And then there were none…

‘On Friday, a woman at my office who I greatly respect came up to me and said, “I think what you are doing is courageous. Many people your age sit in jobs like yours and stay there for years, even when they are visibly miserable. There is a world of opportunity out there and what you’re doing is brilliant.” ‘

 

http://www.okayafrica.com/careers/i-quit-my-job-because-i-didnt-belong-there/

Assumptions:

a) You won’t starve on the streets

b) Your kids won’t starve on the streets

c) That job you quit paid well enough that you saved some money

d) Your parents will pick up your slack.

I find articles like these problematic because they imply that people who are not able (for a variety of reasons including the ones I suggested) to simply quit their jobs are whiners, are cowards, or are in some other way culpable and to be looked down on.

The real guilty party is not merely the people who can do this (by exploiting those not in this enviable position of being able to pick and choose when/where/what they work at) but the system that literally depends on keeping a very sizable majority in place to be exploited.

And IF everyone did this, there would not be a single barista to get you your latte in the morning, or prep your salad at lunch. Your pristine office would be covered in dust and awash from the overflowing waste bin, the fluorescent lights would all be burnt out and unreplaced, and there would be no pick-up of your recyclables.

Who would mind your toddler at daycare?

Who would sweep the streets every day? Who would restock retail outlet shelves…or run the cash register when you wanted to buy something? Would anyone work the graveyard shift at 7-11? Who would clean the Slushie machine?

These are not jobs that people take for the existential fulfillment of life. These are not “careers”. These are the jobs that people take because they need to eat, to pay rent, to keep themselves and their families alive at the barest level of existence.

But all those people out there advising us to “Follow Our Bliss” depend on those jobs being filled – and indeed, bitch mightily to all and sundry when those jobs aren’t done efficiently and to their lofty expectations, and with a goddam smile on the flunky’s face, to boot.

Entitlement…it’s not just for millenials anymore.

YMMV.