work – Shortwoman.com

Musings for Labor Day Weekend

One legacy of the COVID pandemic is people re-evaluating work: what kind of work we want to do; what risks we are willing to take at the workplace; where we want to work; even how we want to be treated at work.

This is as good a time to point out as any that President Biden — neither the best nor the worst president we’ve had in my living memory — said in the State of the Union address that he both wants to reduce gas prices and get people back to working from their doggone offices. Seems to me that gas prices could be reduced by reducing demand and letting people work from home. But I digress.

This weekend we celebrate changes in our workplace made in the 19th and early 20th Century, giving us such things as a 40 hour workweek, overtime pay, the end of children working in factories, safe workplaces, and even a minimum wage that was originally intended to provide a living wage. It is an admission that we would not have the things this nation has without labor.

The status of regular workers has been declining for decades. Wages simply haven’t kept up with inflation, even the undercalculated inflation that currently is reported.

And so the Great Resignation happened. According to many, is still happening. Workers collectively said “Nah, we’re good. I’ll find something else.” You can measure the churn with the JOLTS report. And many who didn’t actually quit started dialing back what they actually did at work, or Quiet Quitting.

The name makes it sound like they stop coming to work. But no, they do come to work. They do their job and nothing more: no picking up slack, no adding additional duties, no overtime, no calls or emails after business hours. And sometimes they proudly proclaim it on social media. Another name for it is “acting your wage.” In short, it’s taking “they aren’t paying me enough for this” into practice!

Of note, there’s also such a thing as Quiet Firing.

Good news, there’s lots of articles out there about trying to combat Quiet Quitting: why people do it, what managers can do about it. Bad news is that the problem might be bad managers, who are unlikely to implement any of those strategies.

Wishing you a happy Labor Day. Furthermore, wishing you a safe job that pays more than enough to cover your bills, and leaves you glad you actually do it.

On the Value of Hard Work

Yesterday, I encountered this image:

So, recently I earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. I didn’t have any scholarships this time. I took out student loans which I plan to pay off as quickly as possible. I wasn’t living with my parents, who have regrettably both passed. I worked my butt off for this degree. I put in long hours studying. I earned it fair and square.

Moreover, I got up off my butt and attended a job fair right before classes ended. I made the effort to dress for a potential job interview, took copies of my resume, and came home with a job offer. That’s right, my job was lined up before I even finished. Hard work paid off, right? Of course it did.

And while this is all true, it ignores certain things that are luck. I had the good luck to notice an ad on Facebook for that job fair, and more good luck that my employer was considering new grads that day. I am lucky enough to live in a city that has multiple accredited nursing programs. Through a combination of luck and work, I actually was accepted into two different programs. If I lived in a small town, I might have had to relocate to get into a nursing school. If I lived in California, I might have had more competition for a seat, and may have had to get on a long waiting list.

Those problems are relatively easy to overcome, sure. Just a little extra hard work, a little extra money, maybe a little extra time.

I am further lucky that I read and write well in English. Sure, learned skills. It turns out that I was lucky enough to be born into a middle class household in a middle class suburb that had good enough schools. My road to this place would have been more difficult had I been born into poverty, living in an inner-city neighborhood with a crappy school system. A matter of a few dollars and a few miles changed the potential course of my life.

And frankly, I was lucky enough to be born in the United States. There would be no road to where I am had I been born, for example, in Afghanistan. My educational and career opportunities in such a place would have been sharply limited.

Sociologists have a term for these little turns of luck: “life chances.” While hard work is very important, sometimes it is overwhelmed by circumstances.

Or, to put things very simply, there’s a very famous little girl named North West. It is very unlikely she will ever want for money. Hard work, or lucky enough to be born to the right family?

In Closing: Happy Thoughts of Peace for Munich; Glenn Greenwald; the TSA could use some house cleaning; yes, obesity is bad; drug tests; how sad that we need a law to enforce common sense; teen abortion; cop killers (thanks, Mikey!); unpaid internships are a bigger scam than I thought; time to rethink the War on Terror; pet adoption; senseless violence. Have a peaceful weekend, folks. It’s crazy out there.

Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Shorties

I haven’t been as posty as I’d like lately. As some of you know, I have recently gone back to school. That means I have a lot of reading, and a bit of getting used to classmates who occasionally make me feel like this:

I remind myself that I am old enough to be mommies to some of them. So without further ago, shorties.

Social Media: It’s embarrassing that social media is now little more than yet another way to send me ads.

Social Security: There’s only a crisis if you want there to be one.

Too much Social, too little work: Up to 80% of a worker’s internet time might be spend “cyberloafing.” It’s easier to hide that you’re doing nothing at the computer than at the water cooler.

Bad Association: Turns out that Countrywide kept doing “business as usual” after B of A took over. I hope this surprises none of you.

Social Promotions for Educational Reforms?: I still like Kevin Drum.

Social Studies: The Avengers and The Breakfast Club.

Fitting in to Society: On immigration reform.

Vegas: Visitors are at a record high despite reduced convention traffic.

Reducing the deficit without slashing our own throats: From the progressives. But it won’t happen because the conservatives really want to make the majority of us into modern serfs by slashing the safety net instead.

Speaking of modern serfs: A third of student loans are subprime. They can’t be discharged through bankruptcy. They are creating a generation that may always be in debt.

Obesity is bad for you: even if you are the Governor.

On Republicans: From a Republican woman (endangered species, I know).

Gee, you don’t say!: Global climate change might adversely effect agriculture. Who knew?!?