The good thing is that absolutely nobody in the world reads this blog, otherwise this opinion would get me tarred and feathered.

I make no secrets about my business struggles. I have to bust my ass to make… “money.” It’s gotten harder. There are plenty of reasons behind this. This post isn’t to pin the blame on the subjects of the title, but… here goes:

I’m very talented. I’m not saying that to be conceited – but I’ve been told by many people (who aren’t my wife and/or family) that I’ve got a skill. That, plus the 30+ years of industry experience and being hired and contracted by numerous companies… plus the fact that I supported my wife and 5 children for 20 years while being fully self-employed…

I know what I’m doing. I’m good. Better than a lot – and with experience that is much more valuable than a degree (which I also have, but – whatever.)

Things SHOULD be getting easier for me. Working less, making more.

NOPE. It’s getting harder – and it’s not my fault, not AI’s fault, not even women’s fault.

It’s the fault of this lily-livered society that we find ourselves in. A society that is so concerned with “making amends” that it swings completely the other way to punish the folks who “had it better.”

In this post, I’m just going to waffle on about the most obvious and the one which affects my business most directly.

WOMEN.

I have no problem with women. I believe that women are just as capable as men, just as talented, just as valuable and just as payable.

HOWEVER COMMA…

Put a man and a woman – of equal skill and ability – in a bidding war for a design or branding package… the woman in today’s environment WILL win.

Sadly and demonstrably, even the lesser equipped, skilled or experienced women are winning work above and beyond – just because they’re women and speak the women speak.

Is that the way it used to be for women? Don’t know – I’m not a woman. Let’s say, for the sake of this experiment, say they WERE less-than before this latest societal shift.

What comes next? Do men become second class citizens? Do they start making less and having fewer opportunities?

That’s not what’s next. That’s what’s happening now.

This isn’t equality. This is punitive.

And – maybe that’s fine. Maybe it’s time for all us middle class men to get our asses beat. We deserve it. We had it good for so long…

But what comes next? At what point will society turn (society runs in cycles, if you haven’t noticed…) and go the other way? Start punishing women?

That IS what’s going to happen. So, ladies… enjoy it now. It WILL come back around.

Then, when you’re a 52 year old, embittered design and brand gal and some 25 year old schlep of a dude with no experience and no skill lands that project you want, sucks up the coaching clients and runs circles around you with engagement – remember I tried to warn you.

Again, this isn’t your fault, ladies. Far from it.

Do you share in some of the blame? Yep. Do us men? You’re fucking right we do.

THIS is what we’re letting ourselves slip into. This kind of soft revenge. The “You owe this to us” kind of thievery.

And, it’s being sold as progress. And… equality.

Equality it ain’t. Never has been, isn’t now, never ever will be – unless and until everyone wakes up and starts ACTUALLY treating each other equally in the face and in spite of the onslaught of media, the idea that you’ve got to be up in arms over SOMETHING, the idea that someone owes you anything because of the color of your skin or the tackle between your legs or the perceived sleights of the world that made the world the mess of a world the world is currently in.

You want equality? Find out what it actually means. There’s not much mention of “revenge” in equality.

BUT HELL – IN 500 YEARS, THE NINNIES WITH POINTY SHOES AND SHORT PANTS DECIDES THAT WOMEN HAVE HAD IT TOO GOOD TOO LONG AND WE’LL ALL GO BACK TO THE WAY THAT GOT US INTO THIS POINT AND WE’LL DO THE DANCE ALL OVER AGAIN…

Now… what IS UP with women and shoes?

In another installment of “Jimbo Hates Everyone & Everything,” I bring to you…

People, who despite an obvious lack of talent and originality are making a comfortable fucking living while I struggle.

Before we get started down this rabbit hole – yes – I consider myself not only the most talented person in the world, but also the most deserving of success, fame and fortune.

And, goddammit… I’ve worked for it. Hard. For a lot of years.

Only to see these low-information-voter assholes run circles around me when it comes to the trappings of prototypical success.

Why the FUCK am I not rich? Or at least very comfortable? What have I been doing wrong?

Working my balls off and making cool shit for a million clients in the past 25 years? YES – 25 fucking years. I’ve been self-employed for 25 years.

Now, to add insult to injury, I see these fucking biters coming in and claiming shit that I pioneered BEFORE THEY WERE FUCKING BORN as novel. It isn’t. You’re just now doing things that I was doing while you were shitting rusks – and you’re getting the money for it that I was never able (or allowed) to.

It begs the question: Am I just that far ahead, or am I just that far behind?

Maybe it’s both. Maybe I’m just some fucking pod who exists to feed the world ideas and methods that they can run with and make successful while I sit back and get my ass kicked by the universe.

These millennial dipshits out there making money being CoNtRoVeRsIaL… and there I am – having suffered through actual ridicule and “cancelling” since 1980, being told that I’ll never make it.

Fuck – maybe “They” were right all along. I’ll never make it. I’m too much. I’m entertaining but not marketable. Talented but not cooperative enough. To new to be the now.

And that is most certainly NOT balls.

“Hey, Ron…”

“Yeah, Tony?”

“I just figured out how to make $110 MORE per guest at our AirBnb.”

“Yeah. Ok. Go ahead, Ron – how can we make more money”

“We buy 2 shitty televisions from Walmart. We keep one under the bed and we put the other one out on the tiny little table in the living room. It’ll be just wide enough that the tv is balanced and good… Until you slam the door. Then…

BOOM!

Fucking TV falls down and breaks.”

“Oh, so we just keep buying TVs from Walmart?”

“No, Ron… The guest is too afraid to leave the TV and complain that WE’RE the idiots. They’ll take the blame, and they replace the TV. $120. Then, we take one of the TV boxes from the new TVs and package up the busted TV…”

“Go on…”

“We package up the busted TV and take it back to Walmart. Now, we have 2 fully functioning televisions and one broken. We just keep cycling through the televisions. We’ll always have 2 perfect machines and 1 broken and we keep getting our money back from Walmart for all the ‘broken’ tv’s they sell us. The people there are dopes and they won’t care. It’s just a cheap-ass TV.”

“I’m liking this, Tony…”

“They’re too afraid of getting a bad review, Walmart can’t do anything but continually give us new, perfectly functioning televisions… or $120 in cold, hard cash or Walmart subs or Natty Daddys.”

“YEAH, TONY – AND THE STUPID TENANTS WILL JUST KEEP BUYING US TELEVISIONS?!?!”

“That’s right, Ron. You get it.”