Over the past several weeks I have found myself searching for insight on what makes people tick, for want of better words. For over a decade now, I have worked on both sides of the table in the Mortgage Field Services Industry. Much like Everlast’s song, What It’s Like, I have played most of the roles and today am on the organizing side. It is probably pretty easy to figure out what Association I work with; however, I am neither a voting member nor on the Board which gives me some clarity into the human psyche as it applies there. As I write this evening, I am clear headed and without a drink which is rare on a Friday evening. And with thousands of hours tied up in rat race against time I felt it was time to talk about the problems of working with Management when, deep down in your soul, you are Labor.
When we use the term Management, many get a sense that people whom have their own companies or are middlemen and women somehow are literate and educated. There is a presumption that these kinds of folks somehow have a crystal ball that guides them on a course far superior than those of us actually in the trenches. Nothing, my friends, could be further from the truth.
Intrinsically, people are rather benign specimens whom meander around the face of the third rock from the sun in an aimless manner. Their motivations are pedestrian and generally follow along several courses, all of which boil down to money. It is no different whether they have a job, own a business, are married, or and wait for it, are Christian. Growing up in private schools and later in the military, it was a facet of human nature that truly puzzled me. You see, critical thinking is something that never has and never will be taught in public schools and almost never is encouraged amongst blue collar professions. It is dangerous for the iDiots to critically think — a little play on your iOS there — as Management wants to control them to perform service sector work and catastrophic when it comes to rigging elections. That last statement may give you pause, but the reality is that the Electoral College has ensured that the public vote, at least with the Presidency, has never mattered, but now with artificial intelligence, you can make damn sure that the true public vote — even though no one really cares — died in the last election.
People, inherently, are lazy. It is a fact, get over it. And more on point, people whom make money off of others, are all the more lazy. A simple read on Henry Ford will get you up to speed on the realities of the modern assembly line. And why Ford chose the lazy folks to create it in a fashion that has not changed much until Amazon got smart and began to mechanize, much like Motown up in Detroit, is a fascinating deep dive. And the reality is that when you have only Management running your show, change is hard to come by unless it truly, and in totality, sticks it Labor.
My day job revolves around writing here on Foreclosurepedia, coding for nonprofits, and bringing from the drawing board concepts that generally make the world a better place to live in. Generally, I work with folks that are willing to roll up their sleeves and get the job done without avarice and without greed. In the Open Source Community it is a motto and at a personal level I truly believe that Code Is Poetry. The problem, though, is that when you take people out of the Mortgage Field Service Industry and attempt any type of Reformation, you become Martin Luther and are branded for hanging the 95 Theses. In essence, Luther in 1517 penned a document attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve sin. And the rest, as we say, is history and the Catholics got a new bedfellow called Protestantism. I dwell on religious because its violence amongst sects has so much to teach us about the true evil in all of man. And in our Industry, it is no different.
The problem with attempting to have Management better the lives of Labor is that they have a vested interest not to such. Take, for example, their demands to do the job yesterday and when you need something done they blue sky it. They will smile in your face whilst thrusting the dagger deep in your spine. Management are serpentine creatures with a voice like a Siren as Odysseus of old warned. They are sycophants whom will gladly allow for the framework to be built with the toil and expense of others never once taking the time to assist.
Management has an obligation to never allow a true partnership with Labor. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing would be the best metaphor to describe the practice. Here is a statement by a National Order Mill when it came to calling them on the carpet for refusing to increase pricing on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac inspection price increases,
We have been working w vendors to increase their pricing one at a time. If you have someone that we didn’t work w yet, lmk — 21 July 2023
One at a time. Sounds like some Archie Bunker bullshit to me. Let’s see, you have a roster of tens of thousands of folks, so that puts the pay increases sometime in 2050 across the board. One at a time. That is the mantra of Assero, my friend. We will pay those we have to, one at a time. Here is a chart that breaks down that spirit of one at a time. It is the debt sheet for Assero controlled by Lee Mertins and Eduardo San Roman,
Will your local member of Management be there when the order mill they farm out to takes the money and runs as National Field Network did and Assero does now? I don’t know, it is a good question. If I have to base the presumption on thus far, then I submit that the answer is no. In fact, I submit that your Greco – Roman member of Management will make Caligula look like a preschool teacher and destroy you simply to use your bones to pick the flesh of Labor from out of their teeth.
When Associations get underway, the hardest part of organizing is trying to determine whom has a pulse and then whom, even remotely, has a brain. I am not talking about Einstein here, I am simply attempting to identify if the pulse is associated with the brain or simply that autonomic response to greed. And over the past several months, the problem has been that I am simply unable to even identify a pulse.
Associations require baselines. There is an entire industry dedicated to this field. Normally, you are looking at tens of thousands of dollars for polling, surveys, and the such to simply figure out what makes your Board tick. That is the key, though. Generally speaking, when a person expends money, they are quick to respond as they know paid consultants rarely fuck around with tending to children with pacifiers. The plot twists, though, when you bring a turn key asset, free of charge. Remember that statement about laziness? It hits epic levels when you do shit for free. In fact, any hope of that pulse connecting with the brain is extinguished like Condition Dog Zebra on a naval ship at night. And that proverbial Smoking Lamp, as we called it in the US Navy, is never lit again. It is the tell tale sign that you are now in the Management Zone. Here, take a read from the initial request, via non Association email, which should have simply been answered with, “We will schedule a hearing,”
I have a formal grievance which I want submitted to the [Redacted]. I am sure that you folks have a Committee or something that deals with it.
My Client, an [Redacted] Member in good standing, whom has a Grievance to be submitted to the [Redacted] Board. Its causation is from an [Redacted] Board Member and I presume that the Board, in good standing, will address it.
The good name, the reputation, and potentially the insurance of my Client is now jeopardized. This pertains to a Field Service Technician issue. I believe that only the [Redacted] has standing to opine; however, will not object to a hearing with the entirety of the Board on the call provided that it is recorded.
Thank you.
The problem here is that it should have began and ended with the request for a Grievance Hearing instead of sprawling out over hours of total and complete verbal gymnastics performed in order to save the skin of fellow Management. The irony of all ironies is that the matter was settled and only required acceptance of a document by the offender. In the instant case, though, we were advised that the offender was meeting with a Client — there is that irony — and did not have time and it would have to wait until the next day. Let that sink in for just a moment. The member of Management had no problem allowing a fraudulent statement to be submitted across state lines, using electronic means, and when presented with a non litigious solution, chose to enrich their bottom line as opposed to fixing the very problem they created. Yeah, let Labor stay awake all night worrying about the very problem they never caused!
Laziness is a disease. It spreads like a contagion not yet seen. It puts COVID to shame when it comes to shutting down activities. Laziness is genetic, in my opinion. Middlemen and women are a good example of laziness. Make a dollar off of someone’s back and fuck them in the process. And if you don’t like the reality, maybe you are far too close to diagnosis. Perhaps, just perhaps, you should get the hell out of the way of those of us whom are changing the world. Maybe, just maybe, you ought to stick to screwing over Labor. And then again, maybe I just don’t understand anything. I mean when I started doing what I do, tens of millions of dollars in fraud were flowing outward from Management collecting illegal funds from Labor. And today, there is fear amongst Management. There is a fear because after burning out over 70% of the men and women in Labor the remaining fifteen thousand or so have had it — that is over SEVENTY THOUSAND PEOPLE for those of you whom read the NAMFS report on it!
The reality is nothing prevents the middlemen and women from increasing pay and demanding it from the National Order Mills. Nothing, that is, but fear. It is a visceral fear and one I thank the Gods I have never experienced. Never have I bent over so damn far that I could see my own ass as the Louisville Slugger is firmly shoved in. It is pathetic. It is certainly not the characteristics I would ever list on a resume, but to each their own.
Laziness Pays appears to be the slogan of the day in the Industry. And while from an academic point-of-view refusing to answer simple emails and surveys is easily written off as the exhaustion of the middleman or woman, it is nothing more glamorous than telling Labor to perform a $5 inspection which is all that separates a family from the largest investment in their life. That is what it is, at the end of the day. These unlicensed, fly-by-night grave robbers stealing away the very shelter that a child has to grow up. And even worse, these people support the National Order Mills whom are becoming filthy rich on the $40 – $70 fees they rake in!
Laziness is a creature that when a little bit of oxygen flows in it comes roaring back to life. Take, for example, demands to compel an action to stop committing forgeries and fraud. Would seem to be a simple task. Actually, would seem to be an issue that a Board would want to nip in the bud rather quickly. Nah, doesn’t rank that high. Scuttle it, repackage it with a phone call so that there is no record of it, and then slyly stick it to Labor for even reporting it. The more atrocious fact of the matter is that in the instant case, Labor wasn’t simply given the shaft, it was my Client and that impacts my financial well being. The process of simply requesting a Grievance Hearing being shot down and recommendations that litigation should be the only resort of option is fear. It is fear to protect an incompetent regime. The entire process of a Grievance Hearing is to present a case. It worked well in the case of Jay Goscinski. In fact, it worked so well it was used as evidence in a civil proceeding which resulted in an Award. SIXTEEN PAGES of articles covering the case, the hearings, and the Board then which had no issue stepping up to the plate. So, what is the difference today? Well, this Board is comprised of middlemen whom have a vested interest in ensuring Labor never gets to the proverbial plate.
Many may be wondering why I do not mention the Association by name. Well, I certainly have the legal right to, regardless of the NDA I have signed. In fact, the correspondence I sent addressing the request for a Grievance Hearing was to non Association email addresses. Second, as a rank and file Member and as my Client was rank and file as well, nothing preempted such. I simply have a little more class than Management.
It is a war that wages on in any early Administration. And most certainly, there will be a hearing on the matter that triggered the instant case. Whether or not the Association will make that hearing public is a matter only its Board knows. If it does, then it has no fear of constructive criticism. If it does not, its very own Membership will rise up against it.
