These are the golden years of annoyances and general lack of civility. No matter how much we imagine ourselves as a caring and sensitive people, we are definitely not.

This lack of civility afflicts the general population. It cuts across all socio-economic classes and castes. I have seen apathy, lack of mutual respect, and blatant hostility among homeless people, market vendors, drivers and traffic enforcers, lawyers, doctors, and other so-called educated people, socialites, insulares and peninsulares.

The only things that distinguish people’s social backgrounds are the types of clothes they wear or not wear; the models and prices of cars they drive and ride or do not; and the schools they went to or did not.
 
Cranky and Grouchy

Grouchy people should be banned from roaming our streets. There should be a law designed to keep the cantankerous away from the more friendly population.

Grouches have special talents that enable them to easily ruin anybody else’s day. Smile their way, and they would give you the finger. Say hello their direction and they would throw you dagger looks on a good day. On extremely touchy days, you are better off avoiding them or running for your life.

Trouble is, who would be left allowed to go around?
 
Esc, Del Grew

After studying keyboard-use behavior of some 30 of its employees, Lenovo decided to make the Escape and Delete keys of the new ThinkPad laptops twice as long as those of the previous models. The new design is supposed to reduce laptop users’ accidental hits of the End and Insert keys.

According to the Associated Press story, the company is now thinking of deleting the Caps Lock, the flamers’ favorite key.
 
Electronics Set for Rebound?

The country’s export processing zones, the government agencies running them, their locator companies, and their employees may finally be able to afford a sigh of relief. Some technology industry observers have started saying that the market is about to reach the bottom and is now poised for an upswing. Market research firm Forrester Research, for example, said it believes that the technology market in the United States will be on its way to recovery by the fourth quarter of this year.

The company, however, revised downward its 2009 forecast for the U.S. market from the previous 3-percent drop to a more ominous 5-percent shrinkage.

The market research firm, however, asserts that based on its research, companies have realized that the recession is not as bad as they feared, and are now ready to resume their IT spending.
 
Intel Closes, Gently

The forecast market upswing might be coming too late for Intel’s local manufacturing operations. The way the company’s been handling the closure of its manufacturing plant in Cavite , and especially of its employees should provide other companies with some pointers on how to act and behave when faced with the similar situations.

In an ideal world no manufacturing plants are shut down, and no employees lose their jobs and economic security. But, of course, nobody needs reminding that the world we’re living in is not perfect. Still, if I ever were to be downsized again, I would wish that my soon-to-be-former employer would be Intel, or would behave like the semiconductor company.