Here is something slightly different that we will be doing. We want to put out there some of the conversations we have day to day within the office. It’s raw so it may be tough to follow at first.
This is today’s conversation which I captured to throw online. While writing this I was also writing the intro piece you may have just read. You can be assured that I was not doing any work for this entire period. I firmly believe I am a better person now because of it. Oh and VoW stands for Voice of the Workforce. It’s a program for employee feedback that happens once a year. I can’t decide if it is better to pretend every year rather than every 4 or so like with our political system.
Peter [9:56 AM]:
you in the office today?
off to a VoW meeting for an hour
talk to you after
Frank [10:04 AM]:
Let me know how that goes ha.
watch for the bs.
Peter [11:28 AM]:
thats why i went
to see the unbelly of the beast
it was everybit as disgusting as i thought itd be ahah
Frank [11:29 AM]:
hahaha. The underbelly you mean?
Peter [11:29 AM]:
haahha ya stopped typing my thought there
Frank [11:30 AM]:
give me a little highlight. I love seeing the machine pretend to take input and care.
its just such a poor puppet. So hard to believe even at its best
Peter [11:32 AM]:
the best one was a question highlighting the process of VoW and how the issue falls to those who actually have the power to enact change.
he basically just said “we have to find the things we as lower management have the ability to make change and band-aid the fix because the other stuff is written in stone. the real matters
those wont change so dont bother
but man lets figure out what i can do for you!”
Frank [11:33 AM]:
hahaha. Lets shine the brass on this Titanic!
Peter [11:33 AM]:
but of course he just focuses in on what we can do ... throws out tons of numbers to muddy the water ... then uses words like “what i believe in” to make it personal... that upper management has a personal connection
Frank [11:35 AM]:
And of course, the personal connection is never as clear as when they point out how we are off on our pipeline targets and therefore the numbers tell us we have to reduce your numbers.
We care about you numbers! I mean AND the numbers.
Peter [11:35 AM]:
ahahhahahahahah
ya like how sad is it that the masses can buy into such fake human care and connection
have they truely not tasted the real deal
Frank [11:36 AM]:
quite possible. Its not like the consumers we target are cared about more than us soldiers who are sent to get them.
Peter [11:38 AM]:
oh and this one made me think... he mentioned something in regards to pay or compensation i forget the line of questioning exactly but essentially it came down to this... i would love to give you guys more money more this more holiday but the bottom line is that we are in a competitive market and there is no more room.. if we let up someone else comes in to take market share because they can do it cheaper.... correct me if i am wrong brother but wasnt that the issue the south had with ending slavery?
Peter [11:40 AM]:
They feared the loss of a dollar over the loss of human freedom
Frank [11:41 AM]:
You are brilliant. ON THE MONEY. Ha. Never thought of it in this context but yes!
Interesting enough a good part of the north was interested in eliminating wage (salary) slavery just the same as whip and chain slavery
Peter [11:43 AM]:
interesting ya i always hear bad ass quotes from the founding fathers / earlier presidents with anti-capitalist remarks ahahha
Frank [11:45 AM]:
Dear Employees,
We have noticed our competitors are squeezing out their employee's dignity and freedom in order to better "compete". This will allow us to funnel more money upwards to the rich share owners because that is how a companies worth is determined. Look, the company will do better and you will get to keep what is left of your job. It is the only way things work. Don't think of alternatives thats automatically Stalinism and evil.
Peter [11:46 AM]:
terribly evil because sadly once one person does this
once good men are obliged to follow suit
it becomes the indifference of good men
then we see the result a system with this so ingrained in all aspects of society. ass shit
Frank [11:50 AM]:
ass hit indeed. Ha. It really does follow in that direction.
I wonder if it would really take that much to create critical mass in the other direction?
Peter [11:52 AM]:
the problem is that evil men are driven individuals with clear goals chasing the dollar
it never sleeps
harder to sell people on an idea like happiness because it is not on the tip of their tongue or just out of their reach like money is ... a carrot to a horse
we have to get the focus and attention away from the carrot so they can focus with a clear mind.
Frank [11:55 AM]:
Thats very true. It is harder to "sell" people on something that is intangible in many ways. Also, it is not something that is permanent and will come and go as is part of life. Whereas, you can hold on to the new blackberry even though your happiness with it dissipates within minutes of buying it.
Peter [11:56 AM]:
exactly we have to alter their mindset so they are even open to accepting change or a new way
they are indoctrinated
Frank [11:57 AM]:
How would you get rid of the carrot? I mean really its removing the blinders so they see how harmful and destructive to them and others the shitty nutrient free industrial produced carrot really is.
Peter [11:57 AM]:
i think you just hit the ball out of the effing park
Frank [11:59 AM]:
the next question is how... and do you want to go to lunch?
I suppose the question we need to leave with you with is this: How the hell do we change that carrot from being money to real human interactions and experiences? Do you have any tips for helping people to realize they are pursuing, at the sacrifice of so much good, something they will never be truly satisfied by? As much as we joke, this issue has deep implications across our lives. Quite frankly, our very existence (spiritual and physical) is at risk.
Third Reichy the new blog. It's a window to a world I've attempted to inhabit a few times. Whatever is left of that goal has long dissipated. For one thing, I can't stand acronyms or abbreviations of any kind. For me, the way to transform the carrot is through empathy; it seems very difficult for the average guy making six fig newtons a year to really empathize with the poor and starving. Now, if you're poor and starving yourself, that's a whole other story. I strongly believe that the ambition to amass wealth is one manifestation of hatred for your fellow human beings; you can isolate yourself from the horror, madness, and even happiness and joy of other lives. Maybe that's too idealistic. It is, it really is. Realistically, my opinion is we're all going down, so enjoy what we have left. Maybe we can come to an agreement on one last redeeming quality: that in our last moments we remained civil and compassionate towards on another all the way to the end. Well, that sounds naive, too. I'll get back to you...
ReplyDeleteI agree in some ways with all of this, as well as Mr. T's comment, but in parts I also think the thinking is a little too narrow in of its own right. I read somewhere that (this may not be verbatim, but you'll get the gist) "It's very difficult to get a man to understand something when his paycheque depends on his not understanding it." I think that sums up the mental attitude of our society quite succinctly.
ReplyDeleteAll of these businessmen realize that statement in their day to day existence. I agree that a great percentage of it is the desire to ignore the protests and resistance from those who are be exploited to facilitate the unequal flow of wealth, but there is a part of me that recognizes in the face of overwhelming opposition it is difficult - although because of this all the more necessary - to know where to begin, and how to effectively break out and/or change the system. Especially for people from our generation, in their 20's and younger - we have lived our entire lives in the "underbelly" of the beast pretty thoroughly. It's all too easy to villify these corporate honchos - which I do myself, and they deserve it - but we're still working for them. Our compliance with them and obediance towards them still ensure we get paid, and when we get paid, we eat.
And it's even easier to say these rather forceful things from the comfort of our leather computer chairs through our blackberries or laptops or whatever, and then leave it when our immediate comforts become threatened. Does that make us all slightly hypocritical? Probably. I don't really have a solution, by the way, nor am I really instigating any sort of argument, just some comments.
As to mr. t's reply - that attitude does sort of irk me, as I've mentioned to Frank before. When people say we're doomed (which I do agree with, this culture/way of living/system of exploitation is doomed to extinction someday, thank goodness for that) but to just hide behind that, to give up before even really fighting or resisting concretely in any form.. seems rather sad, does it not? My response to that idea of there being no hope whatsoever - so? So what there is no hope. There probably never will be hope, but hope can easily become an excuse for inaction because we 'hope' someone else will come in and do the gruelling work/thinking/debating/rebelling and we can find relief from oppression when they do. The bottom line is that might never happen. But if we are going down, I want more than civility and compassion because I doubt there will be any such behaviour characterizing an endgame. I want to die knowing I fought the good fight.