- cross-posted to:
- aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
- politics@lemmy.world
(water is wet and fire is hot).
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Don’t worry everyone, you 100% have the freedom to exploit the working class yourself. See? The system is fair. Oh, you’re not exploiting the working class for passive income? Maybe you’re just not smart like you think you are dummy!
/$
Nobody can convince me that passive income is real.
I get around $400/mo from the VA for being exposed to toxic chemicals that will lead to me having cancer in the next ten years.
Pretty good trade off, let me tell ya!
that reminds me I need to get the burn pit stuff going
Yes, you do. If you need help, message me. No dox, but I can help you out.
Google “intent to file VA”, and fill it out right meow. Whatever claim gets processed will be backdated to the date that form was submitted.
Lol well ok there’s one. I do surveys for money so I suppose that’s kind of passive?
I think you need a refresher on the definition of passive
This just puts a huge spotlight on the thing I hate the most about my line of work. I’m sure it’s not just my line of work with this problem, but there’s plenty of examples of workplaces that do not have this problem.
My career is in IT support. Whether doing systems administration or networking or something else related, it’s my lifeblood.
Almost every job I’ve ever had in this field works on the basis of tickets. A concept which, isn’t in and of itself a problem, nor is it unusual. Similar systems exist in many careers; they’re similar to a chit in the restaurant industry, which contains an order, which is passed to the kitchen for the cooks/chefs to complete. Same thing. And there’s examples of this same idea across many careers, called all kinds of things from a requisition, to a work order, they’re all variations on the same idea.
The trouble begins with how tickets are worked and completed. In other industries, you pick up a task, whether a chit or work order, you finish the task, and you mark it as complete, but in IT, it’s very different in one key way. We have to not only justify and report everything we do, but also mark down exactly how long it took. It’s this last point that’s the problem. I am under continual scrutiny, every minute of every day to justify what I’ve done, and when I did it. In every job I’ve had, my ability to fill every second of my day with records of what I’ve done and how long it took to do is praised, or the lack of that ability can create some significant issues with maintaining my employment status.
There are good reasons to keep these records, to have a record of changes, and coordinate with coworkers, in the event they need to continue work I’ve started, or vice versa, and to note when something changed so that if issues arise, those actions can be examined as a potential cause. But this requirement has become weaponized by every employer to keep a stranglehold on productivity. If you take too long on a task that they think should have taken less time, you’re suddenly found in a meeting where you have to explain why you were so inefficient. If you excel and you’re able to complete your tasks quickly, that faster pace becomes the new standard, and anyone who isn’t capable of keeping up gets reprimanded for dragging their heels and wasting time.
The goal posts continually move. I can’t so much as take an extended shit without someone taking notice.
Meanwhile, so many jobs are simply focused on being present and looking busy. Before I went into IT, I worked at a grocery store, and short of clearly and obviously standing around doing literally nothing, no manager even took notice of you. If you were doing something, literally anything that looks even remotely productive, you were left alone. Which isn’t to mention all the down time, when there isn’t anything to do, and you just go and adjust the products on the shelf needlessly because it made you look busy. That same concept can be applied to a lot of different jobs, but with IT, it’s not sufficient to simply look busy. Your time must be put into a ticket.
It’s oppressive and the way of things in IT.
The perpetual problem in IT
BOSS to you “If everything is working fine, what do I pay you for?”
Also BOSS to you “Things are broken, what am I paying you for?”
IT support
And the mentality you’ve described is extra bullshit in an IT or support role, as I’m sure you’re aware.
This is paraphrased in the “Doom talk” I had to have with my boss back when I was working in systems maintenance. As in, he’d come into my office and complain, “Every time I come in here you’re just playing Doom. You need to justify your salary or otherwise maybe we don’t need to pay you.”
What MBA’s and PHB’s don’t realize is that IT and systems maintenance is not a production-oriented operation. You’re not making widgets. The metric is not how many tickets do we generate and how fast are they solved. The metric is, how can we have as few tickets as possible? Because by and large what you’re doing in support and IT is fixing stuff that’s broken. The ideal state for the business to be in is not to have anything that’s broken at all, on a minute-to-minute basis.
Boss, you want to see me in my office playing Doom. Because that means none of your millions and millions of dollars of mission critical infrastructure which your engineers rely upon to generate billable hours is on fire. If any of it catches fire today, I am on site to put it out. If anyone has a problem or a question, I am on call to solve it. If there is maintenance to be performed or new equipment to be rolled out, I’ll be doing that. But otherwise I’m not going to invent busywork just to placate middle management which, as a whole, can’t reliably remember which of the two mouse buttons to click.
Yeah, firefighter mentalities are terrible.
That said, as someone in software development, wouldn’t there be some optimization work you could do? Keeping up with the technology? Preparing training material? Figuring out the next steps for the next improvements to be done to the system? Looking at solutions to better monitor what is going on? Scripts to automate tasks?
I find it hard to believe that things are so static.
Absolutely! Those things are known to management as, variously, “wasting time,” “spending all day surfing the internet,” “submitting frivolous RFQ’s,” and heaven forbid if you want to attend training or a trade show, “accruing unnecessary travel expenses.”
Improvements/Maintenance is no ones KPI. I’m kind of baffled by this.
This doesn’t seem like c/nottheonion material
Gen X and I’m not making much more now than I did in 2008.
The US never really recovered from 2008.
You say this as corporations are making record profits.
The US recovered just fine, the elites just didn’t think it necessary to include us in that recovery.
My issue is that I have to believe my lying eyes. Rates of homelessness, buying power, financial solvency, they all dropped through the tank and never really came back after what amounted to a financial earthquake for many many families. Whole extended families dropped through the cracks and never came back. There was basically no relief for the working families most effected by the incident, and basically no consequences for those that cause/ profited from it. Covid and the financial repercussions seems about the same. We’ve “recovered” from it “economically” because those permanently impacted by it that will never recover stopped being counted.
Millennial and I’m making over twice at much as I was in 2012. 🤷♀️
So am I. My rent however is three times as much (for a worse apartment), food is 2-6x as expensive, gas is… shockingly about the same but it was killer in 2012 too. Utilities are up, insurance is at 250%, medical aid remains unaffordable even with insurance, and I’m older will more medical problems, less energy, and it’s harder to learn new things. Oh and I’m in much more debt due to all the previously mentioned things, so I don’t even have space on credit cards for emergency purchases.
And 9/10 people I talk to are in the same situation.
Sounds rough. But I wasn’t trying to invalidate the other guy (nor you now), just making a point that individual circumstances don’t dictate the state of things overall.
Guess the juxtaposition by itself was too subtle to convey that, lol. Oh well.
Even adjusted for inflation?
Nope, 66% increase then, just checked.
Millennial and I’m making over twice at much as I was in 2012. 🤷♀️
And able to afford a third as much…
Twice as exhausting for us boomers. You think you’re tired. 60 and 2 jobs is bullshit.
This points out why the idea that boomers (as a whole) caused many of our modern problems upsets me
I sincerely doubt you voted for the situation you’re in now
This in-fighting and blaming does nothing but detract from the real issue of who’s doing this to us (spoiler alert: it’s the politicians and it always has been)
Yeah some dude has a failed acting career, and now I have to hope my for profit insurance will cover a doctor or I’ll be eating ramen for the rest of my life
“failed acting career” is apparently ending up the chair of the Screen Actors Guild, parlaying that into Governor of California and then the presidency, after being a known talent in the 50s.
Failed acting career applies to most of the current online right wing pundits spewing nonsense.
Yeah let’s just pretend he wasn’t talking about Reagan
At least he didn’t fail art school in Austria
Though he likely killed nearly as many.
Sounds like they’re just lazy
/s
You joke, but that has been pounded into our heads our entire life, and even me (a gen x’er) feels like it’s my own fault because the world has been beating me down for not reaching whatever arbitrary standard it’s set for us.
Don’t worry, the oligarchy commends your lifelong efforts with a pizza party … :/
I know. I’m right there too.
We should get all of us together, pool what little money we have, and buy us a huge compound somewhere and have our own community. I mean, what could go wrong, right? 👀
Sounds good to me. Kool aid?
Hands you a cup
It’s Ecto Cooler flavor.
People do this already, check Foundation for Intentional Community. You can find communities near you that are open to visitors or new residents and check them out.
Make sure you’re well acquainted with the traits of cults to keep yourself safe. There are groups out there that are fundraising and building infrastructure for new communities, as well, so there are many ways to get involved.
“Just be careful, you might accidentally join a cult” lol I totally get your point but that just made me laugh.
Don’t want to end up like waco
Speak for yourself
man this sounded so cool until I realized they were all going to be weird sex cults.
I’m an older millennial and I look at the younger generarions with horror. We still had some good years. They only had worst and worst times. Disasters, wars, economic craches, pandemics, more wars… fuck! Guys you need to change the world!
