Well, America, you've finally done it: You've stopped looking to your job for fulfillment and started looking at it as the unpleasant means to an end that your parents always grumbled it was.

With the recession prompting more people to hold on to any job with a paycheck and making it tough to quit until just recently, Gallup found that 52% of all full-time workers in the U.S. are not involved in their work, not particularly enthusiastic about it and are committed only as much as they have to be. And 18% of those folks are "actively disengaged" and have checked out to the point that they're actually a hindrance to co-workers and management.

Then again, 30% of American workers are excited about their jobs, which matches the highest level of enthusiasm since Gallup started measuring it back in 2008.

 

No, Fox Searchlight (NWS), taking lunch orders for Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis isn't its own reward. 

How strong is the connection between beer and baseball? Apparently, so mighty that major league teams are scouting the minors for vendor talent.

Vince Rainey, a 25-year-old beer vendor for the Chicago Cubs' Class-A Advanced minor-league affiliate, the Daytona Cubs, has ridden his barked, improv sales pitches to the majors after becoming a fan favorite in Daytona Beach, Fla.

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Rainey's loud, self-aware quips like "Ice cold beer. Beer that is cold. . . and in ice" and "Hey kids, if your parent is drinking a beer, ask them if you can have a cotton candy" also worked during spring training at the Washington Nationals' Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla.

That's where he caught the attention of Mark Lerner, Nationals' principal owner, who sent Rainey a handwritten note on team stationery asking him to come work in Washington, D.C.

 

Internet users hate reading anything in all capital letters. It's the digital equivalent of shouting, a faux pas that's considered the height of online rudeness.

The U.S. Navy, however, has been communicating in all caps since the 19th century. And it's been a little jarring for young sailors especially to see capital letters used in orders and other official messages.

So the Navy is dropping all caps to make its communications "more readable and less rude," reports The Wall Street Journal -- which cheekily decided to write up the situation in all capital letters.

A Navy official told The Journal that the decision will save money. It's part of a new, cost-effective messaging system that comes online in August. "If an ancillary benefit is that sailors reading message traffic no longer feel they're being screamed at. . . that's a good thing, too," the official added. 

The federal government has filed lawsuits against two major companies for alleged discriminatory hiring practices against people who've been convicted of a crime.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced its lawsuit against a BMW (BAMXY) manufacturing facility in South Carolina. It also filed a separate lawsuit against Dollar General (DG), which the EEOC described as "the largest small-box discount retailer in the United States."

The commission says both companies violated the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race and national origin, because the BMW and Dollar General practices have a disproportionate impact on African Americans.

 

A California airline hopes people are so fed up with the current state of air travel that its subscription-based business will be a hit.

Surf Air launched daily flights Wednesday between the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, giving members unlimited access to its six-seat propeller planes. The cost: $1,650 a month. 

Wildwood, N.J., hopes to get young people to hike up their droopy pants where many others have failed.

The Jersey shore town is expected to approve a ban at a City Council meeting later Wednesday on what The Associated Press described as "overly saggy jeans that show underwear or skin when worn on the boardwalk." Offenders would be hit with fines ranging from $25 to $200, depending on the severity of the offense. The city also wants people to wear shirts and shoes when walking on the boardwalk.

Mayor Ernie Troiano told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the town is striking a blow for decency and noted that officials are "tired of looking at people walking around with their butts hanging out." He didn't respond to an email from MSN Money.  

Warren Buffett is arguably the best-known and most successful investor in America. But one big question tugging at his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) shareholders is what his company will look like when he steps down.

While that remains a mystery, one 28-year-old employee is emerging as a rising star and being groomed by Buffett to take on a senior role when he's no longer running the show, The Wall Street Journal reports.

That employee is Tracy Britt, who holds a Harvard MBA and shares Buffett's Midwestern roots, having grown up on a Kansas farm. She's emerging as one of his top executives and serves as chairman of four companies in his conglomerate (she's not among those pictured).