A longstanding fear of mine was revived tonight...

I read this thread and have to shake my head at the fact that despite the recent economic crisis and the promise it holds for rearranging our sorry economic system, the Wal-Mart effect on ALL American workplace cultures is still alive and kicking.

I used to think there were many possible jobs I could perform. I used to have a great deal of confidence in my own abilities. No more. Years of hearing stingy employers' favorite words-- "you're not a good fit", "you're not a good match", and dead silence-- put the lie to that.

The latest is this widespread fear of the EFCA.

How many jobs are off-limits to me because of my ardent Obama support and worker's rights support? How long till my boss can find out who I voted for?

I can already kiss goodbye financial services jobs (too much credit card debt and student loan debt), government jobs (misdemeanor three years ago; dismissed for 2 years), and anything requiring driving (two fender-benders in the last five years). Now I guess the lowly chain retail and restaurant job is dead to me, too.

Better watch for this kind of shit being pulled by employers in the coming years-- all put under the umbrella of blaming the poor economy. Watch out for every kind of lame excuse under the sun, for why we can't be hired, why we don't deserve to build our skills, why we don't deserve to put our experience to work, why we shouldn't be given an opportunity to start a new career direction and put our pasts behind us.

No, employers are not supposed to care about furthering your career development. They're not supposed to care about anything but what you can do for them. But wouldn't they be better to work for if they DID think a bit more about what's best for their employees? At least some are SAYING that well-treated employees are more productive. What's next for us is to hold them to that.

One thing I'm glad about: we're not TAKING it anymore. We're not sitting down and living with it anymore. We're not, for God's sake, empathizing with the corporation anymore, and asking our fellow employees to put themselves in the company's shoes.

And I hope we keep this new mindset up. Because the more we say, "thank you sir, may I have another", the more they'll give us another. And another, and another...