European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Less work More life by Jean Marbella the Baltimore Sun they should Wear bumper stickers perhaps to avoid being rear ended by those who have yet to see the Light. Quot i Brake Quot they should warn a for real . They Brake to spend time with their kids rather than their clients. To work part or flex time rather than full time or overtime. To contribute to their families and a communities rather than to their careers and corporations. One author Calls it  one company International business machines corp., Calls it a work and personal life balance  conservatives Hail it As a return to traditional family values others see it As the continuing shift from me ism to we ism. Whatever you Call it you probably know someone in the thick of this trend a such As the lawyer who Steps off the partner track to devote More time to raising her children the certified Public accountant who now inks in time to Volunteer every monday morning in a first Grade classroom and All those other people who Are finding that some of the hours previously spent at work Are better devoted to the Pat an aging relative the Church a Community project or even planting and Canning your very own tomatoes. A i did 10 years in the newsroom Quot said Brenda Carl Bridges inadvertently using prison sentence Lingo in describing her television and radio broadcasting career. A the news grind gets to you knocking on the front door of the relatives and saying How do you feel about the tragedy. A i was reporting on other people s lives. I wanted my own life Quot said the 33-year-old Bridges who quit a a Baltimore television station nearly five years ago alter finding that the morning sickness of pregnancy does not jibe with the morning news broadcast. A you realize life does not go on forever. This is not a dress rehearsal the yearning for a Fuller life one defined by More than work and what it allows you to buy is perhaps just another swing of society s pendulum. After the now much maligned 1980s, that decade of credit Happy consumption and work As life itself think Gordon Gekko of Wall Street and Melanie Griffith As that upwardly Mobile working girl the 90s Are shaping up As a decade that emphasizes family Over Job happiness Over achievement. A a there a a move from conspicuous consumption to visible virtue Quot said Judith Langer in the Snappy wrap it All up Way of her Field a Market research and trend consulting. Quot there s a lot of questioning of the Yuppie values of the 80s, of Money As Paramount. It s uncool now to be flashing Mercedes and bows. People Are saying i May not get that my goal of being Rich at 30, but also they re saying that that a not Gratifying anyway. A what we re seeing is an attempt to balance things a said Susan Hayward senior vice president of Yankelovich Clancy Shulman a Westport  Market research company. A work is not the Only source of satisfaction. We need kids too. We need friends  workers increasingly Are dissatisfied with How their jobs put the squeeze on their personal lives Yankelovich a annual Survey of social attitudes has found. In 1990, for example 56 percent of working women Sun eyed said they d Stop working permanently if they had enough Money a remarkable jump from just three years earlier when Only 35 percent Felt that  s not just working women with children either although perhaps they feel most strongly this tug of War Between work and personal life. Single women and men Are also expressing similar dissatisfaction is. Hayward said. A it almost feels like a cry for Relief Quot she said of the Survey results. A it was extremely dramatic a release of pent up pressure the pressure to perform perfectly. Women had enough of that. There was this massive outpouring they re saying i need a  a its easy to overstate this of course. Most people simply done to have the option of giving up full time employment. They work to afford rent or mortgage in an average neighbourhood not the frills of private schools and second Homes. Rather this is a trend mostly among those who do have that option usually couples for whom a second income can be sacrificed without great economic distress. A a there a not a Day that goes by i Don t think of How Lucky i am Quot says Sally Millemann who gave  Job As Deputy director of a Legal clinic for the disabled to raise her son Matthew now 16 months old. A for Many people most people to do this would be a significant hardship for us its a Little hardship. Unlike previous generations of mothers who never pursued outside careers Millemann and others say that their decision was made easier by the fact that they d already been out there in the rat race. A having a career a i be done it. I be done it for 15, 20 years Quot said Millemann 40, a social worker who specializes in Public interest Law. A i Don t think i could have done this if i had t already had a  readers action line clarification on military Exchange rate ctr n answer to a Reader s letter asking How the military Exchange rate was fixed the Community Bank stated the rate was the a fix Quot of the Day from  Stock Exchange minus the 2,5 percent fee the Bank takes for changing dollars into Marks. After today a rate it seems that this is simply not the Case. Today a fix was 175.43 Marks to the Dollar. Deducting 2.5 percent is 171.04. The Bank rate is 171 for a difference of 00,04. This seemingly insignificant difference of less than half pfennig on the Dollar is not so trivial when you consider that it represents an additional 40 Marks per month on the average $1,000 i have to change to pay for rent services phone Etc. It is not trivial when it is an Quot invisible charge in addition to the already published 2.5 percent. I Hope that you May be Able to persuade the Bank to produce a Clear explanation of what its Exchange rate policy really is. John . Legg Kafer Tal  a Yvonne Wise manager Public Media relations merchants Community Bank replies Community Bank a Deutsche Mark Exchange rate is based on the daily Frankfurt official Exchange rate a fixing Quot at the currency Exchange Market. The 2.50 percent spread the Bank receives for changing dollars into Marks was announced on dec. 4, 1990, by the department of defense Dod. Under the Erms of our Dod contract foreign Exchange earnings As Well As Revenue collected from service fees Are turned to the . Government. This fee income helps the government pay the expenses of providing banking services to the military. Merchants is paid a Flat annual fee for managing the Community Banks and does not receive any income from Revenue generated by the Community Banks. The formula used to calculate the rate is fix times 0,975, rounded up or Down to the nearest pfennig. As an example 1.7543 Marks times 0.975 equals 1.7104 or 1.71. Using commercial rounding 4 and under would be rounded Down and 5 or above rounded up the resulting rate for customers is 1,71 Marks. If the fix were 1.7590, then the customer s rate would be 1.72 1.7590 times 0.975 equals 1.7150 More information on Exchange rate gtd for the third time this week the Dollar a went up a fraction but not enough to affect our Exchange  yesterday the fix at Frankfurt was 1.7543, the rate stayed at 1.71 today the fix was 1.7564, the rate remained at 1.71. In my Book which i keep at the University of Karlsruhe this constitutes a spread of 5 pfennig. I called the Karlsruhe Community Bank and tried to find out Why the rate did not go up to 1,72 Marks after going up All these fractions and what the allowed spread is. Answers the rate is set Between finance and merchants in Frankfurt the spread used to be 1.5 Pfenning in american express Days but not any More. May i rephrase the questions and ask you to pose them to the appropriate people a what kind of rounding off convention does finance adhere to a what is the maximum spread that Community Banks and credit unions May take Magdalena Frasure Kae Fertal Germany be Mark a. Scheidler management analyst he . European come replies the Quot spread Quot or difference Between the fix and the accommodation rate the rate at which you and i Purchase Marks averages 2.5 percent. The accommodation rate is calculated by multiplying the Frankfurt Quot fix Quot by .975 100 percent minus 2.5 percent and then rounding to the nearest whole pfennig. Using your examples a fix of 1.7543 times .975 equals 1,7104 which is rounded Down to 1.71 a fix of 1.7564 times ,975 equals 1.7125 which is rounded Down to 1.71, to move up to 1,72 the fix would have to be 1,7590. 1.7590 times .975 equals 1.7150 which is rounded up to 1.72 there Are Many times when the fix is up or Down fractionally but not enough to change the rate. There is no maximum spread per be. However the accommodation rate available on base May not be less than that generally available in the Economy. Generally off base Banks have a spread of 6-7 pfennig so that would be a working upper limit. To write us readers action line is the readers Quot court of last resort Quot striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes Apo 09211-4211. All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers. Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday August 21, 1991