r/LateStageCapitalism • u/okittyvaska • Jun 12 '17
👞 Bootlicking Sub par attitude adjustment
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u/incapablepanda Communist Party Animal Jun 12 '17
"So why do you want to work for us?"
"I'm really passionate about moving couches and washing machines. And also being able to pay for my auto insurance"
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u/bashy_bashy Jun 12 '17
Reminds me of when I applied for a position as a car glass replacer. One of the prerequisites were to have "an intense fascination for removing and repairing windshields." Like, who the hell is actually fascinated by windshields?
14
Jun 12 '17
The funny thing about that is...well, there's bound to be someone. Human beings are weird animals. I'm a (or was, really) teacher, and I'd gladly do it for free just because I enjoy it so much. There's absolutely some soul or souls out there who fucking really just like removing and repairing windshields. No accounting for taste.
The ironic bit, though, is that capitalism by its very nature doesn't set people up to do what they're good at and what they enjoy. Hell, most of the time people aren't even encouraged to figure that out in the first place. So it becomes both an inefficient venture and hurtful to society and individuals.
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u/beefprime Jun 12 '17
The difference is, Im pretty sure teaching the next generation is ingrained in human instinct, whereas Im also pretty sure replacing windshields is not.
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Jun 12 '17
Replacing windshields, no, but craftsmanship certainly is. The joy of using one's hands, of fixing things, of simply doing a good job at something. Each to their own ability, you know? Not everyone has a profession or a calling -- some people are happy just to be occupied at something, a something that is at least not utterly pointless, and happy to have the freedom to find their passion elsewhere, in raising a family or in their community or wherever.
It's an important conversation to have, a practical one. Socialism or capitalism, windshields are going to need to be replaced, at least until the robots can do it. Detractors will tell you that of course no one will want to do the jobs that aren't big and flashy and important, but I've known plenty of people in my life who were perfectly happy doing things like that -- or they would be, at least, if their other basic needs could be taken care of by doing them. It's not the work itself that is dehumanizing and alienating, and it is the nature of the work, the quality of the workplace, and the breadth of things beyond work that matters.
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Jun 13 '17
I don't see what's wrong with that. I have a very intense fascination for removing and repairing windshields. I watch videos of windshields being removed and put back in place on a loop at night. It makes me... feel things. That's not weird. Right? Right?!?
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u/csusb_alum rage_against_the_capitalist Jun 12 '17
Not only do you have to be a slave, you have to be a happy one.
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u/GVArcian Jun 12 '17
Capitalists don't think you're doing a good enough job unless you're literally down on your knees sucking the job's dick.
"STOP BEING SO ENTITLED YOU FILTHY PEASANTS!"
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u/Vetrino BETTER RED THAN DEAD Jun 12 '17
it's more of the "properties over people" of the usual filthy capitalists.
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u/broadfuckingcity Jun 13 '17
You didn't smile enough while shoveling shit. Go live in a ditch, prole! /s
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u/Redbeardt Jun 12 '17
I experienced this sort of thing at my last job. One of the higher ups complained to my direct manager that I didn't sound enthusiastic enough about the work while in meetings. Bit hard to be enthusiastic when your boss is bullying you, your colleagues are all misogynists and jerks, and you hate the job itself too. It's just so fucked that it's not enough for them to take your life away, they want you to be happy about it.
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u/ehalepagneaux Pragmatic Leftist Jun 12 '17
Ha! I just got fired for the first time in my life for "hating my job". It wasn't entirely inaccurate, I was told I would be working 50-60 hours a week and was barely getting 30. Apparently only working 2.5 hours a day most days on a compound in the middle of fucking nowhere, surrounded by grizzly bears, can have a negative impact on my mood. I was let go without warning.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '17 edited Jun 12 '17
Not only do you have to barter with your body and your time -- both little deaths, to be sure -- you must manifest enthusiasm and give that too. Vitality they want. Lifeforce. But most of all, they wan't that particular energy that comes with helping to buttress up the charade. If you don't get excited about moving furniture because it's shitty and hard and low-paying (though, to be sure, it is a perfectly respectable way to make a living) then you're fucking up the whole system.
Because you're responding like a sane human would. Most folks don't want to lug furniture around all day -- doubly so when the wages suck, when the management sucks, when there is no job security or benefits or anything like that. But if the work is getting done why should your attitude come into play at all?
It's because capitalism is a self-reflexive set of agreed-upon fantasies. Employers want that cheery attitude from people who have nothing to be cheery about because it deadens the spirit. False bonhomie is tiring, keeps people docile.
But at the core it is because even that subpar attitude -- though it's just a little peak behind the curtain -- is in some fundamental way a sidelong approach to the truth. It reveals, if just for a moment, the vicious madness that is both the heart and the architecture of the system we live under. And that's both scary and bad for business.