E.S.

Economic Slavery.

Pretty much the situation that most working Americans, including myself, are experiencing now. Had a conversation with my boss the other day regarding work he wanted me to do that is no longer my responsibility. Went something like this:

boss: "I need you to work on project x today"
me: "Oh? What are you going to do when I am gone?" (implying my near resignation and suggesting that it is no longer my responsibility to take care of project x)
boss: "I'm paying you $9/hour, i'm gonna get my money's worth"
me: (exasperated at the fact that he suggested I am overpaid) "You're already getting your money's worth, bro"
boss: "Not by the company's standards"
me: "This country did away with slavery decades ago"
boss: "You can work for free if you want, go ahead an punch out"
me: incredulous laughter

I made the slavery joke to a coworker later, and he said "yeah it's economic slavery." That struck home with me. What is different between being underpaid, as many of us are, and slavery? I say almost nothing. Even slaves back in colonial America were provided for, in a manner of speaking. They were given housing, food, clothes, and anything else their masters wanted to provide. They were expected to work hard, do what they were told, even go above and beyond, for what they were given. We are, for all intents and purposes, forced into this economic slavery. I mean, we need to eat, be sheltered, and travel at least around the city in which we live. Many of our wages cover barely that. Those in more privileged positions feel justified in squashing the lower echelons and feel deserving of what they have. Of course, the higher up you go the fewer privileged positions there are, the greater the rewards and the greater the security. Of course they would argue that anyone can get to where they are. Yes, almost anyone has the potential but only a few actually can due to limitations on the number of positions available. For the rest of us, there is economic slavery, and we deserve it. Don't we?

Later that night, my boss calls me about a task a coworker and I took care of. It went something like this:

boss: "Why'd you do this task like you did?"
me: "Because you told me to do it one way, and you told coworker to do it another way."
boss: "Don't you remember me coming to you and telling you how to do it?"
me: wondering if he heard what i said, "Yes, I remember. But you told coworker to do it this way. I don't know when you told him this, maybe it was after you told me. And when him and I put our heads together, his way made more sense based on what corporate wants."
boss: "Yeah but I am going to try and do it the way I told you anyway..." he goes on the justify why he is going to do things outside of what management outlined and that i should have followed his directions.

He didn't even accept my apology, which I never should have given to begin with. It is this kind of idiocy in management that I can't stand. It used to stress me out, now I just laugh at the folly of corporations. Communication, please. Here is a tip, make sure that everyone knows what is going on and don't give two people on the same task two different directions for how to complete it. duh.

\m/