Rude Awakening

[Rhansen]

Can't a job can be "real work" too?

Yes it can, and pun intended :P
Seriously though, I get my share of petty tyrants at this job - it is sometimes difficult to be diplomatic about it.

 

[Dick]

Tyrant? Thats an understatement, my operations manager, my direct boss, has a 1970"s style of managing. He laid me off, because things were starting to turn around, he could claim credit then. Bad programs he started began failing, so he'd e-mail me, copying the owners of course, and blame me for the failure. This was the STS type personality of his being, control, control, control. Thats why it struck me so hard about getting away from the things I should be doing.

 

[webglider]

Quote from: Inti on February 23, 2009, 10:22:32 PM
I could be totally out of line and I mean no offense here, but whenever someone tells me how many hours they've worked I'm a little suspicious. This may not apply to you at all, but maybe it does. I know many people who tell me how many hours they've worked. The most common reason behind it seems to be boasting of some kind, a sort of "look at me, what a good citizen I am, I work long hours, do overtime", a kind of noble sufferer attitude. Even if this is way off, which it may be, I cannot see a good reason really for counting hours...if anyone can, please explain to me. I imagine you are not enjoying it because if you were surely it wouldn't matter how many hours you worked or how much paperwork you did.

The increasing number of hours people have to work in order to survive is part of the plan of the matrix control system to drain energy, diffuse focus, and weaken family and community ties. In other words, the increasing number of hours with no benefits, often no overtime, and nonexistent job security is a backdoor reintroduction of slavery.

The lack of focus, the losing of one's perspective, the confusion caused by lack of sleep and mental stimulation, fear of losing one's livelihood, and stressful and sometimes unsafe working conditions is by design. People with time on their hands have choices, and the choice for some people is to educate themselves and get involved. Very dangerous if the plan is to keep everyone stressed out, dumb, scared, unhealthy, and isolated.

Younger workers have never experienced anything but this. Older workers who have had strong unions have watched in horror as many benefits have been eroded. In an economy like this one, people are happy just to have a job.

I think that it is crucially important to keep track of how many hours one works in that it creates awareness of how one is spending one's life. Each hour that passes is an hour gone forever, and if one must spend that time at work to survive, it seems to me that it is important to have a strong interior life so that even if the body is enslaved, the soul may have an opportunity to grow.

 

[Buddy]

[Quote author=Inti on February 23, 2009, 10:22:32 PM]
[...]
Even if this is way off, which it may be, I cannot see a good reason really for counting hours...if anyone can, please explain to me.
[/quote]

I think webglider's idea of "creating awareness of how one is spending one's life" is a good point for reasons directly related to the Work.

Until one is satisfied that one has recapitulated one's life, it seems reasonable that whatever is going on in your life TODAY may well be an area requiring recapitulation during some 'tomorrow'. The more you can increase your awareness of today (any and all facts of your life and what you can 'see'), the stronger your sense of day-by-day continuity and the easier to spot personal patterns and driving impulses.

The Work is hard. Anything that helps self-remember during this moment or any past moment would be a value to anyone, or so it seems to me.

 

[Inti]

I think webglider's idea of "creating awareness of how one is spending one's life" is a good point for reasons directly related to the Work.

Yes, I think you probably have a point although I am still not too sure about counting hours! :/ Partly because I'm not sure it's really just about the quantity of job hours but the quality of them.

However, I do agree that it is an indicator of an increasingly enslaved people as Webglider points out:

The increasing number of hours people have to work in order to survive is part of the plan of the matrix control system to drain energy, diffuse focus, and weaken family and community ties. In other words, the increasing number of hours with no benefits, often no overtime, and nonexistent job security is a backdoor reintroduction of slavery.

The lack of focus, the losing of one's perspective, the confusion caused by lack of sleep and mental stimulation, fear of losing one's livelihood, and stressful and sometimes unsafe working conditions is by design. People with time on their hands have choices, and the choice for some people is to educate themselves and get involved. Very dangerous if the plan is to keep everyone stressed out, dumb, scared, unhealthy, and isolated.

The thing is, whilst I agree with all of Webglider's words here...I can't help thinking that often too much blame is put on an external something (system, matrix, government). I may be misguided but I think it's largely our own fault...whether we allow it through ignorance, fear or indifference...to a large degree I think we allow it to happen. I do think it's harder for some to start to break out than others, but some I can see do it to themselves. They might not be conscious of that, but on some level I can see people who've allowed the system to take control of their lives.

I also wonder about the role of perspective in work. Sometimes changing my perspective seemed to give me insights that would not have been possible if I'd remained in resentment of the job. That said, I think everyone has their limits and there's often a time to give up or move on or get out!

Younger workers have never experienced anything but this. Older workers who have had strong unions have watched in horror as many benefits have been eroded. In an economy like this one, people are happy just to have a job.

I'm not sure "happy" is quite the right word! Again, it might be my imagination but I think there's actually increasing dissatisfaction with jobs. I forget the exact statistics but, where I live, it's something like 80% that are not satisfied with their jobs. On top of that, I think most jobs are pretty pointless, doing little more than keeping people enslaved. I remember reading somewhere, again I forget where, that it cost more to keep people in work than not. I can believe it...think of all the infrastructure needed to keep people at jobs. So much of it is also based on production of one sort or another. The churning out of all manner of items is overwhelming to me. I think the toll taken on our environment is almost directly mirrored by the effect it has had on us too.

 

[Buddy]

Younger workers have never experienced anything but this. Older workers who have had strong unions have watched in horror as many benefits have been eroded. In an economy like this one, people are happy just to have a job.

I'm not sure "happy" is quite the right word! Again, it might be my imagination but I think there's actually increasing dissatisfaction with jobs. I forget the exact statistics but, where I live, it's something like 80% that are not satisfied with their jobs. On top of that, I think most jobs are pretty pointless, doing little more than keeping people enslaved.

Inti, it's a bit difficult for me to follow your reasoning here due to the number of generalities involved, I think. Unless I'm mistaken, webgliders' point was that the alternative of being unemployed at this particular time would be catastrophic to a great many people who are barely getting by as it is. In this context, 'happy' would, indeed, seem to be an emotion that would exist within - and be related to - that subject.
I think the 'pointless' aspect of 'most jobs' is simply due to the way they are structured to be self-contained spheres of responsibility with little possibility of open-ended growth...for anyone. Whether by default or design, a lot of jobs are, indeed, 'dead-end'; however, the point on the individual level is, of course, to be able to 'earn' one's way through life. Or so I think.

 

[Rhansen]

I also wonder about the role of perspective in work. Sometimes changing my perspective seemed to give me insights that would not have been possible if I'd remained in resentment of the job.

This is an area where work and The Work crossover, OSIT. All of the little dramas and power struggles that go on are quite informative (like a little soap opera - "As the Auger Turns" or some such.) If I can stay objective, much of it is humorous. The soul sucking part comes in when you allow yourself to get emotionally caught up in the BS.



edit: lacking proofreading skills