Work Experience and What It Really Is

[Yet another installment of the failures, the pieces that didn't make it on other sites.]

Yes, I know, you want me to tell you how to prepare for a job interview, the right things to say, and then, after you're done doing that begging and scraping, how to keep that wonderful job; how to get along with the co-workers, how to impress the boss, and how to enjoy the day in and day out, up in the morning, off to the office, sitting in the cubicle or sweating in the field. Sorry, can't do it.
I'd rather tell you what's really going to happen, or at least what's you'll notice if you're conscious. Yep, by that I mean awake and aware of what they're really doing to you and what you're subjecting yourself to. Here goes nothin'!

Pennies of What They're Paid

Well, on my main job, the one I worked for many years, in the file I found, in the file that I was in fact in charge of, it showed what the company was getting paid for my work. See, I helped people with disabilities integrate into the community; I usually had about three clients at a time that I worked with; well, as it turns out, the company was paid anywhere between 30 and 50 dollars an hour for each client. I had three clients, which means the company got paid anywhere between 90 and 150 dollars an hour for my work. Several hours a day with the clients, that adds up. What did I get paid for my work? At the time I left, I was getting paid $8.50 an hour. Understand? That's a fraction of a percent of what they made off of my work. Sound right to you? And it's not like it was easy work; they expected you to work without breaks, being abused by clients (not to mention co-workers), being in charge of clients' safety in the community, teaching them skills for integration into the community, personal care, and case management. Yes, that's right: Besides teaching and being direct care staff, you were also expected to do the work of a case manager: Write plans for the client in program, keep track of progress, document progress and activities, write incident reports, and on and on. Case managers, you should know, usually get paid much more than $8.50 an hour; more like $20 an hour. Put it this way: They won't pay you what your time, energy and life is worth. Not even close. Even if they had paid me $15 an hour, it still would have hardly put a dent in their profits. And I would have not got burned out quite so fast.

Source: By Palmer, J. A. -- Photographer [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Policy and Paperwork

You know, the things you have to follow and do or else you'll get fired. The things that have nothing really to do with your job, but are meant to keep you in line and keep the books for the company so they can continue to make money. It's what's required for them to get funding, and has to do with what someone, who is never out in the field, decides is the way to do things; they sit in an office and dream about what you're supposed to do, then put it down on paper for you to follow and force you to do the paperwork that proves the company is doing it. It's nonsense. Those bureaucrats making policy don't know what you need to do or what you go through, and the paperwork they force you to do is for them and their bank account. Anyone interested in real life and who doesn't want to be a drone can't stand this paper pushing assembly line automaton nonsense.

It's Up To You

So, it's up to you if you like being a machine and doing what you're programmed to do and getting paid a fraction of what the company makes in profit while they lie to you about it and do everything to make you fall in line with what makes them money; if you enjoy having the threat of being fired for any minor act of insubordination looming over your head, while at the same time you struggle to pay rent and buy groceries, and you're in debt for medical bills for the treatment your getting for high blood pressure which is the direct result of stress from the job; if it's cool with you, getting up when you're exhausted and putting in another day to make someone else live way better than you: Well, then go for it; then you can live day in and day out, stuck in a rut and afraid to move half an inch in any direction that might jeopardize your position as drone worker at the Decepticon, Inc. Corporation (DIC). Someone will say, "You're lucky to have a job"; yeah, like a slave is lucky that his master let's him sleep in the barn and puts slop in his trough, lucky to have the constant pressure that breaks down brain and body, only looking forward to vacations and the weekend, the "thank God it's Fridays" and the temporary relief and escape when you can use accumulated vacation time, the token "charity" they use to keep you from going straight out Postal. To each his own.

 
On the frontline Anarchists at work

 
Sabotage and striking on the job Louis Adamic 1931, libcom.org