the insanity of the american worker
i’ll start off by saying i’m so far removed from school, and—albeit contrary to the early tone of this posting—spend way too much time being a perfectionist at everything else that i do, that i am not going to heavily edit my postings anymore. it's been so long since i've been on here, and i just want to post. so, i’m entering the world of the true blogger. i’m just going to put it out there. do with it what you may. i really don’t care. *mwah*
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let me tell you what absolute insanity is: FULL TIME WORK. i’m finally starting to realize, after only 2 1/2 years of "real" full time work, how ludicrous this really is. no, I’m not lazy. as a matter of fact, I work my skinny little butt off. but I’m starting to think that we really are just a bunch of suckers. i mean, really. just think about it.
but, if you want ANY kind of security, you have to play their game. be a cog in their machine. yet, how can these cogs help the machine to stay well lubricated when we ourselves can’t remain so? this is the reason why EVERY person, every system, every company, every administration, every bureaucracy is ultimately flawed. because cogs don’t take vacations. cogs just spin. turn the machine off for a bit at night, and maybe twice a year leave it off for a week, just so it doesn’t overheat. other than that, it just SPINS SPINS SPINS. turns. or feeds things to other things. or presses buttons. or attaches things. or delivers things.
let’s take a look at the “average” work schedule, to see how much “free time” we generally have as american workers:
one day = 24 hours. in these typical 24 hours, the “average” person likely uses up most of them as such:
sleep: the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention state that adults “typically need 7–9 hours,” so we’ll just take the average and say that sleep = 8.
wakeup/shower/getready. some folks can really just roll out of bed and go. good for them! hippies unite! that’ll buy them time for favorite extracurricular activities later in the day. (note: hipsters [vastly different from hippies, by the way] do NOT fall into this category, although they would have you believe as much. no, they spend a good amount of time cultivating their “not cultivated” look - are you aware of a product called “bedhead”? http://www.tigihaircare.com/consumer/en-NZ/bedhead/default.asp the idea is to get out of bed, take a shower, then make yourself look like you didn’t, in fact, just take a shower. what a waste of time! why not just skip the shower??) anyway, for those who can’t just roll and go, let’s say this time = 1 1/2 hours. this includes making and eating breakfast, coffee.
getting to work: we’ll be REAL generous here, and, just for the sake of balancing the wakeupshowergetready time and making an even #, say 30 minutes. however, many folks travel at least an hour BOTH WAYS every day! and as roads get continually more and more crowded due to the continual population explosion, poor civic planning and faltering public transportation services (as well as dillholes who create the inevitable highway stoppage because they’re too cool to drive less than 90 miles an hour), we’re going to up the 30 minute commute BACK HOME to an hour, so that each way = 45 minutes. so, total travel time = 1 1/2 hours.
work: (8 hour workday and 1 hour for lunch - although, let’s be honest, and say that probably MOST of america gets 30 minutes! (if that!) that’s 10 minutes to GO somewhere for lunch, 10 to GET BACK to your workspace. which leaves 10 minutes to shovel food into your mouth, which doesn’t even make it 1/2 way down your esophagus before you get back to the “office” - geez, no wonder efficiency/productivity declines in the afternoon hours, that is until we seek out more artificial stimulants in the way of coffee and chocolate to get us through the day.) so, work = 9 hours
(p.s. whatever happened to nap time? such a good idea. and not just for kids! ever heard of the siesta? it’s this little time, after lunch, throughout most of the rest of the world, to my understanding, when people REST. such a brilliant idea. but, america is not about brilliance. we’re about the good ole’ protestant work ethic. anyway, i digress.)
dinner? well, if you just happen to be the man of the house, you can go ahead and enjoy some of your leisure time while wifey cooks your damn food, you ungrateful ass. did you stop to think that she just worked a full-time job today as well, and got paid a lower wage for the same damn job? but, we won’t nit-pick between genders here. let’s just say that dinner = 1 hour. what’s that? you call this hour for dinner part of your “leisure time?” fine. i’ll give that hour to you for now, cause i don’t want to open a new can of worms just yet. but, i’m coming back to this soon, and with a vengeance. anyway, my point has been made. because out of those 24 hours, you’ve just lost 20 of them.
what will you do for yourself, and your pursuit of leisure, and your dreams and aspirations and goals and interests with your 4 hours?? (oh, and i should be clear, in saying that this very generous allotment of free time applies only to those who don’t have children. i can’t even begin to imagine where their free time goes....)
just try not to fall asleep in the recliner while you think about all the wonderful things you could be doing instead of watching reality TV because you are too brain dead to do anything else. it’d be a shame to miss out on how much weight someone just lost while dancing.
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i’ll be back soon to discuss our other “free” times: weekends and vacations (or lack thereof.)
-------------------------
let me tell you what absolute insanity is: FULL TIME WORK. i’m finally starting to realize, after only 2 1/2 years of "real" full time work, how ludicrous this really is. no, I’m not lazy. as a matter of fact, I work my skinny little butt off. but I’m starting to think that we really are just a bunch of suckers. i mean, really. just think about it.
but, if you want ANY kind of security, you have to play their game. be a cog in their machine. yet, how can these cogs help the machine to stay well lubricated when we ourselves can’t remain so? this is the reason why EVERY person, every system, every company, every administration, every bureaucracy is ultimately flawed. because cogs don’t take vacations. cogs just spin. turn the machine off for a bit at night, and maybe twice a year leave it off for a week, just so it doesn’t overheat. other than that, it just SPINS SPINS SPINS. turns. or feeds things to other things. or presses buttons. or attaches things. or delivers things.
let’s take a look at the “average” work schedule, to see how much “free time” we generally have as american workers:
one day = 24 hours. in these typical 24 hours, the “average” person likely uses up most of them as such:
sleep: the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention state that adults “typically need 7–9 hours,” so we’ll just take the average and say that sleep = 8.
wakeup/shower/getready. some folks can really just roll out of bed and go. good for them! hippies unite! that’ll buy them time for favorite extracurricular activities later in the day. (note: hipsters [vastly different from hippies, by the way] do NOT fall into this category, although they would have you believe as much. no, they spend a good amount of time cultivating their “not cultivated” look - are you aware of a product called “bedhead”? http://www.tigihaircare.com/consumer/en-NZ/bedhead/default.asp the idea is to get out of bed, take a shower, then make yourself look like you didn’t, in fact, just take a shower. what a waste of time! why not just skip the shower??) anyway, for those who can’t just roll and go, let’s say this time = 1 1/2 hours. this includes making and eating breakfast, coffee.
getting to work: we’ll be REAL generous here, and, just for the sake of balancing the wakeupshowergetready time and making an even #, say 30 minutes. however, many folks travel at least an hour BOTH WAYS every day! and as roads get continually more and more crowded due to the continual population explosion, poor civic planning and faltering public transportation services (as well as dillholes who create the inevitable highway stoppage because they’re too cool to drive less than 90 miles an hour), we’re going to up the 30 minute commute BACK HOME to an hour, so that each way = 45 minutes. so, total travel time = 1 1/2 hours.
work: (8 hour workday and 1 hour for lunch - although, let’s be honest, and say that probably MOST of america gets 30 minutes! (if that!) that’s 10 minutes to GO somewhere for lunch, 10 to GET BACK to your workspace. which leaves 10 minutes to shovel food into your mouth, which doesn’t even make it 1/2 way down your esophagus before you get back to the “office” - geez, no wonder efficiency/productivity declines in the afternoon hours, that is until we seek out more artificial stimulants in the way of coffee and chocolate to get us through the day.) so, work = 9 hours
(p.s. whatever happened to nap time? such a good idea. and not just for kids! ever heard of the siesta? it’s this little time, after lunch, throughout most of the rest of the world, to my understanding, when people REST. such a brilliant idea. but, america is not about brilliance. we’re about the good ole’ protestant work ethic. anyway, i digress.)
dinner? well, if you just happen to be the man of the house, you can go ahead and enjoy some of your leisure time while wifey cooks your damn food, you ungrateful ass. did you stop to think that she just worked a full-time job today as well, and got paid a lower wage for the same damn job? but, we won’t nit-pick between genders here. let’s just say that dinner = 1 hour. what’s that? you call this hour for dinner part of your “leisure time?” fine. i’ll give that hour to you for now, cause i don’t want to open a new can of worms just yet. but, i’m coming back to this soon, and with a vengeance. anyway, my point has been made. because out of those 24 hours, you’ve just lost 20 of them.
what will you do for yourself, and your pursuit of leisure, and your dreams and aspirations and goals and interests with your 4 hours?? (oh, and i should be clear, in saying that this very generous allotment of free time applies only to those who don’t have children. i can’t even begin to imagine where their free time goes....)
just try not to fall asleep in the recliner while you think about all the wonderful things you could be doing instead of watching reality TV because you are too brain dead to do anything else. it’d be a shame to miss out on how much weight someone just lost while dancing.
---------------------
i’ll be back soon to discuss our other “free” times: weekends and vacations (or lack thereof.)
Comments
I am a member of St. Barts and I am actively reading your blog. I want to say I love your style of writing. And, I, too, love writing!