"Sticking it to the man"

And, of course, I am posting this from work. But *I'm* letting off some steam. Yeah, that's it...

fuck the man.

but fuck anyone harder who thinks slacking off at their (ESPECIALLY office) job = stickin to anyone except their other co-workers. having moved into (::shudder::) management, i realize the error of my former ways, especially when my work force consists of lazy sod college students who continually make me question the whole notion of higher education. but i'm home from work. and so am going to take a nap. (this post = 3 parts bitterness to 1 part common sense, which i think is also the recipe for a mai tai.)

I guess it all depends. If someone gives me a job I think is unnecessary, I might slack. But I woudl never want my coworkers to have to pick up my slack.

I mean, I'm totally sympathetic to the organized slowdown as an act of resistance against oppressive conditions, but...

Well, I guess the -- admittedly stupid -- argument that certain corporate office workers would make is that they're sort of saving their mental energy and their overall effort level for some supposedly "better" things they're going to do in their own time, stuff like ... really bad conceptual art.

I don't know ... I completely understand laziness, and I can even swallow that certain people's laziness may be inspired by their not being very inspired by the status quo of whatever they're doing, but laziness, in the end, is not a political act. And yeah, when you're just creating more work for others -- as opposed to accomplishing everything you need to but not necessarily feeling compelled to go that extra mile -- it's fairly rude.

Oh, so I guess what you're getting at is that some folks thinking they're somehow "fooling" The Man by putting forth nothing and taking paychecks in return, when in actuality the only people being harmed are their fellow employees?

I am The Man

Well that, and...

This was mostly prompted by a recent discussion amongst some of my co-workers. Apparently a woman who works downstairs gets pretty angry at people who try to steal books from the library. And my two co-workers were saying how she's uptight for getting angry, etc. - how the school is expensive enough that stealing is justified. Whereas I totally hate it when I go to check out a book and it's mangled or missing. Plus, a lot of our students are low-income and work their butts off to get an education. I guess some of my co-workers are making me feel like such a square, but I think that any sort of resistance or rebellion should be thoughtful and principled. This kind of stuff really change nothing and require no real guts or commitment, and I think that some of it is about not wanting to look "uncool" by actually giving a shit. There are things I disagree with here, but I make a point of speaking out about them and trying to change them.

I guess I could be called some kind of corporate lackey - which is disheartening sometimes, and certainly not where I saw myself, but being a squeaky wheel within this sort of thing feels a whole lot better than not doing anything at all. Sounds kind of trite, but I honestly believe that you can't change a process unless you're a part of it. etc etc etc... could say more but big brother is always watching.

The Man - named Roger Parks - actively sticks it to us by writing terrible resumes for anyone who even thinks about trying to get another job, whether they're decent employees or not. We stick it to him by calmly accepting this, searching the job pages hopelessly and sobbing.

Yeah i get pretty pissed off with people who use political activism / anarchism as an excuse for being selfish shits or use it to disguise their underlying bigotry. And the people who try and rip off non-profits and libraries are the worst. If people are gonna be fuckwits i wish they'd just admit they're being fuckwits instead of trying to take the moral highground about it.

i'll get back to you after my nap.

when you know that you're going to be made redundant in 6 months it kinda saps the will to work out of you, Mind you making all this stuff that's being sent over to New York has been rewarding and for once it all felt worthwhile.

Nice to see so much common sense and respect for others on this board. I, OTOH, have none. Fuck the management, fuck the company, and if the co-workers don't like it they have two choices - a)try and get me fired, or b)eat shit. I do as little work as I can get away with, and sometimes less, even when I actually feel like doing something. I get the same treatment as the poor fuckers who actually try to do their jobs (management's fault, not theirs), so why make a fool of myself when I'm going to get shit on anyway? (My definition of being 'shit on' = not being allowed to do whatever I want, whenever I want, and get paid, no questions.)

If I am on your payroll, I WILL FUCK YOU UP. On principle. Because you are a manager. And that's the way it is.

(It's 10 AM and I'm at 'work', explaining the intemperance)

By 'fucking up managers', I mean - I've managed to get two previous ones fired, by provoking them into violence, the first one in front of customers, the second in front of the MD. All I did was wind them up sotto voce, Chinese water torture style.

As a manager I do not like being stuck to, and rarely am by dint of being relatively understanding of the shit jobs some of them do. I like to put together either the idea of responsibility for their jobs (ie its clear that if they fuck up its their fault and it will effect them directly) or shared ownership - this is a union after all.

Protestant work ethic is all well and good, but actually doing your job to an okay standard is pretty much about pride. Equally rather than sticking it to this nonentity known as the man, I'd much rather stick it to people who are actually making my life difficult (which could include crap management, but only if they are crap).

My slowness or lack of motivation has nothing to do with being against the system. I realise and praise the system which allows me to work at a leisurely pace.

I agree with Pete's answer.

I dunno -- I can't say I've ever understood the "pride in your work" thing. We should just call that what it is, and say "If you do a bad job and people notice, they will think you suck." I mean, that's the central relation -- the quality of the job affects others' perception of you. But if you understand that and still don't really care, then, well, fine.

And Dave, I think the thing about what you're claiming above is that you do it out of pure ... well, I don't want to say selfishness, but yeah, just squeezing personal benefit out of things. Which, again, fine, so long as you don't mind other people hating you for it. But I hope you don't claim it as a big political statement or personal virtue or anything.

Why don't you want to say 'pure selfishness'? Pure selfishness is cool in a job situ. In fact, I don't trust anybody who goes by any other philosophy at work.

go, dave q. i'm here to get paid and ONLY to get paid; i think the difference between the way i slack (which isn't passive aggressive, btw, it's actively aggressive) and the behaviors of those who consider themselves model employees (and yet spend 3-4 hours a day chatting, smoking, snacking) is that i know what i'm doing, i accept the consequences if i'm caught, and i really could give 2 shits.

it helps to bear in mind that the 'human resources' department are bigger assholes here than most places and they drive management to shit on employees as much and as hard as possible; thankfully i don't really have any coworkers so if i don't do something it just bounces right back up the ladder to the management shithead who gave it to me to do in the first place.

now, if i worked in a library or non-profit, something i could believe in to some extent, instead of this diploma mill, it'd be a different story.

i don't want to turn this into a thread about how BAD you are BUT i worked in a video store and played music so loud that i couldn't hear the customers and they had to speak in sign language and hung out behind a curtain and watched them come in and wait and leave and did other stuff, much worse ... and worked in a clothes shop and had a hangover and was rolling around on the floor in agony and didn't serve anyone all day then the boss came in and saw me ... and worked in a bookshop and filled the books with pieces of paper that had pictures of people mowing the lawns and quotes from Das Kapital on them, and I always wore my walkman when I served customers and if they sneered, I sneered back ... and when I was a waitress and people asked me, 'Why is this called the walnut cottage', I would just shrug and look out the window, not rudely but shyly ... but if a customer came in that I liked, it was all different ... like when David Mitchell the 70s poet who took too much acid and now is bent over and wears a suit came in and stared at me every day, I served him only ... and when an Indian guy came into the Albion where I was a concierge and tried to look at me as if I was nothing, I crawled around on the floor in his room 'looking for a clock' until he asked me to go out with him that night ... what do you mean about being lazy? There's no laziness ... I would kiss my customers' feet if they looked at me the right way ... but if they're wearing Skechers, they deserve to suffer ... what does pay have to do with it?

I say fuck the man first because he will always find a way of fucking you up. you do your work well, you'll get more; if you don't then you get blasted- by emails or better humilated, in meetings in front of others, colleagues, superiors etc. the blame will always be yours. this is the man getting his rocks off and thusreasserting himself for the day, and you're left with the running high kick to the stomach. why? 'the man' does it because he's powerless or afraid of what you mean it him. he's insignificant. if he wears a tie he'll think he's somebody you're not. if they are older - you'll be too young, and inexperienced. if you're not down on yer knees then your not being compliant - and while yer down there - polish my shoes. here's to sodding them and the system.

personally it's the shrewd little big men that you have to watch out for

you go maryann