Today's Work Environment

Today's work environment is bizarro world to the max.

Hard workers are punished with more work. Idiots survive.

Companies are squeezing employees like lemons. There are no jobs and people are forced to hang on to whatever they got because paying the mortgage and eating come in handy.

Employers recognize the situation and they exploit it to their advantage and their advantage only. They don't try to create an equitable situation, they use every trick imaginable to screw the workers. No raises, no promotions, cutting benefits, playing every angle possible to rob workers of what is legally theirs.

"We are forced to do more with less."

That's the line. In some cases it is true. In many if not most cases, it is not. It is simply the fact of employers taking advantage of an unbalanced job environment to manipulate and humiliate their employees.

Idiot employees slack off. They do less. They are lazy, unmotivated and selfish. Somehow they survive.

The NH State Liquor Commission is rife with cretins. Apparently it is the new standard. I have heard a million horror stories and I have lived some over the last eight months.

People who do nothing, people who actually compromise efficiency and reduce productivity. Thanks to the blameless society we have created in this progressive country it is almost impossible to get rid of these fools.

They keep a scale in HQ. You have to amass 25 pounds of paperwork to fire somebody. Warnings, accusations, lectures. And it has to be done over a specific time period. If the 25th pound is reached one day after the probationary period ends you get to start all over.

That is the only thing idiot employees are good at. Knowing the limits. That's how they survive.

As a result hard workers, good workers, smart humans are punished with more work. They work hard, they work smart and they pick up the slack. This is recognized and they are given more work. No promise of any reward - "we can't afford a pay raise or a promotion right now but keep on busting your ass and everything will work out."

That is a lie.

It is not just the liquor commission. I hear this from people in all kinds of jobs, all kinds of industries.

Carol is being punished today. Being forced to do something she hates to do, something that is not in her job description, because she did it once before and did it well.

The first time around they couldn't find anybody else to do it, Carol's boss approached her and Carol made it clear that she did not want to do it. Of course she ended up doing it.

This time she was approached because it was recognized that she did such a good job last time. Once again she made it exceptionally clear that she did not want to do it. Of course she is doing it again. Had to leave the house a little earlier this morning to do it.

There is an ominous threat implicit in situations like this. "You have a job. I will force you to do whatever I want you to do. You don't like it? Quit and see how you make out in the job market."

Still, the idiots survive.

My fear is that this could become a permanent situation. The filthy rich have seized power with both hands in this shaky economy. That's how it works. The economy tanks, the suffering of the working poor increases, the rich get richer.

This time I think we have seen a dynamic shift. The rich exploit openly and gleefully; they no longer try to hide. Union busting has become good sport. People are being stripped of all kinds of rights from the voting booth to the womb.

The drive to survive strips you of choice. You have to do whatever it takes, eat whatever shit is ladled onto your plate, just to get by. And any weapons workers might have had in the past are being taken away. No way to fight back.

As Bob Dylan said: "It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there."