The Hustle

I hate my job.

I'm typing this up right now while idiots email me in screaming, wailing terms after ignoring what I told them to do in the first place.

It's not so much that humanity is stupid as it is also impatient, greedy, and completely incapable of following direction.

You'd think maybe customer service gigs might differ by industry, but universally if you're dealing with "customers" they're human. At least right now. Maybe one day I'll get to serve some logical, process-obeying AI.

Gods, is it sad I dream about that?

Instead I've got Joe here who didn't listen to my instructions the first time, demanded I fix his mistake, didn't follow my instructions the second time either (why break pattern?) and now on his third attempt has decided everything is my fault from the beginning.

When I was younger and the world was my oyster (mpfh...sorry, stifling the laughter) I really wanted to write cartoons for a living. I loved Saturday morning cartoons. I grew up in the 90's, back when they were excellent, hand-drawn, and written by sitcom-style humorists who baked in adult jokes that went over your head then delighted you years later in re-runs. Now they're CGI or skittles or some shit.

Except Voltron. Voltron is kick-ass.

Didn't matter though, because I can't draw to save my soul and all animation requires the art of storyboarding - which I seem incapable of doing.

When I "grew up" (i.e. my family could no longer afford to pay for me to live on daydreams) I realized I needed medical benefits and rent money. Goodbye, writer aspirations. Instead I took the jobs I could get which, given I graduated during the first great recession (note we're still counting!) meant I ended up working in shipping for eight miserable years, followed afterwards by five years in the equally miserable industry of construction.

Why? Because no matter what happens these industries tend to keep working. As companies outsource their workers more goods have to be shipped back to the states; as people cram themselves into cities/corporate-run-hellish-suburbs-where-they-compete-for-the-handful-of-jobs-that=are-left-in-this-country, construction has to build places for them to live and work. Hence, job security abounds.

Not that I wouldn't honestly mind being fired right now. I've about had it with Joe. And all the other Joe's like him.

When I was younger and believed what adults told me, I assumed there were rewards for my hard work; I was told my hard work ethic would pay off.

Do you know what the real reward for hard work is?

...

More hard work.

When you're a hard worker, everyone recognizes that - so they dump as much work on you as possible. If you're a really hard worker, they'll hire fewer people because you can take up the slack for it and save them money. You'll never get promoted either, because they can't afford to hire 1.5 people to replace you. If you are, you'll still be stuck doing half your old job duties because whoever took your old job can't keep up.

If you're lucky maybe you'll be paid accordingly for your efforts, but most likely the company will shaft you because 1) they can 2) if it's a recession they'll assume you have no where else to go (and about half of my adult life has been lived in a recession now).

Gratefully, there is a small silver lining; if you DO work hard you can work hard anywhere. And once you realize that, and realize that you could pick up and restart because you're damn smart/fast and there's nothing stopping you - then you learn that the real reward for hard work is not having to put in as much effort/hours to get just as much done as your colleagues. Then you'll learn to relax, take a few more minutes to check emails, and just let things slide because nobody else cares, why should you?

Oh, and you'll have shorter re-hire times when you do hit a recession. Because businesses love hard workers they can take advantage of during hard times. Even in a recession, they're usually burning through them at a fast clip so they'll almost always be hiring new ones.

There are things I do enjoy; coffee, occasional interactions with nice coworkers (bit harder to do that right now), and the paycheck that allows me to continue to watch cartoons from the comfort of my own home. That's what I try to focus on. Not the work hours, even though they're the best hours of my life and I'm just burning through them like so many stress pills. But the non-working hours in between.

And the hopeful mirage of retirement, so that when my body has finally broken down enough and I've maybe paid off this house and can afford to live off whatever's left of social security (pfft, sorry, another stifled laugh there) I can finally relax and not worry about it.