feel they can rely more on the model by providing 24 hour online support to those consumers that have odd hours. Furthermore I believe the company should limit its’ use of hardcopy catalogs unless specifically requested because this focus had established itself as a business, does nothing for it in the future. Another approach is marketing thru social networking sites. This approach, along with direct marketing does have its’ costs and would show profit after the initial cost blast. If the company wishes to improve its’ position of 7.9% market share, it will need every edge it can possibly have.

Environmental Discourse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Discourse - Essay Example Green Evangelicalism Prelli and Winters (2009, p.224) state that there are different views presented by Christian evangelicals and environmentalists regarding environmental problems like human-induced global warming and climate change. When evangelicals presented the idea to make interventions to fight climate change, they were struck with surprise by environmentalists and common people because they were not expecting them to point out this issue. â€Å"†¦many people were struck by the apparent incongruity of American evangelicals addressing the climate change problem†, state Prelli and Winters (2009, p.225). Sustainable Development The supporters of sustainable development argue that sustainable construction gives important consideration to the environmental impacts besides creating a structure or building that is user-friendly and comfortable. It ensures that damage risks to the building, residents and environment are eliminated. The main objective of sustainable constr uction is to build healthier buildings which tend to comfort society, improve biodiversity, reduce polluting emissions, and ensure less consumption of resources. The opponents of this discourse believe that sustainable development has â€Å"certain serious shortcomings that need to be addressed† (Haque, 2000, p.3).

Growing trend in online education Research Paper

Growing trend in online education - Research Paper Example e and usage of computers started to decline and more focus was given to those devices which were more capable of ensuring communication between more than two individuals. For example, it was also intent that, in the clinical advancement, there should be electronic mechanism between patient, doctor, nurse and other medical staff who was directly or indirectly connected with the health of the patient. As a result of such expectations, the recent advancement in the shape of online education has not only facilitated the electronic communication between nursing students and health teaching hospitals facilities but also increased an opportunity for studying and learning through using the medium of the Internet. Overall, this transformation has considerably increased opportunities for online nursing learning and also enabled to adjust their routine study schedule as they want to. In the following parts of this paper, first description about online education has been provided. Moreover, this part also elaborates on the general significance of online education. Subsequently, Significance of online education for nursing students has also been provided. After that part, merits of online education has been included in which accessibility and affordability features have been mainly emphasized and elaborated as well. It is followed by demerits of online education part in which education quality and lack of concentration have been detailed. Before the conclusion part, the significance of magnet status for hospitals and the nursing students has been included. Online education is growing across the world (Shelton and Saltsman, 2005.p.146). Online education is defined as an education mechanism in which information communication technology is used for the purpose of studying different subjects. Fundamentally, there are three different activities used in the online education system: online education provider, medium and online education receivers (students). In addition, online

Contract Law Problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contract Law Problems - Essay Example ..any laws or regulations directed toward enforcing certain promises. In Australia contract law is primarily regulated by the 'common law', but increasingly statutes are supplementing the common law of contract - particularly in relation to consumer protection. â€Å" (Clarke, 2011). This law was formerly known in legal circles as the Trade Practices Act of 1974 but was officially renamed The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 on January 1, 2011 due to certain amendments that were made that â€Å"included a repeal of Part IVA (unconscionable conduct), Part V (Consumer Protection, including s 52), Part VA (Manufacturer's Liability) and Part VC (offences). The substance of the provisions that were contained in those parts is now contained in Schedule 2 of the Act which will be known as the 'Australian Consumer Law' and which, by virtue of enabling state and territory legislation, contains Australia's first nationally consistent consumer law. â€Å" (Clarke, 2011). One must keep in mi nd that a written contract is legally binding at the time of signing and cannot be altered nor revoked due to certain conditions that became present after the contract has been signed. By signing a contract, it becomes a legally binding promise on the side of both contracting parties to complete an agreed upon obligation. Australian law requires that a certain set of circumstances must be present at the time of the agreement for the written document to become a valid contract. These factors include â€Å" a compromising offer and acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, compliance with any legal formalities and that the parties have the legal capacity to contract. â€Å" (Clarke 2010). The contract that Watertankz entered into with Harry specifically detailed what he had to do as a client in order to make the document that contained their price quote into a legally binding contract. To be specific, their letter of communication clearly indicated that all Har ry had to do was â€Å"please sign the enclosed terms and conditions of sale document and mail it back to us together with a 10% deposit. The quote is valid until June 30 â€Å". I would then ask Harry to take note of the validity date of the quote that was sent to him, June 30. Under the agreement that was proposed and approved by the company signatories, his rights as their client and their obligation to fulfil the agreement is clearly spelled out. As long as Harry signs the document and gets the document and the check deposit in the mail before June 30, the contract is now legally binding. As such, there are now legal sanctions in place should either party decide to renege on their deal prior to the deadline (Government of South Australia, Contract Law, 2009). Just like any other company in the public service, the price of Watertankz supplies and other pertinent materials may see an increase in cost at any given moment. Which is exactly what happened in the case of Harry. The c ost of materials for Watertankz rose sharply on the first day of June, which would definitely cut into their profit margin or post a loss for their company earnings. So, it us understandable that they adjust their prices accordingly. However, the law of contracts clearly indicates that they cannot reject and formal contract bids that they closed within a specific time frame, regardless of the increase in costs for their own company. The law in effect, protects the

How can tax cuts help revive the economy Explain Essay

How can tax cuts help revive the economy Explain - Essay Example Pertaining to the reduction of the gap and to take the economy out of the crisis, the package of fiscal stimulus was observed as an effective way-out for the economy. The planning of the government within the economy was not held effective enough in mitigating the problem of economic crisis. According to the plan of the US government, the amount of public spending consisted in the policy towards enhancing multiplier effect through discretionary fiscal policy was merely about 480 billion Dollars. This amount has a multiplier of about 1.5 which means government spending of each Dollar would increase the GDP of the economy by 1.5 Dollar (Shostak, 2009). With regard to the less reliance on the natural forces in the economy, successful management of the government is essential in line with the inducement of individuals’ spending within the economy. Tax cuts act as an economic booster during the times of recession when generally people decrease their level of spending in order to fi ght with the economic crisis. Tax cuts can be termed as an important aspect of the expansionary fiscal policy of the government and it helps to a greater extent in strengthening the aggregate demand within the economy and thus eliminate the slump resulted due to the economic crisis.

Deriving a Utopia from Dystopia in Nineteen Eighty-Four Essay - 1

Deriving a Utopia from Dystopia in Nineteen Eighty-Four - Essay Example The argument is placed in deriving utopia from a system of dystopia. In a society that has achieved utopia, the will of the people prevail, and their actions is governed by their opinions, as they are comfortable with the decisions made (The Greenwood Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy 223). However, the state of dystopia has threatened the prevalence of a stable society. This is evident in the desire of the ruling opinions to exert their rule on the society that desires freedom. The ruling party, through Big Brother, proves to be an example of a dystopia system that limits the freedom of Winston Smith. He believes that there is the need to be expressive on the community and achieve a system where power is delegated upon the people, who hold the majority of decision-making process. Although there is limited progress in dystopia, nineteen eighty-four proves that, from the system, there can be an achievable form of utopia. The ruling party has declared a system that limits the freedom of individuals within the society and checks on the actions issued through monitoring behavior in screens. The member of their party in Winston has been used to highlight the limited freedom available in Oceania. The limited freedom that has been imposed upon the people has been highlighted in the form that the citizens are closely monitored to reduce the justice system. Orwell develops the plot to suggest that the system introduced within the society fails to allow expression. Of the greatest example of injustice issued, the people of Oceania are not allowed to be rebellious and the thought is termed illegal. The rule of the leading party should prevail without witnessing a resistance in the societal members. Winston explains that he recent the system imposed within the Oceania society. The people are not allowed to express their opinions freely, limited sex

Chinese Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese Film - Essay Example The reasons why film is particularly suited for semi-unimpeded movement across national borders, cultural boundaries and linguistic barriers will be illustrated in this essay through reference to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Through a critical analysis of this production, the essay will expose the extent to which this supposedly Chinese film is, as with cinema in general, a transnational work. Globalisation has, undoubtedly, maximised cinema's capacity to function as a transnational medium of communication. As Lu (1997) asserts, contrary to immediate assumptions, this is not because globalisation has facilitated the movement of goods and services across borders or because it is characterised by an intricate network of transnational interpersonal communication system (internet), but because film has become transnational. Ethnic and national cinema is decreasingly purely ethnic and increasingly international in scope (Lu, 1997). The veracity of the aforementioned is perfectly evidenced in Ang Lee's 'Chinese' film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. ... Produced and released in 2000, the film won, within the context of non-English speaking cinema, unprecedented international acclaim and box office success, even scooping up four Oscars (Rose, 2001). The film's budget of fifteen million dollars was the highest ever for a Chinese language film and became the most commercially successful foreign film ever to be distributed worldwide, grossing more than two hundred million dollars in global box office receipts (Rose, 2001). Its international success cannot be divorced from the inherently transnational character of the production. As Cheshire (2001) writes, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's director, Ang Lee, was born in Taiwan, studied theatre acting and directing at the Taiwan Academy of Arts in Taipei, received a bachelor's degree in theatre at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and continued his studies in film at New York University in the nation's cultural melting pot. By the time he made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Le e had already completed three Chinese language films and three Hollywood projects (Cheshire, 2001). In 1995, the British screenwriter and actress, Emma Thompson, invited Lee to adapt Austen's British classic Sense and Sensibility to the cinema. Then Lee took on the American suburbs of the 1970s in Ice Storm (1997) and the war-torn American South in Ride with the Devil (1999) (Cheshire, 2001). Apart from the thoroughly transnational character of its director, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) includes such transnational artistic talents as Chow Yun-Fat (Hong Kong), Michelle Yeoh (born in Malaysia, but began her film career in Hong Kong), Zhang Ziyi (China), Chang Chen (Taiwan), and Cheng Pei-pei (Hong Kong). The cinematographer Peter Pau and fight

Financial Accounting Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Financial Accounting Concepts - Essay Example The higher the current ratio the greater is the company’s ability to pay its bills. It is also a tool which also helps make rational decisions in keeping with a company’s objectives. This is the reason why the bank insisted that they maintain a current ratio of 1.5. This would also enable the bank to keep a track on the company’s functioning. The accounting principle relevant here is conservatism. Conservative accounting can only cause temporary increase in the company’s earnings. The effect is temporary and the actual may differ and hence not considered a good indicator of subsequent earnings. Conservative accounting would raise questions about not only the balance sheet but also about the income statement. Accounting conservatism only helps to reduce disclosure. According to me it would he unethical to record the revenue of the new sales contract in December. It is always advisable to be honest with the bank because the relation with a bank is a long-term one. If the bank found out on its own it would reflect badly on the company and then the bank would be very cautious in all future transactions also. Manipulation may not be intended by the company but banks would be cautious in all future reporting by the company incase they found out. If the company records this revenue in December the current ration would increase. They could complete the contract in December itself and raise the bill. Once the bill is raised, whether they receive cash for it or it remains as current receivables, the current ratio goes up. In this case there is nothing wrong. But as can be seen it is already the 15th December. Would it be possible to complete the contract within this period? Besides, credit has to be given to the party so cash payments cannot be expected. But in the event that the contract is executed in January and considered in December just for the sake of reporting, it would be a false

My Industrial Training Essay Example for Free

My Industrial Training Essay I started my training on 7th July 2008 at JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where I was first assigned to start as a CRO (customer recognition) in Front Office. I got to learn about the procedures of welcoming certain guests, such as VIP’s, by preparing welcome letters, flowers, chocolate and fruit baskets. I was only there for one week, and then I changed my training to Royale Bintang Damansara Hotel instead because of transportation and financial problems. My first department at Royale Bintang Damansara was Housekeeping, I tarted there on 21st July. What I came to notice first was that all the staff had problems communicating with me in English, but everyone was very nice, helpful and supportive. Even though we had problems communicating and understanding each other they still tried their best to teach me everything they knew. During my first two weeks in Housekeeping Department, my department head conducted a short training every day for both trainees and staff on how to clean floors, carpets, the pool area and things like that. They showed us the equipment that was used and we all had to try to use it ourselves. I think it was very good of them to have these trainings as it also widened their staff’s knowledge so that if, for example, a staff from public area cleaning would be away, a housekeeper could just jump in and help out. A room attendant wouldn’t just know how to clean guestrooms but also how to do public area cleaning as well. While training in Housekeeping, I got to learn about linen and laundry for awhile, I also got to refill the mini-bar in all the guestrooms. I was taught how to inspect the rooms, to make sure the room was ready for a new guest. I also had to try public area cleaning, where they taught me how to clean the pool side and the swimming pool, cleaning windows and swiping floors. What I enjoyed the most was to clean the guestrooms, which I did most of my time in Housekeeping. At first I was only making the bed in all the rooms as most housekeepers didn’t want me to clean the toilet, but after awhile I had tried everything and my last two weeks in Housekeeping I was even assigned to clean some guest rooms all by myself. I was a bit slow cleaning rooms alone as I wanted the room to look perfect, but I know I did I good job and I feel very happy and proud over my performance there. One thing that shocked me in Housekeeping Department was that sometimes the Housekeepers didn’t have enough linen for all guestrooms, so instead of changing the bed sheets and pillow covers they just dusted away hairs and stuff and sprayed a lot of freshener on it so the new guest would think it’s clean. When I saw these things I asked them how they could do in such a way as it’s not hygienic at all, but they all answered me that it was the otel’s fault as they didn’t want to buy in more linen. Another thing that shocked me was that I noticed the Front Office staff always talked bad about the housekeeping staff and looked down at them just because they were cleaners. For me, I think that the Housekeeping Department is one of the most important departments in the hotel and the Front Office staff must work closely with them to get the guest satisfaction. This is the picture of a bed inside one of the guest rooms I cleaned by myself After six weeks I changed my department to Front Office. I was very excited to start there because I would really want to work with that in the future so I had very high expectations about it, however I felt very disappointed with how they handled things there. First it was the staff; I think most of them had the wrong attitude for being receptionists, they barely smiled at the guests coming to the reception; sometimes they could be very rude and blame things on the guests and not being helpful at all. They were also very bad in handling guest complaints. Everything seemed so different from what I had learned in Front Office classes, and I felt very disappointed over the service they were practicing. All Front Office staff were also using different uniforms, so I think that looked a bit odd. It would look better if everyone was wearing the same color and blazer at least. Later on they got more uniforms to the hotel for front office staff so even the trainees could borrow it while standing at the reception. All other trainees got to borrow uniforms but every time I asked they told me they didn’t have for me so I had to buy one myself. My first two weeks in Front Office I was sitting as the telephone operator. I was transferring calls to different departments, ordering taxis for guests etc, if I worked in the evening I also had to take reservations. When I started in the reception I started to get problems; I felt that nobody there could take the time to tell me what to do or teach me anything. If I asked them they would tell me they were busy or that they couldn’t teach me in English, so instead I had to stand and try to understand when they were teaching the other trainees in Malay or Chinese, which I really didn’t think was fair. Although I told my department head about this so many times nothing happened. I finally learned about the program they were using and I observed how the staffs were talking to the guests during check-in and check-out, so finally I tried to do it myself. I could do all of the procedures for check in and check out, and each day I was doing it I felt it went easier. Sometimes if a guest wanted a late checkout we would charge the guest either a half day charge or full day charge, depending on the time they would check out. At these times we had to calculate how much extra the guest would have to pay. One of my supervisors had showed me how to do it so one day when I had to calculate the half day charge for one guest, one of the staff was looking how I was doing it. When I showed the guest her bill the staff who had been seeing everything started screaming at me in front of the guest that I was doing it wrong, but I told her I was sure of what I was doing. This girl working at the reception said that she was right and called another receptionist right away. However by the time that receptionist came there, the guest I had charged had already left. Both receptionists was telling me I charged the guest too little and that I had to pay with my own money right away to cover up the amount of money I never charged. I called one of my supervisors at that time and explained to him that I thought maybe I had done a mistake, but when he checked it he said that everything was correct and instead he noticed that the other receptionist had charged some guests wrong instead. For some strange reason this incident caused that many of the staff there was talking bad about me, saying that I thought I was better than them as I always corrected their work. I thought instead that it was good that I noticed if they had done any mistake such as charging the guest wrong so they could learn from it instead, The staff really wanted to blame a lot of things on the trainees instead of accepting their own mistakes. I was working very independently as I didn’t get much help from most staff, but I think I did a good job and the staff that actually taught me things even complimented me for being so clever for learning everything by myself so fast. I also had to work overnight while I was in Front Office, so that I ould get to learn and understand about the night audit. I was first assigned to prepare all registration cards; which is all the reservations for guests arriving the next day. I had to look over special requests such as room types, smoking- and nonsmoking rooms, connecting rooms and views so that I could assign the different rooms to each arriving guest. I also had to write breakfast coupons and set up wake up calls for guests. I felt that I didn’t learn as much as I had hoped during the night shift. The staff I was working with said that the supervisor would do most of the auditing, so for the staff there wasn’t much things at all to do. I wanted to ask my supervisor to tech me some of the auditing but he was missing most of the time so I never got to learn about the night audit. During my first nightshift, my boyfriend wanted to sit in the lobby and wait for me to finish so I asked the staff in the reception including my supervisor if it was ok, and they told me he could sit there the whole night if he wanted to, as long as he didn’t cause any problem or disturbed me. At 4am, my supervisor told the security to tell my boyfriend to leave the hotel. When I heard about this I asked my supervisor why he at first told me it was ok for him to sit there, but then he just told me it wasn’t allowed. A few days later Ms Zurin from Human Resource Department told me that because of that incident I wasn’t allowed in Front Office anymore and had to change department immediately. She told me I was lucky to get a second chance as my supervisor wanted me to be terminated. I felt very sad and confused because I didn’t understand what that incident had to do with my work there. I was transferred to Food and Beverage Department on 18th October. Over there I was taking care of their lobby bar; I was making welcome drinks and all kinds of other beverages and served it to guests. I was also taking down all orders for room service. Every weekend and during public holidays they were having a hi-tea buffet for lunch and a BBQ buffet for dinner, at these times I helped the staff to clear and set tables. While working in the morning I helped with their breakfast buffet by greeting and welcoming the guests and collecting breakfast vouchers. After every breakfast, we had to set up the restaurant for lunch or if there was any special function going on there, so I learned how to do so many different table settings. There was one thing that shocked me in Food and Beverage Department as well; most staff doesn’t know how to wash a simple glass, they just wash it with their hand and water and later they will take the dirty glass and put some beverage in it and serve it to the guest. Every day when I started my shift I had to rewash all of the glasses because they were so dirty. Sometimes I also saw that the napkins they put on the tables looked dirty or were full of holes or that the plates were having dried food stuff on it or be full of grease. For being a restaurant in a four star hotel they should have a better service than that and not act like it is just a mamak shop. That is also the reason why I liked standing at the lobby bar, because then I knew the glasses for example would be washed properly. However in December, their restaurant got two new supervisors and especially one of them were very strict about hygiene so I hope that this things will improve or change now. Although I didn’t want to do Food and Beverage at first, it was above my expectations and I really learned a lot of new things. I got along well with all the staff also even though many of them weren’t good in English. Now when I look back at my training at Royale Bintang Damansara, I’m happy with what I achieved from there. I know that many trainees only get to observe most things; instead of trying it themselves so for that I’m happy that I got to do everything practically, because for me that is how I learn the most. I don’t think the hotel is that good though and many staff working there seems to be there only to have something to do, instead of being passionate about the service industry. Another thing that really shocked me also was that there is a lot of drug use going on inside the hotel, people working there that I didn’t even know asked me if I wanted to buy drugs. This really came as a shock to me and I can’t believe how something like that can exist in a working place like a four star hotel. I don’t think Royale Bintang Damansara should have a four star rating because their service is not good. For example that they don’t change the bed sheets after a guest checked out, how they are behaving at the reception or that they are serving dirty glasses to guests. I’m still happy that I got to see this kind of things, because I would never have thought it could be like this in a hotel. I know I will be more careful now in the future while staying in a hotel, I will always be aware of these things. These bad experiences I saw have given me a new career option; I would like to be a hotel inspector. Because I don’t think a guest should be paying a lot of money for a service like that in a four star hotel. In a way I could recommend Royale Bintang Damansara to other trainees, because you will see a lot of useful things and you will get the chance to try everything practically, unlike some other hotels. I would in that case only recommend it to local students. As a foreigner I had a lot of problems in the hotel, especially to communicate in English with the staff. It didn’t matter if it was in Housekeeping Department or Front Office. However, I succeeded to gain a lot of knowledge from all the departments I went to and I know that the things I have learned will be useful for me in the future.

Literature Search on the effects of Overtime on Nursing staff

Literature Search on the effects of Overtime on Nursing staff PICO Question Numerous research studies have been completed in the last ten years linking higher nurse patient ratios to improved patient outcomes. A consequence of mandating nurse staffing levels is the use of mandatory and voluntary overtime which can lead to increased fatigue and adverse events. The use of overtime is not a solution to maintaining adequate nurse staffing levels and can have detrimental, unwanted consequences. The potential risk to nurses and patients must be explored through quality research. In an attempt to meet staffing ratios many organizations rely on the use of mandatory and voluntary overtime which leads to fatigue and adverse outcomes. P: Overtime I: Limit hours worked by RNs to 12 per 24 hours C: No limit on hours worked O: Decreased fatigue and adverse outcomes Search Strategies with Medline, CINAHL and Google Scholar Medline Using the Medline database the key words RN staffing and hour worked were entered. This resulted in 21,214 articles. To narrow this search the following limits were applied: publication years 2004-2009, English language, patient safety and medical errors. This resulted in 407 articles. To narrow to a manageable number of relevant articles the subheading of staffing: supply and distribution, and personnel staffing and scheduling were added to the previous search terms resulting in 26 current articles. A systematic review was completed using the terms RN staffing, overtime and patent safety, which provided similar results and articles. Final articles chosen were: International Experts Perspectives on the State of the Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes Literature by Van den Heede, et al published in the January 2007 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship and Correlates of medication error in hospitals by Wilkins and Shields published in the June 2008 issue of Health Reports. CINAHL Keywords entered into the CINAHL database included mandatory overtime in nursing and patient safety which resulted in 1,597 articles. By setting the parameters to articles published between 2004 and 2009 in the English language and adding the subheading of personnel staffing and scheduling and adverse outcomes a total of 31 articles were provided. Adding the subheading of quality of nursing care along with the keywords systematic review resulted in 17 final articles. The two articles chosen were: Nurse Staffing and Healthcare Outcomes: A systematic review of the International Research Evidence by Lankshear, Sheldon and Maynard published in the 2005 issue of Advances in Nursing Science and Factors Influencing the use of Registered Nurse Overtime in Hospitals, 1995-200 published by Berney, Needleman and Kovner in the second quarter 2005 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship. Google Scholar Keywords nurse staffing, medical errors, patient outcomes and hours worked were entered into the Google Scholar database. This search resulted in 1782 articles. Adding the parameters of articles published between 2004 and 2009 and medical, pharmacological and veterinary only yielded 442 articles. The addition of the terms mandatory overtime to the above selections resulted in 180 articles. Other variations of search terms did not yield less than 180 relevant articles. Many of these 180 articles were also found in the final Medline and CINAHL searches. The two chosen from this search included: The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety published by Rogers et al in the July / August 2004 edition of Health Watch. The second article Scott et. al Effects of critical care nurses work hours on vigilance and patients safety published in the January 2006 issue of American Journal of Critical Care. Analysis of Articles from each Database Medline Analysis International Experts Perspectives on the State of the Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes Literature by Van den Heede et al., published in the fourth quarter 2007 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship is an article written to assess the variables used in research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes from the perspective of an international panel. A Delphi survey (November 2005-February 2006) of a selected expert panel from 10 countries consisting of 24 researchers specializing in nurse staffing and quality of care and 8 nurse administrators were sent a review of evidence related to 30 patient outcomes, 14 nurse staffing and 31 background variables and asked to rate the importance or usefulness of each variable for research on nurse staffing and patient outcomes. In subsequent rounds the group median, mode, frequencies, and earlier responses were sent to each respondent. The conclusions of this study provided a picture of the science on nurse staffing and patient outcomes researc h as of 2006. The findings showed a connection between human resource issues and healthcare quality based on empirical findings and opinion. While the article did focus on quality of care and nurse patient ratios, it did not provide relevant information regarding the effects of extended work hours on patient care outcomes. Correlates of medication error in hospitals by Wilkins and Shields published in the June 2008 issue of Health Reports examined associations between medication error and selected factors in the workplace of hospital employed registered nurses in Canada. Data was derived from the 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses in Canada who deliver direct care to hospital patients. Correlates of medication error were considered in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to examine medication error in relation to work organization and workplace environment, while controlling for personal factors, including nurses general and mental health, job satisfaction, education years of experience, and clinical area of employment. The results of this study showed that nearly one-fifth of nurses reported medication error involving patients had occurred occasionally or frequently in the past year. In the fully adjusted multivariate model, medication error was positively associated with working overtime, role overload, perceived staffing or resource inadequacy. Working a 12 hour shift, compared with shorter shifts was negatively associated with medication errors. This article provided relevant information pertaining to the initial PICO question of hours worked and adverse outcomes. CINAHL Analysis The 2005 issue of Advances in Nursing Science contained the article Nurse staffing and healthcare outcomes: A systematic review of international research evidence by Lankshear et. al. The authors performed a systematic review of the literature and policy analysis and conducted interviews with key researchers in the filed in both the Untied States and the United Kingdom. The goal was to retrieve research on nurse staffing and healthcare outcomes published since 1990. A combination of electronic databases, internet and organizational web sites, and contacted researchers were queried. For each relevant study data were extracted systematically using a predesigned table to describe the type and feature of the workforce, the setting, the outcomes, the methods used, the results found, the quality of the studies and the limitations. A formal meta-analysis of the results was not able to be conducted due to the studies reporting different outcomes and use of different measure of staffing and w ays of summarizing the association between staffing and outcome. Instead, a qualitative synthesis to explore patterns in the data and possible explanations for inconsistencies such as study design, analysis, context and setting was used. The systematic review found that many of the studies were of poor quality, using data from only one unit or hospital or failing to control for case mix variations. Overall, there was found to be accumulating evidence of a relationship between nurse staffing, especially higher skill mix, and patient outcomes. However, the estimates of the nurse staffing effects are likely to be unreliable. There is emerging evidence of a curvilinear relationship that suggests that the cost effectiveness of using registered nurse levels as a quality improvement tool will gradually become less cost effective. This article addressed staffing issues and quality of care but focused little on the issue of increased work hours of nurses and patient care outcomes. Factors Influencing the Use of Registered Nurse Overtime in Hospital, 1995-2000 by Berney et al published in the second quarter 2005 issue of Journal of Nursing Scholarship, aimed to assess nurse overtime in acute care general hospitals and the factors that influenced overtime among various hospitals. Staffing data from 1995-2000 from 193 acute general hospitals in New York State were used to examine hospital characteristics to determine whether they were associated with nurse overtime. The study concluded that hospitals varied dramatically in their overtime use. Some categories, for example Government owned, used little overtime indicating that management can find substitutes for overtime to meet fluctuating staffing needs. Unionized hospitals worked slightly more overtime than did nurses in nonunionized hospitals. The finding that hospitals with similar characteristics varied greatly in their number of overtime hours also supported this conclusion. Statistical analysis was complete d with bivariate associations between nurse overtime and each hospital characteristic and independent nursing variables. The article provided valuable information on the various uses of overtime by hospitals, but did not specifically address the correlation between hours worked and adverse events. Google Scholar The July 2004 issue of Health Watch contained an article by Rogers et al, The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety. A letter explaining the study and eligibility criteria was mailed to a random nationwide sample of 4,320 members of the American Nurses Association during the winter of 2002. 1.725 nurses expressed interest by returning the completed demographic questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 393 registered nurses working full time as unit based hospital staff nurses. Logbooks were completed by these participants who revealed they usually worked longer than originally schedule and that 40% of 5,317 work shifts logged exceeded 12 hours. The risk of making an error were increased when shifts were longer than 12 hours, nurses worked overtime, or when they worked more than 40 hours per week. The data from demographic questionnaires and logbooks were then summarized using descriptive statistics and frequency tables. The long and unpredictable hours document ed suggest a link between poor working conditions and treats to patient safety. This article provided relevant information pertaining to the initial PICO question. Scott et. al published Effects of Critical Care nurses work hours on vigilance and patients safety in the January 2006 issue of American Journal of Critical Care. The objectives were to describe the work patterns of critical care nurses, determine if an association existed between the occurrence of errors and the hours worked, and explore whether these work hours have adverse effects on the nurses vigilance. Data were obtained from a random sample of critical care nurses in the Untied States. Nurses eligible for the study were mailed two 14 day logbooks to fill out. Information collected included the hours worked, the time of day worked, overtime hours, days off and sleep wake patterns. On days worked, the respondents completed all work related questions and questions about difficulties in remained awake while on duty. The 502 respondents consistently worked longer than scheduled and for extended periods. Longer work duration increased the risk of errors and near errors and decreased nurses vigilance. The findings support the Institute of Medicine recommendations to minimize the use of 12 hours shifts and limit work hours to no more than 12 consecutive hours during a 24 hour period. This article contained information pertinent to the original PICO question. Article best addressing PICO Question Effects of Critical Care Nurses Work Hours on Vigilance and Patients Safety (Scott et. al., 2006) and Correlates of Medication Errors in Hospitals (Wilkins Shields, 2008) were found to be two articles that provided quality information regarding nursing hours worked and adverse patient outcomes. While the use of subjective measure of drowsiness, self report of errors and the relatively small sample of nurses used in the studies may limit the generalize-ability of the findings, the anonymity provided lends to more truthful responses. The methods allowed the nurses to disclose information that might have been unattainable if the use of standard categories for error reporting had been used. Although 12 hour shifts are popular among nurses, the findings in this study are congruent with previous reports that recommend minimizing the use of 12 hour shifts or at least limiting nurses work hours to more than 12 consecutive hours during a 24 hour period. Experience and extensive research in o ther industries has shown that accident rates increase when workers work 12 hours or longer. However, research pertaining to nurses has been relatively recent and data on accidents in healthcare facilities are not widely available. Conclusion Each database provided relevant articles containing research on the issue of the number hours worked by nurses and the effect of hours worked on patient care outcomes. Keywords nursing hours worked and patient outcomes delivered a large number of results. The methods to narrow results by placing additional parameters can be used across all databases. While there are minute differences among databases, basic search skills are universal by utilizing keywords developed in the PICO question. The final articles chosen provided data on the effects of hours worked by nurses and the potential effect on patient outcomes. While the articles addressed the limitations of the studies, the methods, data analysis and results were presented in a logical, reproducible format. The issue of the effects of long work hours has been studied extensively in other industries, such as air traffic controllers, leading to changes in work environment. Further research needs to be completed in the area of nursing regarding the effects of the long hours. These articles provide a solid basis for other researchers to build upon. The use of nursing informatics can provide databases with universal quality measures to provide more consistent, reliable data across healthcare facilities.

Lisa Bright And Dark :: essays research papers

When someone has a nearly "perfect" life, it’s hard to believe that person could be going out of his or her mind. Lisa Bright and Dark, by John Neufeld, explores the world of mental illness through Lisa Shilling, a sixteen year old who believes she is going crazy. Though she and her friends know this, she is unable to receive help because her parents think she is making it up. With no adult help, the problem has to be taken into the hands of Lisa and her three teenage friends. 	Lisa Shilling starts off as any normal teenager, attending school, going out with friends, and even dating. As the novel progresses, Lisa slips into dark, depressive moods on occasional days, and then into depression altogether. Lisa’s friends notice her change and take it into their own hands to give her "therapy" because Lisa’s parents are not willing to accept her sickness. As the depression progresses, many frightening incidents happen, but Lisa’s friends stick with her, helping to give strength to Lisa as well as themselves. 	Lisa’s friends stick with her when no one else will. One incident happened where Lisa went into an almost trance-like episode and then proceeded to attack one of her three friends. Even through the difficult times, Lisa’s friends would not give up on her. The basic theme of friendship is expressed throughout the novel. It is never told exactly what has caused Lisa Shilling to slip into this state of depression, which helps to make the atmosphere of the novel very mysterious. Just when it appears that Lisa is getting better, another episode occurs. The story is disturbing, being set around Lisa’s school and home. With other characters in the story, such as Lisa’s parents, causing conflicts with Lisa receiving proper treatment, the story is given a disturbing yet realistic feel. 	Instead of the story being told from the main character’s point of view, it is instead told by one of Lisa’s three friends who is trying to help. This keeps the reader from being able to tell exactly what is going on in Lisa Shilling’s head.

Ice Cream And Tears :: Immigration Personal Narrative Russia Papers

Ice Cream And Tears Exhausted, I passed through customs towards the exit door and stepped into a new world. My father gave my still sleepy brother and me a stick of Wrigley’s peppermint gum and we experienced our first taste in our new life. Every trip back home has matured me in many ways. Every flight I reflect back on my life, time after time, and become anxious of what I was going to face coming home to Russia. Often what I was looking forward to did not happen the way I wished. Now, events that I was planning for when I would come back to our new home in the United States began to be more reliable. Coming back to Russia I especially looked forward to seeing my grandparents. I was even more excited about seeing my friends with whom I could finally share my experiences with while I was away from them, living my new life. Every time, however, this excitement was diminished by more of my friends moving away or changing their lifestyles to become too different from me. I was becoming more isolate d from both worlds. I vividly remember crowds of foreign people staring at me as I walked through the isle with our cart full of luggage. As we put away our five suitcases I was still unable to grasp the idea that I was in America. Everything looked surreal; even the air I breathed had a peculiar scent. Nowhere where I had traveled throughout Russia was the air like this, humid and warm yet crisp. As we got into the car, my father’s American friend began asking us questions; I did not hear them. My eager young mind was not only incapable of understanding them because of the language barrier but I was unable to comprehend anything that was said. I was numb to everything around me. Every time I go back to Russia I become increasingly disappointed with the life people live there. The divide between the rich and the poor is becoming so great that it seems there will never be a middle class again. More poor are becoming homeless due to the government withholding their salaries and the rich are becoming as wealthy as the majority in the Western World because they may take advantage of the foreign investments and markets. What saddens me the most, however, is the effect on the Russian children.

Hamlet - Noble Prince in a Corrupt World Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet E

Hamlet - Noble Prince in a Corrupt World   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ever since I was acquainted with tragic plays, I fell in love with the ideas, concepts, and even moral beliefs of these tragic style writers.   Having never truly understood or read any of William Shakespeare's work, it was hard to see where he was coming from.   After reading and analyzing Hamlet, my first instincts depicted Shakespeare as a dramatist who was bent on creating an overly tragic, unfathomable drama.   That is why this essay is based around defending the opinion that "Hamlet is a noble prince who suffers from a corrupt world that is not suitable to his sensitive moral nature."   By doing this, the original implications will hopefully be disproved.   Maybe in the end, it will bee seen where Shakespeare is coming from in this enigmatic play.    We begin with Horatio, the scholar who is invited by two guards standing watch in Elsinore Castle.   These sentinels have spotted a spirit wandering the grounds for the past two nights at midnight, and they hope to answer their questions through Horatio.   When the ghost first appears to the three men, Horatio urges to have Prince Hamlet notified at once the presence of his dead father's ghost, at one time King Hamlet.   Why would King Hamlet's spirit be wandering the grounds of Elsinore?   This opening of the play is crucial because it brings up many questions that one hopes to answer later.   Due to the uncertainty of them being evil or heavenly, the people of the time were afraid of ghosts, including the two guards and Horatio who were horrified when they first encounter King Hamlet's spirit.    Hamlet is quoted "I wish that my living flesh would melt into nothingness."   He is without a doubt talki... ... A place that obeys, abides, and accepts the world, which they live in. While reading Hamlet, the ideas Shakespeare was trying to convey were analyzed a bit more critically due to the absence of everything being presented to you.   Trying to visualize the setting, the movements and actions of the characters allows one to grasp the concepts in a much broader perspective.   It was a good experience to try to understand one of the most poetic writers of all time, and I look forward to digging deeper into Shakespeare in the near future.    Sources Calderwood, James L. To Be and Not To Be: Negation and Metadrama in Hamlet. New York: Columbia U P, 1983.    Wofford, Susanne L., ed. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism, William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994.   

Plan to Improve Organizational Sturcture and Recapture Market Share Essay

Over the past few years, WordPlay Greetings has experienced a sharp decline in market share as well has extremely high turnover of sales staff. The first major challenge discussed was the limited supply of items that are also sold to other national retailers and create competition against Word Plays smaller company owned and franchised stores. The second issue highlighted in our discussion was that operations have been inefficient which also leads to decline of profitability. WordPlay Management was fearful that high turnover of sales staff was a major cause of inefficient operations and stressed the importance of addressing this issue. Technological advances are certainly an issue that every industry must consider when trying to keep with or beat competitors. Online options for the greeting card industry have greatly advanced over the past few years offering ways to send expressions electronically and even customize them with photos and voices without having to leave home. It is critical revive WordPlays website and make stores more appealing to visit with new product lines and customization options that will attract customers and keep them coming back and telling others. Hiring and retaining talented and caring staff is goes hand in hand with keeping up with technology. Knowledgeable and caring sales people are just as important as the product. Developing an organizational culture that inspires and motivates will help spark new creative designs and product offerings for WordPlay Greetings. Bryce & Dancetty has performed industry research, employee and market surveys, leading to job redesign, development of new marketing and product design teams, and improved organizational reward programs that aim at reducing turnover for WordPlay Greetings and getting them back on a path to profits. Introduction Bryce & Dancetty Consulting has been working with WordPlay Greetings over the past several months to analyze their business, develop plans to reduce sales staff turnover, revive its product line, improve its organizational culture, and implement new programs that will motivate employees and enrich jobs and career paths. In this report we will review the methods used to collect data and form plans for change. Causes of Business Downturn WordPlay Greetings market share has seen sharp declines over the past few years. Company leaders concluded that causes for this problem stemmed from the limited supply of items that are also sold to other national retailers and create competition against Word Plays smaller company owned and franchised stores. An additional contributor to their decline was believed to be high turnover with in their sales division. WordPlay leaders agreed to work with Bryce & Dancetty Consulting to look deeper in to these issues and how they could be resolved to help them regain market share and do better at hiring and retaining a highly skilled and motivated sales team. Bryce Dancetty Consulting employed the DECIDE Model which is based on statistical science to examine all aspects of the WordPlay business and its environment. The Decide Model allowed us to define the problem(s) and/or opportunities, along with objectives and constraints. Next, the possible decision factors that make up the alternative courses of action (controllable & uncontrollable) are enumerated (given numeric values). Then, relevant information on the alternatives and possible outcomes is collected. The next step is to identify and select the best alternative based on chosen criteria or measures of success. Then a detailed plan to develop and implement the alternative selected is created and put in to effect. Last, the outcome of the decision process itself is evaluated. We addressed issues by performing a market research and analysis that focuses on the following questions: †¢How can Word Play develop products that are exclusive, unique and will help recapture a higher market share? †¢Can store hours be adjusted based on traffic flow and peak sales times in order to reduce labor costs and increase profitability? Are there colleges in the area that may have marketing and/or design students that would be willing to intern and help bring new/fresh product designs to Word Play Greetings? Research was done and information was gathered via surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups that Bryce & Dancetty designed and assembled. Surveys and questionnaires provided a wealth of information quickly in a non-threatening manner. Most were completely anonymous and done at a very minimal cost. They were administered via mail as well as online. Feedback received via surveys concluded that Wordplay Greeting Cards current product line was being described as â€Å"stale† by former customers. This perception must be changed in order for the company to regain and increase its market share going forward. Focus Groups were utilized to explore topics related to operational efficiency, product design, marketing strategies, and common complaints regarding products to gain a more in-depth perspective on the best ways to increase market share and profitability. Focus groups yielded results that supported job redesign for the sales division, developing new product design and marketing teams, and creating an organizational culture that motivates and inspires. Sales Division and Sales Clerk Turnover Interviews of corporate employees as well as store staff were performed to better understand their impressions of the current state of the company, their experiences, and their ideas for improvement. From the information gathered, Bryce & Dancetty provided a revised job description which is attached in the appendix for review. In addition to revising the job description for sales clerks, Bryce &Dancetty made several recommendations that do not involve compensation adjustments that can also increase retention of sales staff for Wordplay Greetings. There is a significant need for WordPlay to increase feelings of participation within the organization. While allowing sales associates greater freedom in creating store displays, it is recommended that contests be incorporated to help motivate employees to put forth their best efforts. Allowing sales associates to take responsibility for deciding on how to put together displays is an example of vertically loading the job. Their autonomy increases and they feel more personal accountability for the outcome of their efforts (Hodgetts & Heger 2008, pg. 306). Involvement in new product selections through the creation of employee focus groups is also highly recommended. The focus groups will be allowed to participate on conference calls and in web training to assist with selection of new products that will be carried in the stores and also learn how these choices impact the company financially. This feeds an employee’s desire to learn and grow in their career, knowledge, and skill (Heathfield 2012). A recent McKinsey Quarterly survey underscores this type of opportunity. Respondents felt that the chance to lead projects or task forces were often more effective at motivating than financial increases (McKinsey Quarterly 2009). Another way to build a connection within an organization and increase the sense of belonging that employees feel is to create a company newsletter. Newsletters helps share what is happening on a higher level by sharing hot company news being discussed by executives, sharing status on company goals, and stock standings. When there are multiple locations, newsletters help to share what is happening elsewhere and are a great way to share creative ideas, contest winners, and announce new contests. Employee Profiles can be included to highlight accomplishments both inside and outside of the company. The newsletter is also a great way to share benefit information, deadlines, health tips, and volunteer opportunities. Lastly, increased communication between employees and local as well as corporate management will be a key to retention of sales staff. Well-designed jobs anticipate the need for communication. Most employees want to know what is expected of them in the job, how they are doing, how they can improve, what latitude they have in changing how they do their tasks, what should be discussed with a supervisor and when the discussion should occur. Employees rarely complain about too much communication with their supervisor. They often want more communication (Hodgetts & Heger 2008, pg. 306). The implementation of a regular newsletter as mentioned above will help with communication, however we are also strongly urging WordPlay Greeting Cards to provide a stronger line of communication via email that will allow employees to contact corporate offices more efficiently for feedback if they have concerns that are not being addressed at a local level and/or ideas that they want to share for improvement. Bryce & Dancetty Consulting is confident that the revision of the sales clerk job description which increases responsibility and sense of participation will not only attract more applicants but also encourage company loyalty and lead to retention of a high quality sales staff that can be promoted in to management positions as the business grows. Job Enrichment Job enrichment is a way to motivate employees by giving them increased responsibility and variety in their jobs. Our plans for job enrichment will focus on allowing employees to have more control in planning their work and deciding how the work should be accomplished. Job enrichment efforts will include adding and clarifying: Skill Variety – the number of different types of skills used to do a job. This is important because using only one skill to do the same task repeatedly can get very boring. When employees get bored productivity decreases over time. Task Identity – A matter of realizing a visible outcome from performing a task. Being able to see the end result of the work they do is an important motivator for employees. This can be accomplished through Job Enlargement. WordPlay will move towards this goal by adding more tasks and responsibilities to existing jobs. To illustrate this concept – a customer service representative will follow a client’s issue from start to finish (phone inquiry through problem resolution). Customer service reps will be given greater access and authority to make account/claim adjustments so that fewer inquiries need to be escalated. They will be able to take pride in knowing they solved a problem themselves and customer satisfaction is also sure to increase. Task Significance – How a job impacts others in the organization. If this is clearly defined, employees will make greater efforts to do their best.

Why is the Golden Age of Policing’ such a potent myth in British society?

The Golden Age of policing refers to a time when things were apparently better. We have all heard elders in our society talk of the good old days when none of today's atrocities happened: when the police did a better job, when there weren't as many criminals. However how true is the myth of the Golden Age? In order to examine this myth it is crucial to look at the police and their roles back in the 1940s and 50s and compare it to their roles today and also look at society and their view of the police. There is lots of historical evidence available to us about the police and how it has formed since, in particular the 18th Century. This evidence is based on original documentation from the time and gives us an accurate account, however we can only interpret and construct the history, as there is nobody alive to tell us otherwise. The so-called Golden Age is within living memory and we only have to use the evidence, to tell us of the time, but we can also ask people who were there. These people can compare current policing to the Golden Age and in contrast an age of better times is created. This works with other issues not only policing. Police roles in Britain remained fairly static from the early 19th Century to the 1960s. The police had four main functions, the first being Crime Prevention, to prevent crime before it began. Policing was visible and unmilitary. Crime Detection was a function that involved the apprehension and prosecution of criminals. It did not really involve detection, as this was a low priority function because there was paranoia about spies. Detection involved invisible policing in contrast to the visible policing of crime prevention. The third function was that of Public Order, which dealt with rioting. This was a variable function as public order was stable within society. The last function was the service role. The service role was an important part of policing at the time as the police did many other jobs including tax collection, auxiliary firemen and licensee inspections. The police provided cheap labour for society and were a huge part of community life. The role of the police changed with the introduction of The Police Act 1964. The structure of the police also changed and the tripartite relationship was put in place, which is still seen today. The main roles of the police have changed slightly and now include crime prevention, crime detection, the service role and a range of special units that have become more important than the public order role. Special units within the police include units such as the Drugs Squad, Fraud Squads and public order squads like riot control and armed police. It is said that these specialist units have had an influence in the decline of the service role. Officers do not spend as much time dealing with low level crime, as they are unable to solve this type of crime and so instead concentrate on high impact crime. The police moved away from the service role as professionalism was introduced and a move was made from the amateur unskilled labourer to a professional employee who in turn was paid well. To join the police became a career. Policing today in comparison to the Golden Age is seen as distant and remote. Policing in modern times has become technological. The use of mobile phones and walkie-talkies has increased efficiency within the police. The police drive round in cars and are hardly seen in some areas. Other areas do have a police presence but it is not always welcome. The police are now more readily armed and use deadly force if needed. In recent years even this year innocent people have been shot and killed by the police. Policing has become bureaucratic and this has caused limited results. Policing has become ruled by administration and paperwork and sees police officers spending most of their time in police stations. In the 1940s and 50s policing was seen as very benevolent. They were members of a community who were well natured and well mannered, they lived within the locality and were seen as non-confrontational. There was an apparent use of minimal force. They didn't carry arms and the local bobby was seen with nothing other than his truncheon. Society at the time was in a state of stability and the public order role of police was very minimal. Policing was seen as un-technological. They didn't have the use of cars or mobiles and the local bobby was visible walking or on a bike. Policing was something that was good. To examine this view we must first analyse people's attitudes at the time. During the Second World War people were used to figures of authority and they were used to discipline. There was social cohesion, as people seemed to know their place in society. People didn't move about the country as they do today and it was usual to be born and die in the same area. Britain was in a state of economic stability, there was full employment and people seemed happy. The police as figures of authority were respected and put on a pedestal. A survey called Exploring the English Character, conducted by Geoffrey Gorer in 1955 found the public to think, â€Å"The police represent an ideal model of behaviour and character†. (Reiner 1989) The policing of the time seems somewhat idyllic. What is not mentioned is that for the police this era was not necessarily a good one. The job of policeman was not seen as a career at the time. It was a semi skilled job that had a very low wage and this did not get better until the 1970s. Police malpractice in the form of corruption was wide spread through out the force and there were a number of police scandals involving Chief Constables. (Emsley). The Chief Constable of Worcester was imprisoned for fraud and the Chief Constable for Cardigan was disciplined for not administering his force correctly. The Chief Constable for Nottingham was suspended and later acquitted but damage had been done to the police already. (Wall) Recorded crime was on the increase and there were race riots in Nottingham. British society was becoming a consumer society and there was a huge increase in car ownership. This in turn gave the police new duties in traffic control. The police began to have anxieties about the public. (Reiner 2000) In 1960 this malpractice led to the Royal Commission on policing. It is worth noting that to have a Royal commission something must have been wrong in the first place. The media have their own part to play in the representation of the police at the time. There was minimal media coverage and Dixon Of dock Green was the fictional policeman that covered the television screens. He was the perfect friendly local policeman that helped the community and was even kind to the local villains. Unlike today where our screens are inundated with police programmes from â€Å"The Bill† to the fly on the wall police documentaries where the police are portrayed in both good and bad lights. Today the police are seen more as Robocop than Dixon who would wade in with guns and bombs rather than a truncheon. Today's police are constantly in the public eye and because of this the public are more aware of what actually goes on within the police. In conclusion the Golden Age is a myth in British society as there is little evidence that it was better. (Wilson) Policing in the 1950s was different from what it is today but that is expected of anything in life, it cannot stay the same. The Golden age was based on blind faith and ignorance of what policing involved at a harmonious time. In today's age we are confronted with growing concerns of crime from terrorism to drug trafficking which have not been seen in such large scales in this century. Public attitudes to the police have changed and so have the attitudes of those that work in the police. Public confidence has declined due to the rising crime rates that have soared due to cultural, social and economic factors and the increase in reporting and scandals within the police, however the police are in a better state today than before. (Downes and Morgan in Maguire 2002). The Golden Age myth will continue and in fifty years time the Golden Age will be replaced with a new one that is constructed by law-abiding citizens of the police of today.

Tcs Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy of TCS Commitment to the environment stems from the Tata Group’s abiding concern for the environment and society, which is embodied in the Tata Code of Conduct. The Tata Group considers climate change to be the greatest threat affecting economic stability, vulnerable communities and the society at large. The Tata Group’s Climate Change Policy mandates that all group companies assume leadership roles in climate change mitigation in the pursuit of business aspirations and enhancement of shareholder value.In the business of providing IT services, business solutions and outsourcing. Our environmental impacts result from our business operations globally and through the services and solutions that we provide our customers with. True to the Tata spirit, TCS regards climate change mitigation and environmental improvement as essential features of its sustainable business philosophy.We are committed to continuously benchmarking and enhancing our own environme ntal performance through the reduction of our carbon and ecological footprints with the involvement of our business associates and partners, thereby  striving to be leaders in our industry sector. Through our services and solutions, we endeavor to help customers improve their environmental performance toward their sustainability objectives.Aim to fulfill  our environmental commitments through the following broad-level actions: * Integrate energy and environmental considerations in the design of new infrastructural facilities * Improve resource efficiency in operations, especially for key resources such as energy and water * Adopt the â€Å"3-R† (reduce, reuse and recycle) philosophy for all types of wastes toward prevention of pollution and dispose of â€Å"inevitable† wastes, especially electronic waste, in line with regulatory requirements or industry best practices * Promote â€Å"green procurement† to the maximum extent possible * Consider stakeholder ex pectations on our environmental performance in the design of infrastructure, operations, processes and solutions to the extent feasible *Set, monitor and review objectives and targets on an ongoing basis toward achieving continuous improvement in environmental performance and the overall environmental management system * Remain committed to complying with all the applicable environmental and related legal and other requirements and, wherever feasible, enhance the prescribed standards in all the countries that we perate out of * Continue public reporting of our environmental performance and our contribution to climate change-related issues through relevant national and international forums and to other stakeholders through appropriate communication channels * Communicate the environmental policy to all employees, business associates and other stakeholders and ensure that the policy is available to the public *Review the environmental policy and allied management systems periodically to ensure their continuing applicability and relevance to our operations and evolving stakeholder expectations * Strive to support various voluntary national and international protocols, conventions and agreements on environment protection and proactively engage with governmental and other agencies in driving future environmental policy and regulation At TCS, concern for the environment is integral to our business strategy toward sustainability, and we shall strive to fulfill all our environmental obligations and commitments toward being responsible global corporate citizens.TCS embodies the Tata group’s philosophy of building strong sustainable businesses that are firmly rooted in the community and demonstrate care for the environment. The elements that make for strong corporate sustainability at TCS include the following: * A fair, transparent and value-driven corporate governance * A strong strategy for longer-term business growth * Best-in-class HR processes * Initiatives for community betterment * Our stewardship of the environment Green Procurement PolicyAs a part of  the ongoing commitment to improve the environment, this policy seeks to reduce the environment impacts of our operations and promote sustainable development by the integration of environment performance considerations in the procurement process. committed  to the  integration of environment performance considerations in the procurement process including planning, acquisition, use and disposal. TCS is committed to considering the environmental aspects, potential impacts  and costs, associated with the life cycle assessment of goods and services being acquired. This calls for conscious efforts across TCS in the following areas: 1.Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: TCS is committed to reducing resource consumption and minimizing waste while considering the life-cycle costs of products. We seek to implement the hierarchy of preference to reduce, reuse and recycle resources throughout the procurement activity. 2. Buy Recycled: We are committed to buying recycled/part-recycled products to optimize consumption and stimulate demand for recycled products, promoting the collection and reprocessing of waste and working toward zero discharge to the landfill. 3. â€Å"Green† the Supply Chain: We hope to maximize the benefits by encouraging  our supplier/vendors to adopt TCS' environment practices.We endeavor to undertake procurement activities with suppliers who share TCS' values. We will actively promote the green procurement policy  throughout  our supply chain to ensure selection  that has minimum environmental impact. Green Procurement Green procurement or environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP) is the practice of procuring products and services that are less harmful to the environment (land, air and water) and all species including humans that depend on environment for survival. Green products are those that are made with less harmful materials or wh ich when produced or  used/consumed would have a minimal impact  on the environment.Listed below are a few ways through which we aim to integrate the green procurement policy with the TCS environment policy. 1. TCS shall encourage and prefer eco-friendly products, which are more power efficient. 2. TCS shall prefer to purchase from a source  that is less polluting or uses clean technology. 3. TCS shall encourage and prefer vendors who use recycled packaging material. The possibilities of further reuse and/or recycling shall be explored with the user or the administration department. 4. For software products, as far as possible and to the extent feasible, the preferred mode of delivery shall be through the electronic method (download). A server is proposed to be deployed  that would host the most commonly required software.Instead of burning CDs, secured access would be made available to the respective project team to download the product from this common server. 5. The IPD  shall make efforts to recycle material from old sites to the practically possible extent. Focus Areas * Promoting procurement from Energy Star Partners * Procurement of low-energy consumption desktop configuration * Procurement of laser printers with GREEN functionality * Procurement of servers with low voltage CPUs and low-wattage storages * Procurement of server racks with efficient cooling systems * Eco-friendly procurement considerations for infrastructure and development * Eco-friendly procurement considerations for consumables   WASTE REDUCTION POLICYAt TCS, they are committed to reducing the environmental impact of  our operations through appropriate ongoing material management. This calls for a conscious effort across TCS in the following areas: Reduction of waste at source:  All delivery centers and offices must manage operations to reduce the quantity or toxicity of waste produced. Such measures include, but are not limited to the following: * Printing reports and documents, whenever possible, on both sides of the paper * Updating mailing and distribution lists periodically to avoid overrun; use of e-mail whenever appropriate * Giving preferential purchasing consideration to products that are reusable, refillable, repairable, more durable, less toxic, recyclable and which avoid excess packaging.Reuse of material wherever possible:  All products and materials must be reused wherever possible. * Recycling:  It is the responsibility of every associate to separate identified recyclable materials and place them in appropriate recycling containers. Office paper, corrugated cardboard and aluminum beverage cans must always be recycled in the appropriately marked container. Other materials are to be recycled whenever feasible and wherever containers are provided. Reuse is preferable to recycling. * Purchasing products with recycled content:  All offices across TCS must purchase and use products manufactured from recycled materials whenever feasi ble. In particular, recycled paper products must be used.It is important that all recycled purchases be reported to the Admin/Purchase Department across TCS for record keeping and reporting purposes In addition to the specific efforts mentioned above, all delivery centers and offices are encouraged to designate one associate as a Recycling Monitor who will serve as liaison to Head – Health Safety Environment. TCS E-Waste Management Policy Tata Consultancy Services, being an IT-centric organization, contributes  majorly to global electronic waste. Reaffirming our commitment to environmental protection, and in accordance with the stringent standards we set ourselves, the eWaste Management Policy reflects our objectives and practices toward this end.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 54~55

54 Selling Tucker The Sky Priestess threw the straw hat across the room, then tore at the high-buttoned collar of the white dress. She was losing him. She hated that more than anything: losing control. She ripped the dress down the front and wrestled out of it. She stormed across the room, the dress still trailing from one foot, and pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer. She poured herself a tumbler and drank half of it off while still holding the bottle, then refilled the glass while her temples throbbed with the cold. She carried the bottle and glass to a chair in front of the television, sat down, and turned it on. Nothing but static and snow. Sebastian was using the satellite dish. She threw the vodka bottle at the screen, but missed and it bounced off the case, taking a small chip out of the plastic. â€Å"Fuck!† She keyed the intercom next to her chair. â€Å"‘Bastian! Dammit!† â€Å"Yes, my sweet.† His voice was calm and oily. â€Å"What the fuck are you doing? I want to watch TV.† â€Å"I'm just finishing up, sweetheart.† â€Å"We need to talk.† She tossed back another slug of vodka. â€Å"Yes, we do. I'll be up in a moment.† â€Å"Bring some vodka from your house.† â€Å"As you wish.† Ten minutes later the Sorcerer walked into her bungalow, the picture of the patrician physician. He handed her the vodka and sat down across from her. â€Å"Pour me one, would you, darling?† Before she could catch herself, she'd gotten up and fetched him a glass from the kitchen. She handed it to him along with the bottle. â€Å"Your dress is torn, dear.† â€Å"No shit.† â€Å"I like the look,† the Sorcerer said, â€Å"although I'd have preferred to tear it off you myself.† â€Å"Not now. I think we have trouble.† The Sorcerer smiled. â€Å"We did, but as of tonight at midnight, our troubles are over. How was your walk this morning, by the way?† â€Å"I took Case to see the shark hunt. I thought it would keep him from getting island fever, something different to break the boredom.† â€Å"As opposed to fucking him.† She wasn't going to show any surprise, not after he'd laid a trap like that. â€Å"No, in addition to fucking him. It was a mistake.† â€Å"The shark hunt or the fucking?† She bristled, â€Å"The shark hunt. The fucking was fine. He saw the boy whose corneas we harvested.† â€Å"So.† â€Å"He freaked. I shouldn't have let him connect the people with the procedure.† â€Å"But I thought you could handle him.† He was enjoying this entirely too much for her taste. â€Å"Don't be smug, ‘Bastian. What are you going to do, lock him in the back room of the clinic? We need him.† â€Å"No, we don't. I've hired a new pilot. A Japanese.† â€Å"I thought we'd agreed that†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It hasn't worked using Americans, has it? He starts tonight.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"You're going to go pick him up. The corporation assures me that he's the best, and he won't ask questions.† â€Å"I'm going to pick him up?† â€Å"We have a heart-lung order. You and Mr. Case need to deliver it.† â€Å"I can't do it, ‘Bastian. I can't do a performance and a heart-lung tonight. I'm too jangled.† â€Å"You don't have to do either, dear. We don't have to do the surgery. We'll make less money on it, but we only have to deliver the donor.† â€Å"But what about doing the choosing?† â€Å"You've done that already. You chose when you went to bed with our intrepid Mr. Case. The heart-lung donor is Tucker Case.† Tuck needed a drink. He looked around the bungalow, hoping that someone had left a stray bottle of vanilla extract or aftershave that might go well with a slice of mango. Mangoes he had, but anything containing ethyl alco-hol was not to be found. It would be hours before darkness could cover his escape to the drinking circle, where he intended to get gloriously hammered if he could look any of the Shark People in the eye and keep his stomach. Sorry, you guys. Just had to take the edge off of the guilt of blinding a child to get my own airplane. He tried to distract himself by reading, but the moral certainties of the literary spy guys only served to make him feel worse. Television was no help either. Some sort of Balinese shadow puppet show and Filipino news special on how swell it was to make American semiconductors for three bucks a day. He punched the remote to off and tossed it across the room. Frustration leaped out in a string of curses, followed by â€Å"All right, Mr. Ghost Pilot, where in the hell are you now?† And there was a knock on the door. â€Å"Kidding,† Tuck said. â€Å"I was kidding.† â€Å"Tucker, can I come in?† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"It's open.† It was always open. There was no lock on it. He looked away as she entered, afraid that, like the face of the Medusa, she might turn him to stone – or at least that part of him unaffected by conscience. She came up behind him and began kneading the muscles in his shoulders. He did not look back at her and still had no idea if she might be naked or wearing a clown suit. â€Å"You're upset. I understand. But it's not what you think.† â€Å"There's not a lot of room for misinterpretation.† â€Å"Isn't there? What if I told you that that boy was blind from birth. His corneas were healthy, but he was born with atrophied optic nerves.† â€Å"I feel much better, thanks. Kid wasn't using his eyes, so we ripped them out.† He felt her nails dig into his trapezius muscles. â€Å"Ripped out is hardly appropriate. It's a very delicate operation. And because we did it, another child is able to see. You seem to be missing that aspect of what we're doing here. Every time we deliver a kidney, we're saving a life.† She was right. He hadn't thought about that. â€Å"I just fly the plane,† he said. â€Å"And take the money. You could have this same job back in the States. You could be flying the organs of accident victims on Life Flight jets and accomplishing the same thing, except you wouldn't be making enough to pay the taxes on what you make here, right?† No, not exactly, he thought. Back in the States, he couldn't fly anything but a hang glider without his license. â€Å"I guess so,† he said. â€Å"But you could have told me what you were doing.† â€Å"And have you thinking about the little blind kid at five hundred miles per hour. I don't think so.† She bent over and kissed his earlobe lightly. â€Å"I'm not a monster, Tuck. I was a little girl once, with a mother and a father and a cat named Cupcake. I don't blind little kids.† Finally he turned in the chair to face her and was grateful to see that she was wearing one of her conservative Donna Reed dresses. â€Å"What happened to you, Beth? How in the hell do you get from ‘Here, Cupcake' to the Murdering Bitch Goddess of the Shark People?† He immediately regretted saying it. Not because it wasn't true, but because he'd given away the fact that he knew it was. He braced himself for the rage. She moved to the couch and sat down across from him. Then she curled into a ball, her face against the cushions, and covered her eyes. He said nothing. He just watched as her body quaked with silent sobs. He hoped this wasn't an act. He hoped that she was so offended that she would take his murder accusation for hyperbole. Five full minutes passed before she looked up. Her eyes were red and she'd managed to smear mascara across one cheek. â€Å"It's your fault,† she said. Tuck nodded and tried not to let a smile cross his lips. She was playing another part, and she didn't do the victim nearly as well as she did the seduction queen. He said, â€Å"I'm sorry, Beth. I was out of line.† She seemed surprised and broke character. Evidently, he'd stepped on her line, the one she'd been thinking of while pretending to cry. A second for composure and she was back at it. â€Å"It's your fault. I only wanted to have a friend, not a lover. All men are that way.† â€Å"Then you must not have gotten the newsletter: ‘Men Are Pigs.' Next issue is ‘Water Is Wet.' Don't miss it.† She fell out of character again. â€Å"What are you saying?† â€Å"You might have been a victim once, but now that's just a distant memory you use to rationalize what you do now. You use men because you can. I can't figure out what happened in San Francisco, though. A woman who looks like you should have been able to find an easier way to fuck her way to a fortune. The doc must have been a cakewalk for you.† â€Å"And you weren't?† Tuck felt as if someone had injected him with a truth serum that was lighting up his mind, and not with revelations about Beth Curtis. The light was shining on him. â€Å"Yeah, I guess I was a cakewalk. So what? Did you think for a minute that you might try not to go to bed with me? â€Å"Other than when I found out that you'd almost torn your balls off, not for a minute.† She was gritting her teeth. â€Å"And how big a task do you think you took on? It's not like you were corrupting me or anything. I've been on the other end of the game for years. I know you, Beth. I am you.† â€Å"You don't know anything.† She was visibly trying not to scream, but Tuck could see the blood rising in her face. He pushed on. â€Å"Freud says I'm this way because I was never hugged as a child. What's your excuse?† â€Å"Don't be smug. I could have you right now if I wanted.† As if to prove her point, she placed her feet at either end of the coffee table and began to pull up her dress. She wore white stockings and nothing else underneath. â€Å"Not interested,† Tuck said. â€Å"Been there, done that.† â€Å"You're so transparent,† she said. She crawled over the table and did a languid cat stretch as she ran her hands up the inside of his thighs. By the time her hands got to his belt buckle, she was face-to-face with him, almost touching noses. Tuck could smell the alcohol on her breath. She flicked her tongue on his lips. He just looked in her eyes, as cold and blue as crystal, like his own. She wasn't fooling anyone, and in realizing that, Tuck realized that he also had never fooled anybody. Every Mary Jean lady, every bar bimbo, every secretary, flight attendant, or girl at the grocery store had seen him coming and let him come. Beth unzipped his pants and took him in her hand, her face still only a millimeter from his, their eyes locked. â€Å"Your armor seems to have a weak spot, tough guy.† â€Å"Nope,† Tuck said. She slid down to the floor and took him into her mouth. Tuck suppressed a gasp. He watched her head moving on him. To keep himself from touching her he grabbed the arms of the chair and the wicker creaked as if it was being punished. â€Å"That's a pretty convincing argument,† said the male voice. Tuck looked up to see Vincent sitting on the couch where Beth had been a minute ago. â€Å"Jesus!† Tuck said. Beth let out a muffled moan and dug her nails into his ass. â€Å"Wrong!† Vincent said. â€Å"But never play cards with that guy.† The flyer was smoking a cigarette, but Tuck couldn't smell it. â€Å"Oh, don't worry. She can't hear me. Can't see me either, not that she's looking or anything.† Tuck just shook his head and pushed up on the arms of the chair. Beth took his movement for enthusiasm and paused to look up at him. Tuck met her gaze with eyes the size of golf balls. She smiled, her lipstick a bit worse for the wear, a string of saliva trailed from her lips. â€Å"Just enjoy. You lost. Losers flourish here.† She licked her lips and returned to her task. â€Å"Dame makes a point,† Vincent said. â€Å"I give you three to one she brings you around to her way of thinking. Whatta ya say?† â€Å"No.† Tuck waved the flyer off and shut his eyes. â€Å"Oh, yes,† Beth said, as if speaking into the microphone. Vincent flicked his cigarette butt out the window. â€Å"I'm not distracting you, am I? I just dropped in to take up on the dame's side, as she is unable to speak for herself at present.† Tuck was experiencing the worst case of bed spins he'd ever had – in a chair. Sexual vertigo. â€Å"Of course,† Vincent continued, â€Å"this is kinda turning into a religious experience for you, ain't it? Go with what you know, right? You let her run the show, you got no decisions to make and no worries ever after. Not a worry in the world. You got my word on that. Although, if it was me, I'd check out her story just to be safe. Look in the doc's computer maybe.† Beth was working her mouth and hands like she was pumping water on an inner fire that was consuming her with each second that passed. Tuck heard his own breath rise to a pant and the wicker chair crackle and creak and skid on the wooden floor. He was helping her now, wanting her to quench that flame and that was all there was. â€Å"You think about it,† Vincent said. â€Å"You'll do the right thing. You owe me, remember.† He faded and disappeared. â€Å"What does that mean?† Tuck said, then he moaned, arched his back, and came so hard he thought he would pass out, but she kept on and on until he couldn't stand the intensity and had to push her away. She landed on the floor at his feet and looked up like an angry she-cat. â€Å"You're mine,† she said. She was still breathing hard and her dress was still up around her waist. â€Å"We're friends.† It came out like a command, but Tuck heard a note of desperation below the panting and the ire, and he felt a wrenching pain in his chest like nothing he'd ever felt before. â€Å"I know you, Beth. I am you,† he said. But not anymore, he thought. He said, â€Å"Yes, we're friends.† She smiled like a little girl who'd been given a pony for her birthday. â€Å"I knew it,† she said. She climbed to her feet and smoothed down her skirt, then bent and kissed him on the eyebrow. He tried to smile. She said, â€Å"I'll see you in a few hours. We're flying out at nine. I have to go see to Sebastian.† Tuck zipped up his pants. â€Å"And get ready for your performance?† he said. â€Å"No, this isn't a medical flight. Just supplies.† Tuck nodded. â€Å"Beth, was that little boy blind from birth?† â€Å"Of course,† she said, looking offended. She was more convincing as the Sky Priestess. â€Å"You go see to Sebastian,† Tuck said. After she had left, Tuck looked at the ceiling and said, â€Å"Vincent, just in case you're listening, I'm not buying your bullshit. If you want to help me, fine. But if not, stay out of my way.† 55 Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Computer Tuck went into the bathroom and washed his face, then combed his hair. He studied his face in the mirror, looking for that scary glint that he'd seen in Beth Curtis's eyes. He wasn't her. He wasn't as smart as she was, but he wasn't as crazy either. He cringed with the realization that he had spent most of his adult life being a jerk or a patsy and sometimes both simultan-eously. And it was no small irony to have had an epiphany during a blow job. Vincent, whatever he was, had been playing some kind of game from the beginning, mixing lies and truth, helping him only to get him into trouble. There was no grand bailout coming, and if he was going to find out what was really being planned for him, he had to get into the computer. The best time to sneak into the clinic was right now, in broad daylight. He hadn't seen any of the guards all day and Beth was â€Å"seeing to Sebastian.† If he got caught, he'd simply say he was trying to get the weather for to-night's flight. If the doc could e-mail and fax all over the world, then surely he would have access to weather services. It didn't matter; he didn't think he'd have a hard time convincing the doc that he was just being stupid. His entire life had set up the cover. He grabbed some paper and a pencil from the nightstand and stuffed them into his back pocket. While he was in there, he might as well see if he could pick up the coordinates for Okinawa. If he could sneak them into the nav computer on the Lear, he might just be able to get the military to force the jet down there. He didn't have a chance in hell of getting there on his own navigational skills. He stepped out on the lanai and gave a sidelong glance to the guards' quarters to make sure no one was just inside the door watching his bungalow. Satisfied, he walked to the clinic and tried the door. It was unlocked. He checked the compound again, saw nothing, and slipped into the clinic. He was immediately met by the sound of voices coming from the back room. Male voices, speaking Japanese. He tiptoed through the door that led into the operating room and opened it a crack. The door to the far side was open. He could see all the ninjas gathered around one of the hos-pital beds playing cards. It was visiting day for Stripe. He palmed the door shut and went to the computer. There had been a time when Tuck was so ignorant of computers that he thought a mouse pad was Disney's brand of sanitary napkin, but that was before he met Jake Skye. Jake had taught him how to access the weather maps, charts, and how to file his flight plans through the computer. In the process Tuck had also learned what Jake considered the most important computer skill, how to hack into someone else's stuff. The three CRTs were all on, two green over black and one color. Tuck focused on the color screen. It was friendlier and it was displaying a screen saver he recognized, a slide show of dolphins. He moved the mouse and the familiar Windows screen appeared. There was a cheer from the back room and Tuck nearly drove the mouse off the top of the desk. Must have been a good hand. He expected to see obscure medical programs, something he'd never figure out, but it looked like the doc used the same stuff everyone in the States did. Tuck clicked on the database icon and the program jumped to fill the screen. He opened a file menu; there were only two. One was named SUPPLIES, the other TT. Tissue types? He clicked it. The ENTER PASSWORD field opened. â€Å"Shit.† Jake had always told him that people used obvious passwords if you knew the people. Something they wouldn't forget. Put yourself in their place, you'll figure out their passwords, and don't eliminate the possibility that it may be written on a Post-it note stuck to the computer. Tuck looked for Post-it notes, then open the desk drawers and riffled through the papers for anything that looked like a password. He pushed out the chair and looked under the desk. Bingo! There were two long numbers written on tape on the bottom of the desk drawer. He pulled the paper and pencil from his pocket and copied them down, then entered the first one in the password field. was the response Tuck typed in the second number. Look for the obvious. Tuck typed SKY PRIESTESS. The guards were laughing in the other room. Tuck typed in VINCENT. DOCTOR. It would be something that the doc would be sitting here thinking about. It would be on his mind. Tuck typed BETH. BETHS TITS. Wait a minute. This was the doc thinking. He typed BETHS BREASTS. The file scrolled open, filling the screen with a list of names down the left side followed by rows and columns of letters and numbers. All of the names Tuck could see were native. Across the top were five columns that must be the tissue types and blood types, next to those, kidney, liver, heart, lung, cornea, and pancreas. Christ, it was an inventory sheet. And the heart, lung, liver, and pancreas categories convinced him once and for all that there was no benevolent intention behind the Curtises' plan. They were going to the meat market with the Shark People until the village was empty. Tuck typed in SEPIE in the FIND field. An X had been placed in all the organ categories except kidney. There he found an H and a date. H? Har-vested. The date was the day they harvested it. He typed in PARDEE, JEFFERSON. No â€Å"x's† in any of the columns, but two H's under heart and lungs. Of course the other organs weren't marked. They'd been donated to the sharks and were no longer available. There was nothing under SOMMERS, JAMES. That too made sense. How would they get the organs to Japan without a pilot. Tuck wished he'd gotten the little blind boy's name. He couldn't take the time to scroll though all three hundred or so names looking for missing corneas. He typed in CASE, TUCKER. There were H's marked under the heart and lung category. The harvest date was today. â€Å"You fuckers,† he said. There was a shuffling in the back room and he stood so quickly the chair rolled back and banged into a cabinet on the other side of the office. The database was still up on the screen. Tuck reached out and punched the button on the monitor. It clicked off as Mato came through the door. â€Å"What are you guys doing here?† Tuck said. Mato pulled up. He seemed confused. He was supposed to be doing the yelling. â€Å"We're flying tonight,† Tuck said. â€Å"Do you guys have the plane fueled up?† Mato shook his head. â€Å"Then get on it. I wondered where you were.† Mato just looked at him. â€Å"Go!† Tuck said. â€Å"Now!† Mato started to slink toward the door, obviously not comfortable with leaving Tuck in the clinic. Another guard came into the office and when Mato looked up, Tuck snatched his paper and pencil from the desk. He dropped the pencil and when he bent to pick it up, he hit the main power switch on the computer. The computer would reboot when turned on and the doctor would only know that it had been turned off. He'd never suspect that someone had been into the donor files. â€Å"Let's go, you guys.† Tuck pushed past Mato out the office door, shoving the paper in his pocket as he went. Tuck made quite a show of the preflight on the Lear, demanding three times that the guard with access to the key to the main power cutoff turn it on so he could check out the plane. The guard wasn't buying it. He walked away from Tuck snickering. Tuck checked under the instrument panel. Maybe there would be some obvious way to hot-wire the switch. He'd been lucky with the computer. The switch and all the wires leading into it were covered by a steel case. He couldn't get into it with a blowtorch, and frankly, he had no idea which wires did what. It probably wasn't even a simple switch, but a relay that lead to another switch. There'd be no way to wire around it. He left the hangar and went back to his bungalow. Unless he found some way to get off the island, he was going to be short a couple of lungs and a heart come midnight. Beth would have at least one guard on the plane with her, probably two, given the circumstances. And he had no doubt that she'd shoot him in the crotch and make him fly to Japan anyway. There had to be another way. Like a boat. Kimi's boat. Didn't these guys travel thousands of miles over the Pacific in canoes like that? What could the doc do? He'd been so careful about safeguarding the island that the guards didn't even have a boat to chase him with. Tuck put on his shorts and took his fins and mask to the bathroom. He knotted the ends of his trouser legs and started filling them with supplies. A shirt, a light jacket, some disinfectant, sunscreen, a short kitchen knife. He found a small jar of sugar in the kitchen, dumped the sugar into the sink, and filled the jar with matches and Band-Aids. When he was ready to seal it, he saw the slip of paper he'd written on in the office sticking from the pocket of the trousers and shoved it into the jar as an afterthought. He topped off the pants bag with a pair of sneakers, then pulled the webbed belt tight to cinch it all up. He could swim with the pants legs like water wings. The wet clothing would get heavy, but not until he hit the beach on the far side of the minefield. To Tuck's way of thinking, once he was past the minefield he was halfway there. Then all he had to do was convince the old cannibal to give him the canoe, enough food and water to get somewhere, and Kimi to navigate. Where in the hell would they go? Yap? Guam? One step at a time. First he had to get out of the compound. He checked the guards' positions. Leaning out the window, he could see three – no, four – at the hangar. He waited. He'd never tried to make the swim while it was still light. They'd be able to see him in the water from as far away as the runway. He just had to hope that they didn't look in that direction. The guards were rolling barrels into the hangar to hand-pump the jet fuel into the Lear. Two on each barrel, four out in the compound, bingo. One guy had to be in the hangar cranking the pump. And Stripe was in the clinic. Showtime! Tuck went into the bathroom, lifted the hatch, threw down the pants bag and his swimming stuff, and followed it through. He weighed sneaking against running, stealth against speed, and decided to go like a newborn turtle for the water. The only people who might see him were the Doc and Beth, and they were probably in the process of pushing the twin beds together and doing the Ozzie and Harriet double-skin sweat slap – or whatever sort of weird shit they did. He hoped it was painful. He broke into a dead run across the gravel, feeling the coral dig at his feet and the ferns whip at his ankles but keeping his focus on the beach. As he passed the clinic, he thought he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't turn. He was Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, and Edwin Moses (except he was white and slow), a single head turn could cause him to lose his stride and the race – and boy, does that beach seem farther when you're running than when you're sneaking. He almost tumbled when he hit the sand, but managed a controlled forward stumble that put him face-first in four inches of water. The baby turtle had made it to the water, but now he faced a whole new set of dangers at sea, not the least of which was trying to swim with a pair of stuffed khakis around his neck. He kicked a few feet out into the water, put on his fins and mask, and began the swim. He'd been furious from the moment he heard the pilot's voice in the clinic and he had fought the cloud of painkillers and the pressure in his head to get to him. Yamata watched the pilot stumble into the water before he tried shouting for the others. The shout came out little more than a grunt through his wired jaw, and his crushed sinuses allowed little sound to pass through his nose. His gun was in the guards' quarters, the others were at the hangar, and his hated enemy was escaping. He decided to go for his gun. The others might want to take the pilot alive.