Work. But not mine. I don't think.

[pmb]

So, a while back, a friend said that she was having a tough time at work, and I responded:I'm pretty sure that most people's relationship to work is an abusive one. Things like "work doesn't like it if I go out, so I can't be friends with you any more" and "work was bad for a long time, but yesterday it was good, so I think it's changed and we've

Comments

tax form processing

[scarla]

maybe tax form processing would go up as well, if instead of feeling pressured by superiors and suffocated by beaurocracy, from somewhere in the mass of generally useless feeling tax form processors somebody suddenly feels inspired, not to mention free and confident enough, to speak up and say there is a better way to do this. they could make it less complicated, without compromising the material.

because probably those people are the only ones who do care at all about tax forms, but not in the way that they really want to process more of them.

Re: tax form processing

[pmb]

That could very well be true. So are there any jobs that you think are so onerous that allowing people to be free and not making them feel trapped and small will mean that those jobs simply would not get done? My gut says there might be - perhaps migrant farm worker day labor type stuff. But what about jobs that aren't probably illegal? Are there any jobs in which it is profitable to employ people legally (at least min. wage, OSHA compliant workplace, etc.) which are so brainsucking by their very nature that nobody would do them if they weren't beaten into it?

Re: tax form processing

[cosyne]

if there are such jobs, should they either be done away with, or automated? I can't begin to list the number of jobs that I wouldn't dream of doing as a profession, but would be interested in writing software to do. And if it's crap which isn't worth automating and still isn't worth it for a human to do, maybe there's a better way? Like not doing complicated tax forms? And as a tangent on that topic, I think beauracracy might work better if there was a form of metabeauracracy to keep it in check. The way I see it, beauracracy (and most rules/laws) are to make sure that things work, even when humans are involved. Because most people can handle things pretty well, but you eventually get the one random asshole who fucks things up by driving on the wrong side of the road or not paying a fair share of taxes, so you have to put in this huge system of rules to keep that asshole in check. But if you don't have an "inefficiency complaint form" or similar, then nothing keeps the beauracracy in check an we all loose. Luckily, I seldom

Re: tax form processing

[scarla]

cleaning up vomit at the state fair?

[pmb]

Many of these people were once self motivated, and are all very competent. But self motivation and esteem take time to grow back. The effects of a bad job take 6+ months of non-abuse to wear off, and there's a high probability of picking up another bad job in that time.

The abuse metaphor strikes again.

[zellandyne]

How about college writing professors who are trained in tech writing (and have taught it) but haven't done it professionally?

[pmb]

Did you recognize them for what they were while you were there, or not until afterwards? Did that knowledge help in either of dealing with the environment or with the recovery afterwards?

[zellandyne]

That's disturbing. Looking back, the jobs I most disliked seemed to follow that model of punishing after success. Certainly the job at PCC that I fled had that element. At the jobs I've loved, the mode is much more praise oriented, which is probably why I did so well in them

[naomi_traveller]

The flipside of the punishment mentality is that it can create very strong bonds between co-workers. Every terrible job I've left, I felt like I was betraying the team by leaving, that if I stayed we might have turned things around

update

[starmom]

Yes, I think those people were truly sane.