Why I hate (corporate) America

I wasn't born with a closed mind. Admittedly, my upbringing was left, leaning red, but I was always as rebellious against that as I was against everything else. In a sense, corporate America saved me from the streets. So why do I hate it now? This is a long-ish story, but I think some folks, especially those who find my posts so offensive, might be interested.

In my youth I worked mostly as an art and music teacher, temporary gigs. Sometimes I filled in the slow times working childcare. The pay was lousy, the work difficult, but I thought it was okay. I figured I was doing some good and I would eventually get hired somewhere and get a relatively stable income. I had a college degree and I thought I was qualified. I had swung a hammer or two, but that seemed like a shutout. All the tradesmen I knew had learned from their fathers when they were just kids, and there's no way to compete with that if you start as an adult. The only things I'd been doing my whole life were drawing, painting, writing, and making music. Other than groceries--work I'd always been attracted to, but which would kill my mom if I got into it, for weird and irrelevant family reasons--teaching seemed like the gig. I still hoped to "make it" as an artist and thought of the paid work as a "day job" anyway. Needless to say my situation got worse and worse until I couldn't even afford to work because it was costing more to drive than they were paying me. I ended up homeless, sleeping illegally in a warehouse where my friend worked and manning a recycling station a couple of hours a day--man, talk about shitty jobs! I was ready to kill myself and maybe take a few people with me.

It was really my brother, not corporate America itself that snapped me out of this. We were drinking one night and I was moping about my problems when he said, hey man, why don't you just cut your hair and go to a temp agency? They'll hire you. They hire anyone.

I'd never considered office work before. I assumed it was very difficult and specialized because the people in it made so much money in comparison to what I made working really, really hard at jobs that made me stiff and sore for days. Or jobs where I was in a 110-degree metal shipping container used for storage, sorting wood. I figured that life was more or less fair and that the people who got paid five or ten of fifty times what I made at those gigs must be superhuman and their working conditions nearly intolerable.

The temp agency took about two days to get me a 40-hour-a-week open-ended assignment. My boss, who spoke broken English, vaguely pointed to some binders and gave me no idea what I was supposed to do. I was introduced around an unenthusiastic department. It seemed like no one wanted me to bother them, so I sat down at my computer and started playing solitaire. This was the international sales department of a three billion dollar company, and they were paying me ten bucks an hour to play cards with my computer.

It got even weirder. I poked around a little and found out the person I was replacing was depressed (surprise surprise) and no one knew when she would be well enough to come back to work. I played solitaire for about a week, discovered the internet, and spent a lot of time reading my friends' bemused comments that my first-ever e-mail address had a female name. I was starting to rack up the kind of money I used to make in a whole season teaching. At night, I worked on my novel. It seemed like the ideal situation, but I started getting paranoid that they would get rid of me when they found out I wasn't doing anything. More than that, I was just bored.

So I started asking people to give me work to do. Little by little I built up my own load of responsibilities and tried not only to achieve the superhuman task of actually filling a 40-hour week with work, but also to make myself more or less indispensable to the department. Eventually I could cover for any manager there except the very specialized financial people. Two years after I left I ran into the vice president of my division at the movies and he remembered my name--pretty impressive in an office with 3000 employees. I was very popular with the folks overseas as I was usually the one who actually answered their calls and e-mails. The management in Moscow thought I was the head of the department and requested a special meeting with me when they came to visit, much to the chagrin of my actual bosses.

I was into it, more or less. I mean, it wasn't my passion, but I enjoyed certain parts of the job, especially working with people from other countries and learning about the different business cultures. I did notice that the people I liked best were universally hated by the people in my office: the Australians in particular, for having a "cowboy" or overly individualistic corporate culture. Despite a lot of cognitive dissonances like this--I also enjoyed best the work that others hated the most, hated the foods they loved and loved the foods they hated, etc.--it seemed to me that the company needed my skills (especially at the discount rate they were paying) and that if I had a permanent job there I would be able to advance. The company was enormously strapped for personnel, being a non-high-tech firm at a time when only tech jobs were "sexy." And I even had a few advocates. My immediate boss, who interestingly enough had been a Red Chinese official before becoming an American corporate manager, was very impressed with me and tried to make it happen. She even negotiated a raise for me, unheard-of in the temp world, and kept me around when the person I was replacing came back.

After a few months of me applying to open positions in other departments, she took me out to lunch to tell me to look for another job. I wasn't fired; I could work there for as long as I wanted to or needed to, but they were never under any circumstances going to give me a real position.

She couldn't fully explain why; I had known her long enough to be able to tell that the reasons were too impolite for her to feel comfortable talking to about them. It had nothing to do with my performance. So what was it? I guess I just didn't "fit in."

I realized the bland, boring people I worked with were just quiet, grown-up versions of the conformist kids in school who called me "loser" or "weirdo." They probably still did behind my back. I didn't break any rules, but somehow the very intrinsic nature of my being was considered unfit for service to the company. My interests in art, music, and literature were extremely suspect, as were my lack of interest in sports or prime-time television. More than anything, though, I think what made me unemployable in their eyes was my lack of interest in marriage and real estate. They figured once a guy put a down payment on an engagement ring and a tract home a "mere" two hours' drive from work they had him by the short and curlies. Me, I didn't swing that way. One of the "weirdest" things about me was that I lived in the city where the office was instead of driving to the suburbs at night; when I explained that to people it was as if I had told them I lived on the surface of the sun.

I basically feel the same way about corporations as I do about the government, which can be summed up in the words:

STOP TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE.

I don't resent you for controlling all the resources in society, for wasting more than all the world's needy need; it's up to God or whomever to punish you for that. I simply resent you for not being neutral in regards to your constituents' lives and life choices. I hate you for requiring conformity as well as compliance. Just because I don't want to get married and raise a family, just because I have no interest in owning a home, just because I don't drive a car, just because I don't follow sports or keep up with the latest game show or because I have a different hairstyle or like stuff you don't understand, doesn't mean you have to exclude me. Hell, I don't even want any part of your social life, just your economic life. I need to live to, and if you control everything, I obviously can't do that. And if it ever comes down to you versus me, guess which one of us has learned how to fight in his life.

I'm glad now to be past the point in my life of having bosses and a workplace etc. but I will never forget how I was treated in corporate America. I know what it thinks of me and I will never forget it.

It's definitely, generally speaking, an environment in which individuality is not respected or accepted. Sad but true.
I work in an office that's generally a lot more relaxed, but I'm not married nor do I have any desire to get married, and that seems to "irk" some of the married people in the office.

Tell your asshole coworkers that you are WIDOWED! It shuts them up; it makes them feel guilty; and amazingly, it gets you some respect.

Then think of all the ways your 'spouse' died/was killed. Fun! Have fun w/ the corporate assholes. It kept me sane. Fuck with their heads instead of them fucking with yours.

:evilgrin:

I could never work in a corporation for the very reason that I have never been a conformist. I work for state government which does require some degree of conformity, I suppose, but my office is a far cry from the stultifying corporate life. For one thing I spend a great deal of time out in the field.

I had a few temp jobs. They required me to dress in a way I did not feel comfortable dressing, unlike my current job. Plus it was just so BORING.

I have clients in government and they never "look at me funny," they're just really glad to find someone with the skills to tackle a tough job. Lots of good people there, especially (in my experience) in county government.

Right on.

anarchic self-belief is invaluable in any and every society.

I got out of it. I'm not their lackey anymore; I'm my own boss and I don't work with the private sector at all.

same? I don't. I think you would have fit right in.

Actually, boss said I should get a systems job--I was always the one migrating everyone's software, fixing their .ini files, etc. Funny since I'd only ever used ancient dos machines before getting the job!

do and wear and be whomever they are.

Really - different corporations have different personalities. Sorry you had a bad experience. But there are lots of corporations that have a creative and open view on employees & creativity and such. I'm sure you could find a site that tells you what the best corporations are to work for. And look up the ones that would suit you. At least find the genre of corporation that works.

A good job is a good job. I don't get the impression that many in the corporate world around the world are thrilled with *. I really don't. Seems to be just 20 families going for the repeal of the estate tax bill. And the MIC corporations going for war. Really - there are a lot more corporations out there than that.

You could look up whom the corporations donate to.. politically as well as issues. And find a fit.

This isn't really a political issue for me, it goes beyond that. I don't trust the people I vote for any more than the people I used to work for. I don't really feel represented even by the politicians I vote for. They are all basically the same as my old co-workers, conformist suits with no interest in anyone who is not absolutely middle-of-the-road culturally and socially (unless it's a famous entertainer who shows up for a photo-op.) Maybe that's because of focus groups etc. telling them how to pose to win. But I've never voted for someone in a national election that I'd be comfortable working or spending time with. I've always voted against, not for. Even the issues that actually get debated are personally irrelevant to me. I voted against Bush in 2000 because I could tell he wanted to start a war--actually, two wars at once was what he said during one debate. It had very little to do with either candidate's professed platform. That was the third pres. election I could actually have voted in but the first I turned out for. (I've voted in every state or local election, though.)

I almost did go into IT, but went back to school instead--now doing a combo of teach/consult/freelance and it's working out really well. Good decision, apparently, since IT jobs onshore are incredibly hard to come by now. I can avoid the private for-profit sector entirely in my field and I'm happy to take a fairly big pay cut to do so. Of course, the folks who keep saying universities and government should be run more like business are trying to take this away from me, but I'm primed for the fight.

Thanks for your thoughts, anyway--I know there are good people working in corporations, too, I met quite a few of them. But they certainly don't wield the power where I worked, and I seriously doubt that they do in any HQ.

It seems that whoever can monopolize this sentiment can have the national elections. Look at the "Reagan Revolution." Of course, right after campaigning on getting the government off our backs, he started the War on Drugs and sent the military budget through the roof. It would be nice to have a party that actually championed individual sovereignty. I think it's been a big mistake for Dems to fall into the "values" trap set by the right. I always feel like I'm voting for someone who disapproves of me.

You are so right.

...when I've been employed by the "Robot-People".

And you can lie and fake it and mess with their heads all you want but eventually they find you out. They are a system that--like the shark is a ruthless killer--is rigorous and demanding in its need to stamp out nonconformists.

Fortunately, there are many ways to make a living in America and it sounds like you've found a way to do it sans corporations.

I earn my living without a big corporation now but if I ever think of going back (I've had some good corporate salaries), it leaves me cold. There is just no interest, none whatsoever, for hitching my fortunes to their economic engine.

Anyway, interesting story. I'm glad you posted it.




Cher

..I have to say though -- they treated you pretty well compared to some corprat places I've worked in the past. I mean those places are NASTY if you don't conform to their exacting ideals or if you're "different" than they are or show any interest in humanity, arts, creativity, or aren't married with 2.6 kids and living in surburbia (OFF the job hobbies and life isn't what they think it ought to be).

All of society is that way to some extent and corprat environments are the absolute worst about it.

running at the bottom of the page! He he.

When the op mentions temping for a depressed person, i am reminded of being
given the desk of the dead-guy, with all his papers still in it, his keyboard
dirt, his trash and appointment book in the side drawer. The corporation had
no place for recognizing this was really creepy, a very weird thing to do, to
just shuffle in someonebody to replace a dead guy... but i could only feel
sad for the guy, who died too young, who worked his whole life and never had
a family, bascially dying from stress on the job. So i was the replacement
for a guy where the job killed him, well whatever pays the bills, and i had
a warning sign of how hard the job was, just as a heads up... jobs kill the
monkeys, one by one they fall, time on time, falling under the hamster wheel
and being crushed by the faceless kaptial progression.

Not my cubicle but the office next to mine. My first assignment was to pack up her things in a box and mail them to her husband. No one had told me what had happened to the person at my desk at that point. I was worried they both had cancer, that there was some chemical or something in that corner of the office that gave it to them.

because of Illinois high unemployment insurance. Next day they report it was because of location.

occasionally employed me as a freelance translator before I retired (still do very occasional jobs to keep the wolf from actually opening the door), was trying to foster some kind of corporate "esprit de corps", even among the freelancers it hired, with company competitions, articles, joke-telling and what have you on its website! Hideous to my mind.

The pretend friendships and the social events no one wants to be at. The only thing analogous to this stuff is bad sex.

wasn't bad at all, to say the least. But I get your drift. You sure nailed it.

Well said! :kick: :applause:

--usually get cut a lot of slack in the looks and behavior department.

I envied the sullen "geeks" at the help desk. That's one reason I went back to school, but after staying on for my doctorate I can avoid the issue altogether... I hope.

great insights

ignored by society.

(mostly because big corporations are in power and are the true driving forces behind our government, which is getting big despite it all anyway.)

The creation of suburbs as part of a military plan, mass-produced housing engendered by postwar policy for the repatriation of soldiers, commuter culture feeding the oil companies and the oil companies feeding it back... put all that on the country at the same time as television and you end up with a hegemon that is utterly unidentifiable in regards to "publicness" or "privacy."

I think actual capitalism has been dead in America since World War II. When was the last time someone started up an independent car company here? We know that someone could do much better than our automakers, could give us much safer and more efficient vehicles at possibly even a lower cost. The only explanation I can think of for this is that Detroit is part of the goverment, just as surely as the Kommissar drove a ZIS.

http://digilander.libero.it/cuoccimix/zil117(71-85).jpg

http://digilander.libero.it/cuoccimix/ENGLISH-automotorusse9-G(Zil).htm

on edit, a cooler pic with an idiot-proof link:

STOP TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE.That is the whole problem with humanity in a nutshell.Some humans think freedom means they get to tell other people how to live while they live as they choose regardless of who gets hurt.This is not freedom it is hierarchy.

Freedom to live as you choose means you are self ruled person. To be a self ruled person in a world of self ruled people having to get along in a limited world means you MUST have enough empathy for others,to respect their consent,and sanctity of autonomy and their RIGHT to BE who they are..and that means NOT telling others how to live who are not dominating or harming YOU or others.Abuse and domination is a fundamental dehumanizing slight against the sanctity of self ruled selves, and it is WRONG.Basically To preserve your freedom one must follow a simple idea,Thou Shalt not be a bully on purpose, nor a bystander to abuse when someone's humanity is being abused or denied them..and also to not enable bullies to dominate you or others and tell them how to live when you or others in your position are not bullying or harming others or you..IF you do NOT like being told how to live, this concept of not dominating,bullying,by-standing or enabling abusers of freedom and manipulators that try to engineer others consent to get their own way to change how others live, should come natural to you..If it doesn't either you lack empathy or you got a conduct disorder and can't handle existing alongside others freedom freely.

I want to say to the ENTIRE WORLD,all corporations,all politicians,all shrinks,anyone else who thinks they can tell me who to be and the entire Human society and about it's crap about"norms"....Goddammit,STOP TELLING ME HOW TO LIVE.


And yeah I know I am imperfect. I don't always understand stuff and I got problems like everyone else does in their own ways,I need help sometimes... BUT..I do not want ANYONE'S help changing my own mind for me ..or being told HOW TO LIVE.

Being Told how to Live and being dehumanized for having my own way of thinking is NOT HELPING ME.And Help should not be given on a CONDITIONAL basis based on my CONFORMITY or obedience to your plans ,some authoritarian circle jerk or grand ideas in your head about how I should Live or think,or feel or anything else. Help me or don't help me.. BUT..don't fuck around with me and tell me who I should become to please YOU..I can't stand that shit.

Dammit.If you don't like me as I am just stay the FUCK away from me than..Don't like it? Don't look. Simple.

Attempts to control or modify my life ,to manipulate my mind or to twist my consent or to change whatever else you think is weird about me..To dehumanize me over whatever makes me happy and expresses who I am you don't like is coercion and coercion will get you nothing but my rebellion,hatred and resentment.I hate all authoritarians,abusers and bullies who try to tell everyone around them how to live.Don't tell me how to live think or be who I am and I won't have to tell you to kiss my ass in reply.

Simple!!

during clinton, though, talk about salad days: $15 - $20/hour assignments; more lax requirements; departments with budgets.

those were the days. chicago, mid to late 90s. can't count how many times i'd land in an office, put on the smiley face, get my tasks, and then get lost in the shuffle.

corporate lunches, departmental "coalition building" at the bars on the manager's dime, padded timesheets.

it was mainly like jerking off, except i got paid. lots of internet time, lots of lollygagging between my co-bottom feeders's desks.

i remember one assignment with a major soft drink manufacturer: they were so clueless, so BIG that sometimes i'd leave at around 2:30.

NO ONE EVER MISSED ME OR QUESTIONED WHAT I DID THERE.

reported to one honcho who was always in texas, and my local contact was 6 floors below in an entirely unrelated department.

i never fit in either: "where do you live" "what time is your train?" (people assumed mainly that the only public transport in the city of chicago was the commuter rail system - the trains that go out to the suburbs).

but for the most part, i kept my head low, smiled when i was spoken to, and always cheerfully fulfilled whatever idiotic request someone might throw at me.

i'd smoke joints at lunch and before work, my favorite tasks were mundane and repetitive: where i could sit and stare at the monitor all day and drag out a 2 hour task for 4 days and coast on friday.

5 pm NEVER came fast enough.

but there was still that deep unfulfillment: that feeling you get when you are sorely dissociated from yourself; when you spend your most wakeful hours engaged in processes that neither concern you nor have any relevance to your life; surrounded by middle managers and suburban aspirants.

i used to drink way too much back then.