Keep Smiling or You Could Get Fired!!!!!

Well, guys, here is my latest meditation. This morning there is an article in the New York Times called The Secret to Having Happy Employees. OK. Well the naive little worker in me thought, Hmmm, must have to do with decent pay, good working conditions, good benefits, worthwhile work, dignity, respect, etc. You know the stuff that motivates most of us to go to work every day. Well! Was I ever wrong!!!! Here is what the article suggests: that bosses should fire "unhappy", "dysfunctional" employees in order to make sure they don't influence others to be "dysfunctional". Whoa! What exactly is an "unhappy" employee, I asked? Well, here's how it was defined, and I quote directly from the article:
"Bad management can make a good employee dysfunctional. On the other hand, good management will not always make a dysfunctional employee good. And sometimes people who would be great employees somewhere else just don't fit your company, whether it is the type of business or the company culture.
In the worst cases, the problem of a bad fit can have a bigger impact than just one employee's performance. Being in charge does not necessarily mean you are in control, and being in control does not necessarily mean being in charge. Have you ever seen a company or department paralyzed by someone who is unhappy and wants to take hostages? It is remarkable how much damage one person can do. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch "The Caine Mutiny." Basically, one guy takes apart the ship. He was unhappy. It only takes one."
">"If you read books on great companies, they usually leave out a dirty little secret. It doesn't make for good public relations — like talking about how you "empower people" or how your "greatest assets" are your people. Both of these well–worn clichés are true. What is also true is that it's hard to build a great company with the wrong people.
">When you own a company, you have the right to surround yourself with the people you choose. When you have the right people, business is much easier.
Well. Do we really need to read between the lines on this one? Don't think so. This guy is basically saying that a business owner can do things however they please, in order to "make business easier" which includes deciding who the "right" people are.
Of course, it is never stated exactly what makes an employee "right" but no doubt a "happy chappy" is one who is not a "wrong" person.
Once again we are witnessing what I call the personalization of capitalism's failures. It is us, the workers, who have "brought down the whole ship" by being "unhappy". It is clear to me that "unhappy" means not pleased with pay, conditions, benefits and the "culture of the company".
In other words, people who stand up for what they want in the face of a system that would deny us the most basic rights on the job.
When I think of this is the context of the "happy" industry of consumerism and psychotropic medication in the US, I get a serious chill down my spine!!! It's not enough that the economy has failed, there are fewer and fewer jobs, hardly any benefits, very little pleasure in working. Now, we have to be "happy" employees, i.e., not "malcontents".
UGH. All over Europe, workers are protesting in the streets over this latest capitalist mess. In France, when a plant announced massive lay offs, ALL workers, including those who were told they would be keeping their jobs, walked out on strike. When the riot police were called, they fought them, to the point of breaking out all the windows of the corporate buildings. There was one scene where a group of workers broke through the front doors and grabbed and began dragging out management employees. Most interesting is that the company's "security guards" stood by and did not stop the workers.
Call me a misguided rebel but I find the attitude of the French workers much more "empowering" and realistic than this palava about being "happy". The French workers wee angry and did not want to lose their jobs. So they vented their anger. In an interview they said, "Well, if we can't work there, we will just destroy the place, so that those managers don't have jobs either. They want to choose who works and who doesn't? No way! WE will choose who works and who doesn't! THEY will get moved to another plant to "manage" more closures while WE end up out of work? No way! We go, then so do they!"
I LIKE that attitude! But I guess in the US, those workers are "unhappy" and dangerous because they "brought down the whole ship" and made it hard to do business!
Hmmmm.....please be aware that the anti-depressant fad does not exist in Europe. But the trade union fad is alive and kicking. All over, the unions are staging national strikes, and rocking the boat. Workers there are unhappy and they know WHY and o not direct their anger and stress inward, nor blame themselves for being "unhappy".
Well, I'm going to stick to my old fashioned trade unionist ways. I'm going to ask God every minute to help me to stay firm and honorable in this madness, even if it means being labeled as "the wrong person" or as "unhappy"!
Am I wrong to state I do not want to be one of the "right people"? Am I wrong to be happy to be one of the "wrong people"? One of the "unhappy" people?
Well, if being "unhappy" means I do not get addicted to "anti-depressants", will not sell out my fellow workers, and expect dignity, respect, a living wage, decent benefits and simple basic human rights on the job, then so be it. I will just be a miserable malcontent then.
Funniest part is this : I am ONLY unhappy in my life when dealing with work and money!!! Hmmmmm.....interesting indeed!!!!!

First Things First

Well everyone welcome to my blog! This was recommended to me by a dear friend whose emails were getting clogged up by my many thoughts and contemplations each day!! I am a regular working person in an irregular world. What does that mean, you ask? Well, like millions of people around the globe I have spent 35 of my 54 years on this planet going back and forth to work. Spending up to 16 hours a day doing this. Working shifts, overtime, part time, full time. Doing whatever was available to pay the bills. Spending 5 or more days a week in offices in front of office machines. Never knowing any job security, just always hoping the paycheck will come before the bills. Wondering how to make this better but not having much time to do so.
Sound familiar?
My friends know me as a sometimes cynical, often outraged, analytical type who is not afraid of the word socialism. One thing I do ask is that this space not get filled up with arguments about socialism. I am open to other viewpoints but don't want to focus on that!
So, why have I started this blog? Well, I have been underemployed all my life and unemployed a lot in between that. Right now, like millions of others, I have been unemployed for over a year. And wherever I turn I see working people struggling against the odds to simply have a place to live, food to eat, and a minute to relax. I find this very disturbing. It seems to me there should be more to life than this complete focus on work. Yes, work is good. Yes, we should get up and go out to work. But my question is this: what does "work" really mean? Should it just be a means to an end or should we be able to feel it is something worthwhile? Is money the only satisfaction we should get from work? And shouldn't we have more choices in the type of work we can do? And why do we work so much? Shouldn't we have a little bit more free time? And shouldn't we have more choice in the conditions we work under?
These are just my first thoughts. I love to dialogue so let me hear from you! Feel free to comment on any and all posts on this blog!