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I Hate Corporate America
Thursday, January 3, 2008 I love to work, especially when I get to use my brain power. I love figuring out puzzles, following clues and solving problems. I'm all for intellectual inquiry and resolving obscure issues. What I don't like is working for corporate America. I've hated working for that soul draining monster, since I left college. I wasn't overly fond of college either, but at least I saw the results of my work: decent, unbiased grades. I've stayed jobs over the years, misconstruing that the problem was with the individual company. Well, after the enthusiasm wears off, be it the third week, month or year one thing becomes apparent: it's the same all over. I've run out of interest in it all. There is no difference between a career and a job. People show up to a job because they work to live. People who have a career live to work. No matter which way it's played out, people are trading in their time - a precious commodity - for dollars. I'm angry at myself, because I feel I've been conned, yoked and suckered after so many years. I had hoped that of the years I've worked at a company, any company, there would be some satisfaction for a job well done. Hah! I enjoy being busy, at a good, interesting, well thought out, and methodical task. Yet, there were times when work was slow or non-existent. Yeah, try and find your manager for something to do. Would you believe most of the work I ever did, I gave to myself? I mostly created all of my own projects. Those dead work times were the most stressful for me. It's limbo time. I've been told that the project will start, or continue, as soon as so and so signs off on the budget. Or head honcho Chief Doubletalker is over in Europe and we must wait for his return. Or it could be the case that the manager is in over her / his head and is frozen into inaction. Name the scenario, I've been there. It happens everywhere, and it happens all the time. Now, I'm someone who doesn't care for much of the niceties of socializing at the job. I'm not a water cooler plant. It's like mingling with the cattle as we're about to be slaughtered. I feel that after spending 12 LONG hours a day with these people, I don't want to see you after I leave the building. No offense. Nothing personal. I just want to keep separation between corporate church and state, which is my life. Ever really read any of those career advice columns? I used to, until I realized that it was never about competence. It could never be. These articles have been and always will pertain to how to be the best brown nosing ass-kissing suck-up at the office. The fact is if you are attractive, which almost anyone can achieve these days, you will get ahead. If you are a phoney, unpleasant, non-compliant, take-credit-for-other-people's-work cretin, and a two-faced backstabbing liar at the job, that's the way up the corporate ladder. But what if you aren't a sociopath? If one can find a way to make a living, and not head off to the jail-cubicles of corporate America, make a run for it and don't look back. You'll be happier person for it. As for me, these people can keep their damn jobs. I've had enough. Labels: college, corporate America, jobs, work posted by GoldenAh
email this! | article source | 0 comments | post a comment Economic Inquiry: How Does Moving Jobs Overseas Benefit US Citizens? Sunday, December 23, 2007 I haven't purchased or read any books on Globalism, I usually peruse articles on the topic. I'm sure they're nice books, especially those written by brand name journalists such as Thomas Friedman. Plus I loathe the idea of putting money into their pockets. I'm bemused by the argument that unemployed Americans improve our overall economy. Friedman's book, The World is Flat, is one of those treatises that claims Globalism is great. US Citizens should celebrate the transfer of jobs from the US to developing countries (India, China and the like). Why? Well, it helps them (and us) because, you know, somewhere down the road (decades from now) as their standard of living goes up - they'll be able to buy stuff from us. Since our manufacturing base is shrinking, and moving overseas, exactly what stuff can these poor countries buy from rich ones? It's easy for tenured economists, and their journalist ilk, to write about the joys of Globalism. Universities and media companies aren't eliminating their particular jobs. They enjoy tenure and have no competition. At least not yet. When one is employed in a market that is 100% closed, it is easy to write that the suffering of others is acceptable, even warranted. If a guy making $35 per hour is let go from a job he worked at for 15-20 years, how does that benefit the rest of us? Oh right, his job goes overseas to someone who'll make $35 per month. Yeah, the "savings" are passed back to the CEOs that run the corporation and there is product price reduction, but what about the other side of the damage? What's the other side of the damage? The US Citizen's $35 per hour salary necessarily supports the infrastructure of his local neighborhood, his state, and his country - not the rest of the damn world. This citizen's money went to: Social Security and Medicare / Medicaid - the entire FICA scheme, his retirement funds, local property taxes, sales taxes and whatever is left is disposal income. The US economy survives on over 70% consumer spending. In US politics, the rest of the world should never come above and before the interests of US Citizens. If fair trade practices mean we buy their goods, I'm all for it. Yet, how does a job in India and China contribute to our infrastructure? Didn't a bridge in Minnesota just collapse this year? Isn't this country running a deficit that in bills could reach the Moon? How does this help America again? Oh that's right, cheap products: lead based toys, poisonous pet food, polluted fish and produce, and who knows what other garbage they ship. Why do we get this crap? Because it is cheap! And how have the lower earning among us been making do? With credit cards. Any income gap that the low wage job didn't cover came from borrowing. People were encouraged to employ equity loans. Their cash machines came from the rising value of homes, because the money certainly wasn't coming from a well paying job. Is the subprime mortgage mess making sense now? Labels: globalism, jobs, subprime mortgage, work posted by GoldenAh
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