Materialism at its finest

Want a surefire sign you’re a really bad boss and hopelessly materialistic to boot?  Well, if you’re responsible for other people’s money and you steal it, $230,000 of it, to buy among other things, a luxury cruise, a flat-screen TV and a $56,000 Mercedes Benz, you’re a really bad and materialistic boss.   That’s exactly what cops are saying 29 year old Amber Marie Turner did.  Prosecutors are alleging that while working for Precision Photonics, a Boulder, Colorado based laser optics company, Turner put her name on the company’s American Express card and then literally went to town with it. One of the more disturbing aspects of the story is that by satisfying her own lust for material things, she caused others to lose their jobs.  Precision Photonics was forced to lay employees off as a result of Turner’s embezzlement. 

When a 29 year old steals $230,000 to buy cars, vacations and a $2,000 queen sized mattress you’ve got to wonder what’s driving her obsession.  But, it’s not just her who’s obsessed. Each week we tune in, in droves, to watch the super wealthy and the super wealthy wannabes try to out-spend, out-own, and out-impress each other and us.  By now you know how I feel about most reality TV shows. I think as a society, we can do better. We should be doing better.  And, as consumers of this type of media, we may not have created the materialism monster that had a young woman embezzling money from her employer to go on a shopping spree, but we sure are feeding it. Thoughts?

Source: Daily Camera

Laughing all the way to the bank - REUTERS/Frank Polich

I think I’m going to have to name a blog category after Blagojevich.  In a prime example of what’s wrong with America today, our second favorite really bad boss in the political arena – Kwame Kilpatrick being our first – is at it again.  Just hours after pleading not guilty to the federal charges against him, I hear that he’s trying to get himself on a reality show called “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” The show takes a group of D-list celebrities to a jungle and leaves them there.  Apparently mayhem ensues, and we are thereby entertained.  Is it wrong to hope they all get scabies?  Blagojevich is in line to make $80,000…an episode! That right there is a really bad boss gold mine and sets the stage for the really bad boss trifecta:

1.  Bad bosses making a killing off of their really bad behavior.  We already ♥ Blago because he gives us soooo much to work with. Now he’s poised to make $80k an episode – for being a liar, and a cheat.  Nice. Really nice.

2. Bad bosses making a profit off the bad behavior of other really bad bosses. You already know how I feel about reality shows and the media execs who riddle our airways with them.  When will rewarding bad behavior stop being prime time entertainment?  Are the networks competing with each other to see who can dumb down America the fastest?  It seems that all you have to do today to get on TV is to be completely talentless, make a sex tape that is ‘mysteriously’ leaked, lie, steal and/or cheat.  Oh yeah, and be in line for a layoff.  I’m waiting for the reality show where honesty, integrity and a little bit of pride is rewarded.  I’ll report on that story alongside the one where the cow jumps over the moon.

3. People choosing to support really bad behavior by tuning in.  We’ve got to share a little bit of the blame here.  You know at really bad boss we believe that people are the bosses of their own lives.  The reason these shows continue to litter our airways is that we – and by we, I mean the ones who think Flava Flav is a good catch – keep watching them.  With the exception of the Amazing race, and that dance off show, I stay away from the genre.   But by watching these shows, we help boost the ratings and we send a message to execs that say ”keep this kind of programming coming.”

Now a man who should be a disgraced former governor, stands to make $80,000 an episode for being a complete and utter ass.