By Michael P. Riccards

One constantly hears about the decline of the American social system. There are many many reasons given for that phenomenon: First, we still don’t know what are the physical effects on people’s minds from COVID. What are the aftereffects of a disease that killed over one million of our fellow Americans? 

Second, the absence of schooling in that two and a half years is more pronounced than we thought at first. We thought that we could use technology and create a virtual learning world for our school children. That is obviously not true, and we can see that result by the test scores for Americans in math and reading. We are now wondering if the methodologies for teaching reading have for over a generation been wrong, and if we should go back to phonics. 

There are obviously even bigger problems with math scores, but we don’t really know what alternatives work best. I was surprised to learn when I gave a clerk at Dunkin’ Donuts a list of donuts that she could not read cursive. By God, we have cut off a whole generation from its predecessor more effectively than Ataturk did when he banned the old alphabet in creating modern  Turkey.  

Recently the electricity went out in Walmart, and I stood there while a befuddled cashier could not add up several items I had. She did not know the addition and subtraction tables. She could probably do it with scanners or computers, but they were frozen in time.

And most crippling is the recent decline in the skills and the attitudes of middle managers, especially on the phone. 

Sales representatives are frankly ignorant of their product lines and have no authority to make decisions.  There are too few of them to begin with, and the wait is a ridiculous 30-50 minutes while one listens to some wearisome popular music. Then when a service person can not answer a question, there is a suspicious sudden disconnect. My favorite line is when you are asked at the end of the call to rate the effectiveness of your encounter. At the end of an unsatisfactory call, the line goes dead.

What is the cause of the decline of middle management in this country? 

I am not sure what the real reasons are. There are constant excuses about the breakdown of the supply chain in this country. Maybe it’s about time we talked seriously to China and stopped being so recalcitrant about those supplies. If we don’t want to deal with our greatest supplier, then let us tell Americans they are going to have to buy domestically for most of those items. 

Second, to cut down on labor costs even hamburger joints are having you use ordering machines. Try to tell McDonald’s to hold the onions, and mustard and cook it well but not burnt. Sadly, young kids are there to help us use the machines. I asked one if she knew she was cutting jobs for her colleagues and younger brothers. 

Third, there really is a language problem that we can acknowledge without being xenophobic. 

Fourth, there is a real knowledge problem. Sales representatives just don’t know their products. Not just on the phone, but even in front of you. Home Depot for example has zombies walking around who don’t even know where their stock is, and if you can find a salesperson count yourself lucky. They have vanished or made a living walking around aimlessly.

America has a real middle management problem. That used to be our strength: an intelligent, alert, committed workforce. 

Now we have hollowed out the workforce in order to save wages and especially benefits, and upper management seems to care less, for after all their salaries are going up disproportionate to the rest of us. Above all, we have little pride in our jobs, advancement and personal skills. We are lucky just when we have created true artificial intelligence , we can also have a guaranteed annual wage. That is the new American Dream.

Michael P. Riccards, a former college president. is the author of 30 books, including a two-volume history of the presidency, The Ferocious Engine of Democracy, and the recently published Woodrow Wilson as Commander-in-Chief. Riccards wrote this article for the Jandoli Institute.

Categories: Jandoli Institute, Michael Riccards