Worker Bees

We’ve been programmed to be worker bees. That’s supposed to be some kind of virtue. It’s not. You’ve been brainwashed. Do you what they call just doing the work you’ve been paid for? Lying flat. People are deciding to only do what they are paid for -and it’s considered radical. 

Those of us in the boomer generation took a long time to learn there is no company loyalty anymore. Some of us never learned it. Others learned the hard way. The younger generations have a clearer view of the real situation. They never saw company loyalty in action so probably think it never even existed. Can’t blame them for that.

The two week notice is petty much a thing of the past. It would take special circumstances for me to give notice before leaving a job. Perhaps if it was a small mom and pop place and we were on excellent terms and I might want to come back someday. A lot of employers, when they get a two notice, immediately fire the employee. The employee is stuck with two weeks without pay until the new job starts. 

Unions are making a comeback. Companies had been doing a pretty good job at discouraging them. They try and tell workers they don’t need one. Then they threaten workers who form or join a union. Maybe they should study their History. You can have unions or workers will rise up and show up at your house with guns and torches. 

There have been union abuses. Anything involving power will have that problem. Usually it’s still better than no union. 

I did a stint as the president of my local firefighter’s union. A public union doesn’t have a lot of power -on paper. Labor actions are illegal. However, they can’t throw the whole fire department in jail. What they do instead is to throw the union president in jail. When I took the gig I understood that was my job if push came to shove. I was prepared to go to jail and I wasn’t even getting paid to be the president. Sometimes you have to take a stand. While that never happened, it was threatened. Having already accepted that possibility I could laugh at the threats. 

Growing up nobody talked about work/life balance. It’s good that today people recognize you need a freaking life beyond work. All we have in life is time. Are we going to spend it on ourselves or sell our precious time too cheaply? 

Glad to see the younger folks are not as brain washed as my generation.

-Sixbears