The Asshole Factory
April 26, 2015 10:03 AM Subscribe
They are designed to disinfect us of our fragility. To cleanse us of our flaws. To disinfect us of weakness. Love, grace, mercy, longing, forgiveness, passion, truth, nobility, dreams. Their objective is to stamp all that out; to eradicate it; to erase it. To replace it with calculation, ruthlessness, self-concern; gluttony; cruelty; anxiety, despair. By using the most sophisticated technology ever made to subjugate, oppress, and goad us into being little torturers ourselves. Our economy doesn't make stuff anymore. So what does it make?
Not to my experience, though retail is definitely the least favorite type of work I've done for a lot of reasons.
To the essay I would respond, I think South Park might be right that if you are the type of person who sees literally everything as shit it's possible you might actually be the asshole.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
To the essay I would respond, I think South Park might be right that if you are the type of person who sees literally everything as shit it's possible you might actually be the asshole.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
Yeah, I was curious about that too. It's ambiguously written. Like most of the internet.
posted by asavage at 10:21 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by asavage at 10:21 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Somebody... needs to tell this guy... that using unnecessary ellipses... for emphasis... just makes you sound like a crank. Maybe if Medium... would spring for a... copyeditor.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 10:21 AM on April 26, 2015 [38 favorites]
posted by strangely stunted trees at 10:21 AM on April 26, 2015 [38 favorites]
Jesus. Those first paragraphs read like they were lifted straight from Marshall Brain's Manna. That wasn't supposed to be a how-to manual, guys.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:22 AM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 10:22 AM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'm wondering the same thing. The article has enough of what sounds like obviously over-the-top hyperbole (.0003% commission, 4000% interest a year) that it's hard to know whether the job description is also hyperbole.
This is an important enough issue that I do want to know.
posted by clawsoon at 10:23 AM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is an important enough issue that I do want to know.
posted by clawsoon at 10:23 AM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
It would explain how unpleasant many retail stores have become.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:26 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:26 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Her sales figures are monitored…by the microsecond.
I sincerely doubt that.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:28 AM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
I sincerely doubt that.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:28 AM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
it's hard to know whether the job description is also hyperbole
Maybe the author has already come out of the Asshole Factory and just doesn't realize it. (Come on, you probably know "anti-asshole activists" who are plenty assholish themselves)
I prefer to think of the lower-level never-to-rise-up-the-ladder products of the Asshole Factory as merely Asshats. Providing cover.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:29 AM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Maybe the author has already come out of the Asshole Factory and just doesn't realize it. (Come on, you probably know "anti-asshole activists" who are plenty assholish themselves)
I prefer to think of the lower-level never-to-rise-up-the-ladder products of the Asshole Factory as merely Asshats. Providing cover.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:29 AM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
I sincerely doubt that.
In the hyperspeed world of modern retail, if you can't amke 20 microtransactions for microcents each microsecond, you will be microwarned, then microfired.
It all happens very quickly.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:31 AM on April 26, 2015 [24 favorites]
In the hyperspeed world of modern retail, if you can't amke 20 microtransactions for microcents each microsecond, you will be microwarned, then microfired.
It all happens very quickly.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:31 AM on April 26, 2015 [24 favorites]
There are a lot of reasonable complaints about retail employment (which I worked for over a decade, and which several of my friends still do for a living), but the situation that this article describes is so far outside the norm that if it's not the bullshit that I strongly suspect it is, then it's an outlier that is remote to the point that it is useless for drawing any conclusions about the economy from it.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:32 AM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 10:32 AM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
We don’t make stuff anymore.
Well, apart from that two trillion dollars worth of stuff, nothing.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:32 AM on April 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
Well, apart from that two trillion dollars worth of stuff, nothing.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:32 AM on April 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
The closest I know to this experience is a relative who worked in a call center for a major retailer (JCPenney). Incoming and out-going (cold sales) calls. This was maybe 6-8 years ago. They monitored/tracked relative's time on & off the phone, time spent on bathroom breaks, sales percentage etc. Computer screens gave you a script at each step of the way that you were supposed to never deviate from, randomly monitored calls to ensure the non-deviation, etc etc etc.
So, pretty close to this, but in a call-center environment, not as an actual retail sales clerk in a store.
posted by flug at 10:35 AM on April 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
So, pretty close to this, but in a call-center environment, not as an actual retail sales clerk in a store.
posted by flug at 10:35 AM on April 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
That is why I make a heroic effort to at least be pleasant, when I accidentally pick up the phone for a marketing call. That's a real person on the other end of the phone, with a much shittier job than mine, making much less money. They are there because that is the only job they could get.
posted by thelonius at 10:39 AM on April 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 10:39 AM on April 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
Good premise, couldn't make it all the way through the article, probably didn't help that I recognised the byline photo as a guy who I had to unfollow on twitter for going on and on with much style and drama but not many comprehensible conclusions...
posted by ominous_paws at 10:45 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ominous_paws at 10:45 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Having read the comments here, I also would not be surprised if the article was somewhat... impressionistic with the truth?
posted by ominous_paws at 10:49 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ominous_paws at 10:49 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I recognised the byline photo as a guy who I had to unfollow on twitter for going on and on
I find this so odd. It wouldn't be rude of me I'd be tempted to quote you over in the Anil Dash thread from yesterday.
I know exactly who I'm following on Twitter. I'm following them because I know who they are and what value and interest they tend to bring.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:52 AM on April 26, 2015
I find this so odd. It wouldn't be rude of me I'd be tempted to quote you over in the Anil Dash thread from yesterday.
I know exactly who I'm following on Twitter. I'm following them because I know who they are and what value and interest they tend to bring.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:52 AM on April 26, 2015
Her sales figures are monitored…by the microsecond.
I sincerely doubt that.
I don't know about retail. But I have worked in a call center where agents were monitored to the tenth of a second.
I did it for three years and it damn near killed me. Soul-destroying work. Like being nibbled to death by geese.
Now I wait tables at a breakfast place. I keep your coffee full and I bring you eggs. Nothing could be lower stakes. Your toast is burnt? Sorry, here's more toast. Nobody's trying to prove anything to anybody at breakfast. I will happily continue doing this until my legs give out. Surprisingly, the money's pretty good, too. Fuck striving, I'm happy right here in my comfy little rut.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:56 AM on April 26, 2015 [89 favorites]
I sincerely doubt that.
I don't know about retail. But I have worked in a call center where agents were monitored to the tenth of a second.
I did it for three years and it damn near killed me. Soul-destroying work. Like being nibbled to death by geese.
Now I wait tables at a breakfast place. I keep your coffee full and I bring you eggs. Nothing could be lower stakes. Your toast is burnt? Sorry, here's more toast. Nobody's trying to prove anything to anybody at breakfast. I will happily continue doing this until my legs give out. Surprisingly, the money's pretty good, too. Fuck striving, I'm happy right here in my comfy little rut.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:56 AM on April 26, 2015 [89 favorites]
Jesus. Those first paragraphs read like they were lifted straight from Marshall Brain's Manna.
They probably were.
posted by officer_fred at 10:58 AM on April 26, 2015
They probably were.
posted by officer_fred at 10:58 AM on April 26, 2015
G_S - I'm not totally sure I'm getting what you're saying, but I initially followed this guy because he seemed to have striking ideas and style, and after a bit I began to feel he was more style than ideas, then the style wore on me a bit, and I unfollowed?
posted by ominous_paws at 10:59 AM on April 26, 2015
posted by ominous_paws at 10:59 AM on April 26, 2015
The article has enough of what sounds like obviously over-the-top hyperbole (.0003% commission
You've never worked at Fry's?
posted by Talez at 11:05 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
You've never worked at Fry's?
posted by Talez at 11:05 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is that description of a retail job at all accurate? The monitoring and constant feedback, etc.?
That sounds more like a description of a call center job to me.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:08 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
That sounds more like a description of a call center job to me.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:08 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
If the article pretends to be journalism but actually employs exaggeration and outright fantasy in order to gather attention that is measured in closely-monitored view numbers, doesn't this make the writer and his editors at Medium ... just as much ... a part of ... The Asshole Factory ... as the managers depicted in the article?
posted by TimTypeZed at 11:19 AM on April 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by TimTypeZed at 11:19 AM on April 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Another Fine Product From The Asshole Factory
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
That sounds more like a description of a call center job to me.
as it did to me. But then it wouldn't be unprecedented for such methods to cross over into retail as the technology makes it possible. Which is the real horror for me, and why I posted it. Like a nasty virus once relatively contained suddenly virulent, ripping through the culture.
posted by philip-random at 11:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
as it did to me. But then it wouldn't be unprecedented for such methods to cross over into retail as the technology makes it possible. Which is the real horror for me, and why I posted it. Like a nasty virus once relatively contained suddenly virulent, ripping through the culture.
posted by philip-random at 11:20 AM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
At Target I get stressed if I put my items on the conveyer weirdly, or if the salesperson stops to chat with me when there are lines, because I can SEE on her screen the little metric of "last 10 checkouts" and it says "GGGGGRRRGR" and I'm like OH GOD PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME BE THE ONE TO GET THIS POOR TEENAGER ANOTHER R.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:37 AM on April 26, 2015 [26 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:37 AM on April 26, 2015 [26 favorites]
I kind of wonder if this is CVS -- I see employees with headsets on all the time now.
posted by wuwei at 11:49 AM on April 26, 2015
posted by wuwei at 11:49 AM on April 26, 2015
Have you missed the many stories about Amazon, the coal face of Consumerism?
posted by Public Corruption? at 11:49 AM on April 26, 2015
posted by Public Corruption? at 11:49 AM on April 26, 2015
This thread is being monitored for quality and coaching purposes.
posted by flabdablet at 11:51 AM on April 26, 2015 [26 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 11:51 AM on April 26, 2015 [26 favorites]
Christ, what a factory.
posted by etherist at 11:53 AM on April 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
posted by etherist at 11:53 AM on April 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
That is why I make a heroic effort to at least be pleasant, when I accidentally pick up the phone for a marketing call.
Also, my first job was doing phone surveys. The horror.
posted by thelonius at 12:02 PM on April 26, 2015
Also, my first job was doing phone surveys. The horror.
posted by thelonius at 12:02 PM on April 26, 2015
At Target I get stressed if I put my items on the conveyer weirdly, or if the salesperson stops to chat with me when there are lines, because I can SEE on her screen the little metric of "last 10 checkouts" and it says "GGGGGRRRGR" and I'm like OH GOD PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME BE THE ONE TO GET THIS POOR TEENAGER ANOTHER R.
It's been a while since I worked at Target but I don't remember management actually caring about your average checkout time. I only remember it as a tool for self-monitoring (although I'm sure something would happen if you were hitting Red 100% of the time).
posted by shakespeherian at 12:03 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's been a while since I worked at Target but I don't remember management actually caring about your average checkout time. I only remember it as a tool for self-monitoring (although I'm sure something would happen if you were hitting Red 100% of the time).
posted by shakespeherian at 12:03 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Arrrg. This describes my tenure at target, minus the headsets, but we had a speed quota for checkouts and if someone took 30 seconds to write a check then the machine would register a "bad" speed score indicating I took too long. Then there were the credit cards, which we had to upsell every fucking time the computer told us to.
posted by hellojed at 12:08 PM on April 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by hellojed at 12:08 PM on April 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
I used to work for a certain ubiquitous retail pharmacy chain. Everything now is closely monitored using "metrics". When I say everything, I mean everything. The number of prescriptions filled per day, how long it takes to fill each prescription, how long the phone rings before it's answered, the number of prescription transfers, the volume and profit of transactions, the number of customers gained/lost, customer ratings—everything is tracked and timed and quantified. If your numbers are slipping, either in absolute terms or relative to other stores in your district, you can expect an unpleasant phone call from the district manager. Note that just because you have no control over, for example, fluctuations in customer volume, doesn't mean you won't be held accountable for it.
posted by dephlogisticated at 12:10 PM on April 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
posted by dephlogisticated at 12:10 PM on April 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
We’re obedient constructivists. Pragmatists. Rationalists. So you probably want to know: what can we do about it?And now we know why young people are attracted to creative jobs with low pay.
It’s pretty simple.
Don’t be an asshole. Remember the Asshole Factories? Here’s a secret: they’re churning out assholes by the millions. And so should you bravely decide to be an asshole, what you’ll really be is just another interchangeable, forgettable, rapidly depreciating commodity.
So who should you be?
Be yourself. The person you were meant to be. Whether you believe in heaven or the inferno, freedom or fate, the simple fact is: each and every one of us was put here to be something greater than Just Another Asshole stealing pennies from his neighbors to pay off Even Bigger Assholes.
So let me say it again. Don’t be an asshole. Be yourself. The miracle of being that you were meant to be. A person that, consumed with passion, seared with happiness, aglow with meaning, brings forth all that is great, noble, and true in the world, and so, with love, mercy, and wisdom, lifts every life that you meet into the light.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:16 PM on April 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
This sounded rather like the stories I hear from friends who do seasonal call centre work for Amazon. Actual retail, a bit less so ... but I'm taking notes all the same: there's this grim meathook near-future novel I'm working on in my spare time, and this would fit in perfectly.
Meanwhile, my pet theory about why this sort of article (true or false) resonates is this: about 300 years ago we invented artificial intelligences, and now they dominate our economy. Their interests are not aligned with ours, but people who are willing to be Assholes (in the terms of reference of this article) can be useful within the hive-minds and may therefore be selected for.
posted by cstross at 12:19 PM on April 26, 2015 [23 favorites]
Meanwhile, my pet theory about why this sort of article (true or false) resonates is this: about 300 years ago we invented artificial intelligences, and now they dominate our economy. Their interests are not aligned with ours, but people who are willing to be Assholes (in the terms of reference of this article) can be useful within the hive-minds and may therefore be selected for.
posted by cstross at 12:19 PM on April 26, 2015 [23 favorites]
The Soul Of Man Under Neoliberalism.
posted by acb at 12:19 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 12:19 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm a meta-asshole. I work part-time in retail as a semi-retired soul. Have some pretty extensive biz experience, so I'm generally capable of seeing through to the premises of most of the disconcerting directives that rain down from above. Yes, they're assholes up there. Not a doubt in my mind. Inept Taylorite wannabees who treat their "associates" and their customers with glad-handing disdain. It's all about friendly deception and sticking corporate hands as deep into a customer's pocket as possible. As a union member, I have had a few occasions wherein I asked to be written up so we can adjudicate a particular issue. I have some protection and usually the poor saps who are managers at my store get flustered at my unwillingness to play the BOHICA game. I'd love to get into some specific details but it's probably not wise.
I will say this: I'm not an associate, I'm an employee. The fine U.S. tradition of association goes back to the Era of Good Feelings and is a specifically a reference to voluntary community. Much as my bosses would like me to be an associate--because it blurs the fundamental essence of what is taking place--I am selling my labor and they are buying it. It's a transaction. Nor do I attend huddles, get-togethers or other euphemistic touchy-feely gatherings wherein marching orders are promulgated. "Well, we call them huddles," said one boss. "Grow up," said this adult.
Confusing the customer is a thing. It's deliberate. There are tomes about this. "Buy 47, get 13 free." Make you walk past oodles of potential impulse buys to get to the necessities. Etc... . I'm sure many folks here can think of deceptive practices within their own industry.
So, yes. Assholes abound. But it's a Sophist's Paradise.
posted by CincyBlues at 12:21 PM on April 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
I will say this: I'm not an associate, I'm an employee. The fine U.S. tradition of association goes back to the Era of Good Feelings and is a specifically a reference to voluntary community. Much as my bosses would like me to be an associate--because it blurs the fundamental essence of what is taking place--I am selling my labor and they are buying it. It's a transaction. Nor do I attend huddles, get-togethers or other euphemistic touchy-feely gatherings wherein marching orders are promulgated. "Well, we call them huddles," said one boss. "Grow up," said this adult.
Confusing the customer is a thing. It's deliberate. There are tomes about this. "Buy 47, get 13 free." Make you walk past oodles of potential impulse buys to get to the necessities. Etc... . I'm sure many folks here can think of deceptive practices within their own industry.
So, yes. Assholes abound. But it's a Sophist's Paradise.
posted by CincyBlues at 12:21 PM on April 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
Started reading—semicolons; ellipses; some words missing; it was start...but I had stop.
posted by snofoam at 12:31 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 12:31 PM on April 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's weird because the author doesn't look like a fifteen-year-old in his photo.
posted by snofoam at 12:37 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 12:37 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
A quick perusal through Not Always Right and Not Always Working shows that it doesn't take technology or micromanagement to create an asshole factory.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:48 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 12:48 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
The sense of entitled privilege betrayed by the line "fine, storied university" ruined the article for me. Ah, Mic, you never fail to disappoint.
posted by Nevin at 12:53 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Nevin at 12:53 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
He's missed the point of gender entirely.
The strain of being a non-asshole can be as great, or greater. It's emotional labor, which Mara and all decent sales, customer service and help desk folks are encouraged and required to put out (unless they work for debt collection services, where being mean is probably a requirement). Also teachers, nurses, therapists, humanitarian nonprofit workers, etc.
Most of these workers are still women. (Not sure about IT help desks: maybe non-western, equally subaltern?)
You are a cishet woman.
You work at one of these jobs and go home to the second or third shift, being a non-asshole to your husband or boyfriend and family.
If you are an asshole, you become something worse: a bitch.
posted by bad grammar at 12:55 PM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
i had a friend who worked for a bit at family dollar - they are timed on how long transactions last, on how much money people are spending on each visit and you can be disciplined on those issues
my ex worked at a mcdonalds where the boss would monitor the store through the internet on his "off" hours
the article describes something worse than that but there's no doubt in my mind that we're headed in that direction
american businesses as asshole factories? - yes, i think we're just about there - in my workplace, i often wonder if i'm not undergoing some weird psychological experiment that's gone awry - and i've noticed that the company will exercise discipline and social control at the cost of its own productivity and bottom line
it's become another front in the culture wars dedicated to the exclusion of anyone who fits in badly or is too obvious about not going along with "the program", which doesn't really have that much to do with whether we make x amount of y, or make a profit doing it
posted by pyramid termite at 1:36 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
my ex worked at a mcdonalds where the boss would monitor the store through the internet on his "off" hours
the article describes something worse than that but there's no doubt in my mind that we're headed in that direction
american businesses as asshole factories? - yes, i think we're just about there - in my workplace, i often wonder if i'm not undergoing some weird psychological experiment that's gone awry - and i've noticed that the company will exercise discipline and social control at the cost of its own productivity and bottom line
it's become another front in the culture wars dedicated to the exclusion of anyone who fits in badly or is too obvious about not going along with "the program", which doesn't really have that much to do with whether we make x amount of y, or make a profit doing it
posted by pyramid termite at 1:36 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
So, pretty close to this, but in a call-center environment, not as an actual retail sales clerk in a store.
This is call center work. I lasted a couple of months. I worked for a company you would all know. I quit because I got tired of going home with a pounding headache; the straw that broke the camels back was when I realized that the weekly e-mail blast on metrics listed how long your bathroom break was, and that I was far over the weekly allowed limit, because it takes me about ten minutes to take a shit, and everybody on my team would see that.
I'd taken the entry level job hoping to move up into training or instructional design or something, but knew I'd never last however many years that might take.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:38 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is call center work. I lasted a couple of months. I worked for a company you would all know. I quit because I got tired of going home with a pounding headache; the straw that broke the camels back was when I realized that the weekly e-mail blast on metrics listed how long your bathroom break was, and that I was far over the weekly allowed limit, because it takes me about ten minutes to take a shit, and everybody on my team would see that.
I'd taken the entry level job hoping to move up into training or instructional design or something, but knew I'd never last however many years that might take.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:38 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Earlier this month, I took the train between New Orleans and DC - just looking out the window occasionally, I saw a gunsmith, two concrete factories, a nursery, a custom truck bed liner / top manufacturer, multiple repair shops, a boatwright, a gravestone engraver's yard, and what appeared to be a small saw mill.
Plenty of people are making and fixing stuff in the United States, despite the elite's best efforts to humiliate and destroy our working and middle classes. It may not be happening in the neighborhoods where Medium writers congregate, but it is happening, against increasingly long odds.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [21 favorites]
Plenty of people are making and fixing stuff in the United States, despite the elite's best efforts to humiliate and destroy our working and middle classes. It may not be happening in the neighborhoods where Medium writers congregate, but it is happening, against increasingly long odds.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [21 favorites]
CincyBlues: "I will say this: I'm not an associate, I'm an employee. The fine U.S. tradition of association goes back to the Era of Good Feelings and is a specifically a reference to voluntary community. Much as my bosses would like me to be an associate--because it blurs the fundamental essence of what is taking place--I am selling my labor and they are buying it. "
I would like to own a multinational retail conglomerate just so I can change people's job titles back to "clerk" and "salesman" and "secretary" and THE ACTUAL WORDS FOR THEM instead of bullshit double plus good businesspeak.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:51 PM on April 26, 2015 [21 favorites]
I would like to own a multinational retail conglomerate just so I can change people's job titles back to "clerk" and "salesman" and "secretary" and THE ACTUAL WORDS FOR THEM instead of bullshit double plus good businesspeak.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:51 PM on April 26, 2015 [21 favorites]
Is that description of a retail job at all accurate? The monitoring and constant feedback, etc.?
It's dramatically accurate. The place (a national big box retail chain) I work for has all of these things implemented currently and has for the past 8 years.
Metrics are pumped through radios consistently. Every number you can imagine is measured and weighed. You are trained to live in fear of the numbers, even when they're good.
In my own experience I've been written up for poor numbers and then in turn written up for having numbers better than everyone else. This seems completely illogical to me but I've since learned that doing good is also considered 'rocking the boat'. Mostly it seems that numbers are meant to only be good enough for my bosses to slip by past the limelight and for them it means being average. That one person that stands out is the enemy. I'm sure the culture of metrics going all the way up the chain of command is just as screwed up, one middle manager to the next.
What complicates this more in my mind is that not one of these metrics are used to measure where successes are and what is working. Working hard and creating sales gets your hours and staff cut in order to prop up the failing departments.
The only thing that doesn't get you completely screwed over is kissing ass.
Yes, you're probably noticing the complete lack of concerns I have towards helping any customer that comes into the store. Customers are secondary and with the hoops I have to jump through, mostly an annoyance. Call that conditioning.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 2:24 PM on April 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
It's dramatically accurate. The place (a national big box retail chain) I work for has all of these things implemented currently and has for the past 8 years.
Metrics are pumped through radios consistently. Every number you can imagine is measured and weighed. You are trained to live in fear of the numbers, even when they're good.
In my own experience I've been written up for poor numbers and then in turn written up for having numbers better than everyone else. This seems completely illogical to me but I've since learned that doing good is also considered 'rocking the boat'. Mostly it seems that numbers are meant to only be good enough for my bosses to slip by past the limelight and for them it means being average. That one person that stands out is the enemy. I'm sure the culture of metrics going all the way up the chain of command is just as screwed up, one middle manager to the next.
What complicates this more in my mind is that not one of these metrics are used to measure where successes are and what is working. Working hard and creating sales gets your hours and staff cut in order to prop up the failing departments.
The only thing that doesn't get you completely screwed over is kissing ass.
Yes, you're probably noticing the complete lack of concerns I have towards helping any customer that comes into the store. Customers are secondary and with the hoops I have to jump through, mostly an annoyance. Call that conditioning.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 2:24 PM on April 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
The obsession with big data and metrics feels like a byproduct of too many MBAs with too little to do, but since they have to be seen doing something, they spend their time making endless PowerPoint presentations to show "improvement" and "opportunity." I've always said that anybody who thinks that government should be run like a business have never worked in one.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 2:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
In my work (which is very much making stuff), the only times it is necessary to time and control people to the fraction of a minute is when the margins are so tight that there is no room for any slack whatsoever. I know that the Walmarts and Amazons have been doing everything they can to squeeze every fraction of slack out of their supply chains and suppliers; the descriptions here of metrics and criteria sound to me like the last desperate attempt to squeeze any remaining slack out of their employees, which in turn sounds like either retail is an industry with desperately tight profit margins, or an industry with such captive employees that they can be squeezed with no consequences.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:07 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 3:07 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Now I wait tables at a breakfast place. I keep your coffee full and I bring you eggs. Nothing could be lower stakes. Your toast is burnt? Sorry, here's more toast. Nobody's trying to prove anything to anybody at breakfast.
I've watched enough people have meltdowns over burned toast and other routine brunch mishaps that, while I agree with you, many people clearly don't understand or don't care that the stakes are so low.
Also, my first job was doing phone surveys. The horror.
I had that job once. Since I always (politely!) decline to talk when called, I was shocked at how many lonely people are ridiculously happy to talk, and will in fact keep talking after the questions are done.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:13 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've watched enough people have meltdowns over burned toast and other routine brunch mishaps that, while I agree with you, many people clearly don't understand or don't care that the stakes are so low.
Also, my first job was doing phone surveys. The horror.
I had that job once. Since I always (politely!) decline to talk when called, I was shocked at how many lonely people are ridiculously happy to talk, and will in fact keep talking after the questions are done.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:13 PM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was shocked at how many lonely people are ridiculously happy to talk
That was one painful aspect of it. I'd call a number and get, for example, a desperately lonely old woman, ask her, if the election were held today, who would you vote for? And she'd go on about how she doesn't know anything about politics and she let her husband handle all that but he's gone now, and he liked Truman a lot, and be off telling her stories that she had no one to hear, and the supervisors would be monitoring and come over and make me cut her off.
posted by thelonius at 3:32 PM on April 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
That was one painful aspect of it. I'd call a number and get, for example, a desperately lonely old woman, ask her, if the election were held today, who would you vote for? And she'd go on about how she doesn't know anything about politics and she let her husband handle all that but he's gone now, and he liked Truman a lot, and be off telling her stories that she had no one to hear, and the supervisors would be monitoring and come over and make me cut her off.
posted by thelonius at 3:32 PM on April 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm disappointed this article doesn't tell me which store to shop at to be myself.
posted by Catblack at 3:33 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 3:33 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Why do we have this constant nostalgia for a non-existent yesteryear where we were not assholes? (Although I long nostalgically for a yesteryear where articles were edited before they were published.)
posted by frumiousb at 3:50 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by frumiousb at 3:50 PM on April 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
I've watched enough people have meltdowns over burned toast and other routine brunch mishaps that, while I agree with you, many people clearly don't understand or don't care that the stakes are so low.
Ugh. Brunch. The shift nobody wants to work. Lunch is business people shaking their plumage. Dinner is people trying to get into other people's pants. Brunch is what happens after they succeed.
But breakfast is fuel. It's the beginning of a process, not a goal in and of itself. It's a transitional phase where the tone of your day starts to hum. It's when you try to make nice with the world and hope it makes nice back, at least until after the chores are done.
I see very few Assholes at breakfast. I see plenty of parents with kids riding their last nerve, though.
Maybe we're raising a nation of Assholes.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:58 PM on April 26, 2015 [14 favorites]
Ugh. Brunch. The shift nobody wants to work. Lunch is business people shaking their plumage. Dinner is people trying to get into other people's pants. Brunch is what happens after they succeed.
But breakfast is fuel. It's the beginning of a process, not a goal in and of itself. It's a transitional phase where the tone of your day starts to hum. It's when you try to make nice with the world and hope it makes nice back, at least until after the chores are done.
I see very few Assholes at breakfast. I see plenty of parents with kids riding their last nerve, though.
Maybe we're raising a nation of Assholes.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:58 PM on April 26, 2015 [14 favorites]
Maybe America's always been the Asshole Factory and people only occasionally notice it, as fish occasionally notice water
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:02 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:02 PM on April 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
"U.S. manufacturing had gross output of $5.9 trillion in 2013, more than one-third (35.4 percent) of U.S. GDP in 2013. Manufacturing is by far the most important sector of the U.S. economy in terms of total output and employment."
from epi.org
plus, apparently, there are some assholes in the U.S.
posted by mrhappy at 4:28 PM on April 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
from epi.org
plus, apparently, there are some assholes in the U.S.
posted by mrhappy at 4:28 PM on April 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
As someone who will quite happily breakfast continuously from 8 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon I say bitteroldpunk is doing the lord's work.
posted by um at 4:33 PM on April 26, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by um at 4:33 PM on April 26, 2015 [13 favorites]
Telling that the dude's prescription for curing the Asshole Factor is not some sort of systemic overhaul, which would be complicated and stuff, but Be the Special Snowflake That Is Yourself, which is actually the source of more assholery these days than is ever admitted.
posted by blucevalo at 5:15 PM on April 26, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by blucevalo at 5:15 PM on April 26, 2015 [17 favorites]
dephlogisticated - Sounds like teaching these days. Sigh.
Huzzah! All Hell for the holy test score! Huzzah!
/s and :(
posted by beckybakeroo at 7:07 PM on April 26, 2015
Huzzah! All Hell for the holy test score! Huzzah!
/s and :(
posted by beckybakeroo at 7:07 PM on April 26, 2015
The number of elipses actually stopped me from being able to finish reading this, but while some elements of it may be exaggerated both myself and many friends and acquaintances have some pretty fucking ridiculous stories about working in corporate retail or foodservice(not to mention callcenters, ALL of this sounded true for call centers, oh my god) that people very often call bullshit on. Stuff like say:
* An in store music system that was literally rigged to self destruct if it was tampered with in any way. It read DL dvds of MP3s, but was also a CD player. Several times people tried to bring in their own mix CDs to play after hours when the store was closed and no customers were present when we were just cleaning up and stuff. This triggered an efuse type circuit in the player, from what i could tell. They did this for the same reason cities intentionally buy car boots that cost $1 more than the "felony destruction of property" price in that jurisdiction. The company would then have to replace the entire music player, and could fire the employee for destruction of company property. The insane part came in that it even had sensors on ALL the cable connections in the back. Unplug the cables to the amp at either end? Player also self destructs! And it was networked, so they'd instantly get a notification that the player had been "destroyed" by employee tampering. We knew of at least 3 people who had been fired simply for unplugging the wires, or pushing eject and putting a new disc in. You were told on your first day not to do this, but there were no signs saying what would happen and you just had to learn it from employee lore, passed down as quiet knowledge in the break room.
* A certain national video game retail chain has some kind of algorithmic anti-theft system that tracks inventory, sales, etc. At least the part of it that's relevant to this story almost entirely tracks internal theft. They actually don't seem to care that much about "shrinkage" and customer theft. A friend of mine had recently become the manager, and there was a Dwight Schrute like asshole employee who was absolutely convinced that they were the only one true qualified manager, knew quite a bit about this system, and wanted to get my friend fired so they could become the One True Boss. So they framed my friend for theft, by checking out inventory and just hiding it and some other shit. I don't remember and possibly never knew the exact specifics of triggering it for this part.
This triggered a totally bonkers chain reaction in which security was required to hold her not until the police came, but until she could be interrogated by the corporate LP team rep and the district manager. For 9 hours. Locked in the office, not allowed to leave. IIRC she literally peed herself and they just went "tough". They thought about calling the cops but neither of them had phones and at that point they just wanted to ride it out to get the maximum amount of retribution for "following orders" The funny part was that the security guard who had to "hold" her was... her boyfriend. He knew it was fucked, but they just documented the crap out of the whole thing. They sued, and settled out of court for a lot of money. She doesn't work for Corporate Video Game Chain anymore, obviously.
And dont even get me started on metrics, items you were forced to push, byztantine customer feedback systems that were rigged to levels uber could only dream of(as in, one complaint is weighted more than 15 positive comment cards), etc.
Some parts of this article are exaggerated, but even chains like whole foods that some people feel are a bit more fuzzy and friendly have ridiculous "metrics" and disturbing employee reeducation camp type videos you're forced to watch.
I've absolutely heard of things like the coaching headset being real, and not even just at call centers. Hell, i think there was a mefi post about the headsets at one point that were designed to "optimize employee efficiency" or something. It worked like the amazon warehouse pickers, and would just direct you to go tidy up aisle X because the system knew it hadn't been checked in 2 hours, or man a checkstand because the lines have gotten too long, prompt you to offer customers rewards cards every X number of customers, and all kinds of other stuff and sample banter.
If i ground through my brain some more, i bet i'd have some similarly fucking ridiculous stories from best buy and other places like that too. I don't know anyone from there who got fired, they all quit. A lot of them without another job even lined up. A lot of this article applied to that, just with the response times exaggerated(think minutes, not seconds).
I do have a deep hatred for this ellipses fest microscopic details exaggeration fest writing style though. It reminds me of a college freshmen who spent his teen years masturbating furiously to Palahniuk and similar.
posted by emptythought at 7:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [20 favorites]
* An in store music system that was literally rigged to self destruct if it was tampered with in any way. It read DL dvds of MP3s, but was also a CD player. Several times people tried to bring in their own mix CDs to play after hours when the store was closed and no customers were present when we were just cleaning up and stuff. This triggered an efuse type circuit in the player, from what i could tell. They did this for the same reason cities intentionally buy car boots that cost $1 more than the "felony destruction of property" price in that jurisdiction. The company would then have to replace the entire music player, and could fire the employee for destruction of company property. The insane part came in that it even had sensors on ALL the cable connections in the back. Unplug the cables to the amp at either end? Player also self destructs! And it was networked, so they'd instantly get a notification that the player had been "destroyed" by employee tampering. We knew of at least 3 people who had been fired simply for unplugging the wires, or pushing eject and putting a new disc in. You were told on your first day not to do this, but there were no signs saying what would happen and you just had to learn it from employee lore, passed down as quiet knowledge in the break room.
* A certain national video game retail chain has some kind of algorithmic anti-theft system that tracks inventory, sales, etc. At least the part of it that's relevant to this story almost entirely tracks internal theft. They actually don't seem to care that much about "shrinkage" and customer theft. A friend of mine had recently become the manager, and there was a Dwight Schrute like asshole employee who was absolutely convinced that they were the only one true qualified manager, knew quite a bit about this system, and wanted to get my friend fired so they could become the One True Boss. So they framed my friend for theft, by checking out inventory and just hiding it and some other shit. I don't remember and possibly never knew the exact specifics of triggering it for this part.
This triggered a totally bonkers chain reaction in which security was required to hold her not until the police came, but until she could be interrogated by the corporate LP team rep and the district manager. For 9 hours. Locked in the office, not allowed to leave. IIRC she literally peed herself and they just went "tough". They thought about calling the cops but neither of them had phones and at that point they just wanted to ride it out to get the maximum amount of retribution for "following orders" The funny part was that the security guard who had to "hold" her was... her boyfriend. He knew it was fucked, but they just documented the crap out of the whole thing. They sued, and settled out of court for a lot of money. She doesn't work for Corporate Video Game Chain anymore, obviously.
And dont even get me started on metrics, items you were forced to push, byztantine customer feedback systems that were rigged to levels uber could only dream of(as in, one complaint is weighted more than 15 positive comment cards), etc.
Some parts of this article are exaggerated, but even chains like whole foods that some people feel are a bit more fuzzy and friendly have ridiculous "metrics" and disturbing employee reeducation camp type videos you're forced to watch.
I've absolutely heard of things like the coaching headset being real, and not even just at call centers. Hell, i think there was a mefi post about the headsets at one point that were designed to "optimize employee efficiency" or something. It worked like the amazon warehouse pickers, and would just direct you to go tidy up aisle X because the system knew it hadn't been checked in 2 hours, or man a checkstand because the lines have gotten too long, prompt you to offer customers rewards cards every X number of customers, and all kinds of other stuff and sample banter.
If i ground through my brain some more, i bet i'd have some similarly fucking ridiculous stories from best buy and other places like that too. I don't know anyone from there who got fired, they all quit. A lot of them without another job even lined up. A lot of this article applied to that, just with the response times exaggerated(think minutes, not seconds).
I do have a deep hatred for this ellipses fest microscopic details exaggeration fest writing style though. It reminds me of a college freshmen who spent his teen years masturbating furiously to Palahniuk and similar.
posted by emptythought at 7:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [20 favorites]
An in store music system that was literally rigged to self destruct if it was tampered with in any way.
I believe this. I will tell you why. A guy I used to work with got a sysadmin job with a youth-oriented clothing retail chain; he told me that they played the same music that they use for the stores in the offices.
It's Patch Tuesday! oonsk oonsk oonsk
posted by thelonius at 7:40 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I believe this. I will tell you why. A guy I used to work with got a sysadmin job with a youth-oriented clothing retail chain; he told me that they played the same music that they use for the stores in the offices.
It's Patch Tuesday! oonsk oonsk oonsk
posted by thelonius at 7:40 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I walked into a storefront Pizza Hit once, and a female neutral voice recording started repeating "There are customers in the queue." A harried-looking employee walked up front, muttered "just a sec," and typed something on the keyboard. The recording changed to a stern male voice repeating "There are customers in the queue and no one is online," and the employee freaked and typed and retyped while stern recording repeated until another employee came in and logged in correctly. Working in an environment like that must be hell.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:17 PM on April 26, 2015
posted by infinitewindow at 8:17 PM on April 26, 2015
Just working a lane next to one of those self-satisfied Sirius Cybernetics Corporation automatic checkouts is bad enough. A relentless stream of corporate dissatisfaction delivered right to your headset in beautifully modulated tones that make it sound like the speaker is right now reclining in silks and furs while sipping a daiquiri between utterances? DO NOT WANT.
posted by flabdablet at 9:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 9:29 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
The funniest thing to me about the "we don't make stuff" meme, even more than the fact that it isn't really true, is the aggressively materialist presupposition that making stuff is inherently good, and doing anything that doesn't result in some junk you can throw in your garage is useless.
posted by mellow seas at 9:52 PM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by mellow seas at 9:52 PM on April 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
emptythought: “If i ground through my brain some more, i bet i'd have some similarly fucking ridiculous stories from best buy and other places like that too.”It occurs to me that stories like the one you tell of the lovers at the software store, one being quite literally kept prisoner by the other at the behest of the bosses, is the best argument I've ever heard to bring back the duel. As long as there are no real consequences, more than just money and litigation, things like that will continue to happen.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:56 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
METAFILTER: reminds me of a college freshmen who spent his teen years masturbating furiously to Palahniuk and similar.
posted by philip-random at 10:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 10:45 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
But suggestion unionization is the answer and people freak the fuck out. We truly deserve what we get.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:23 PM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by five fresh fish at 11:23 PM on April 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
five fresh fish:No, no. You're right, of course. Stories like that make me angry, and I let it get the best of me for a moment. I'm pro-union. Though decades of anti-union sentiment will make it an uphill battle to get anywhere. Especially with the most vulnerable workers, who are the ones largely affected by the kinds abusive labor practices discussed above.But suggestion unionization is the answer and people freak the fuck out. We truly deserve what we get.
I guess it's time to go watch The Big One again.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:20 AM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
decades of anti-union sentiment
Surely you mean "decades of relentless industrial-grade anti-union astroturfing".
posted by flabdablet at 12:48 AM on April 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
Surely you mean "decades of relentless industrial-grade anti-union astroturfing".
posted by flabdablet at 12:48 AM on April 27, 2015 [10 favorites]
We truly deserve what we get.
This does not really follow from the fact that the best efforts of the anti-union persuasion complex have apparently failed to work on you.
Nobody deserves a dehumanizing work environment. Not even actual prisoners.
The day people like you decide it's all too hard and go "aw, fuck it, what can ya do" is the day the assholes win. Treasure your anger.
posted by flabdablet at 12:54 AM on April 27, 2015 [8 favorites]
This does not really follow from the fact that the best efforts of the anti-union persuasion complex have apparently failed to work on you.
Nobody deserves a dehumanizing work environment. Not even actual prisoners.
The day people like you decide it's all too hard and go "aw, fuck it, what can ya do" is the day the assholes win. Treasure your anger.
posted by flabdablet at 12:54 AM on April 27, 2015 [8 favorites]
Oy, the ending of the article. Did the editor just not read that far?
posted by Legomancer at 7:47 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Legomancer at 7:47 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
No automation involved, but the worst example of this kind of mindset I have ever personally been involved in has to be the time that I was working as a cashier at a Jo-Ann Fabrics and I had a line of customers waiting -- but a manager interrupted me so that I could sign a pledge wherein I solemnly promised that customer service was my highest priority. (In fairness, said manager was uncomfortably aware of the irony, but needed to get these into the mail to corporate that day .... )
posted by webmutant at 8:18 AM on April 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by webmutant at 8:18 AM on April 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
sign a pledge wherein I solemnly promised that customer service was my highest priority ... needed to get these into the mail to corporate that day
It's as if none of these people have even read Catch-22, much less thought about it.
posted by flabdablet at 8:25 AM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's as if none of these people have even read Catch-22, much less thought about it.
posted by flabdablet at 8:25 AM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
So, if the retail salesperson doesn't have multiple degrees from storied institutions, do we care if they have to work in a hypermonitored environment? Is the manager really drooling, or is the manager also stuck in the hamster wheel? Sure, go ahead, be yourself. But one point of the article is that even the smart educated person has trouble finding a job that pays decently and has decent working conditions.
The US has a massive oversupply of consumer goods. So much so that companies are unlikely to survive by just making quality goods at a fair price. The goods now have to be shoved at consumers. I used to read my local (per-WWW) paper because the ads let me know what goods were available, maybe even on sale. Now, I've gotten so good at filtering out ads that I miss ads I might even want to see.
The article is just appallingly badly written. 0.0003% commission would be 3.00 on 10,000 in sales. Unlikely. The writer's point, even wretchedly presented, is well taken. You can't just knuckle under and take a McJob. You have to offer fries, even to people who so desperately need not to consume even worse junk food and empty calories, with added salt. You have to push the store credit card, with high interest and nasty policies, to every customer, and you may very well be fired for poor numbers.
I really hate ads, marketing and consumerism. One reason I shop at thrift stores is to opt out of that cycle. Of course, when you shop thrift stores, you see that so much stuff is crap that falls apart and that there's just plain Too Much Stuff. But an awful lot of people watch tv all the time and learn to want the crap being sold, and get sucked into the over-consumption trap, and are absolutely unaware that they are paying a small fortune in interest for those shoes that will fall apart long before the credit card is paid off.
And the owners of the corporations are shareholders, who are generally unaware and unconcerned with the integrity of the company's business processes. The only thing that matters is maximizing profit. Maybe if enough consumers make different shopping choices? I'm cynical. So, yeah, this is us going to hell in a handbasket. Happy Monday.
posted by theora55 at 8:56 AM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
The US has a massive oversupply of consumer goods. So much so that companies are unlikely to survive by just making quality goods at a fair price. The goods now have to be shoved at consumers. I used to read my local (per-WWW) paper because the ads let me know what goods were available, maybe even on sale. Now, I've gotten so good at filtering out ads that I miss ads I might even want to see.
The article is just appallingly badly written. 0.0003% commission would be 3.00 on 10,000 in sales. Unlikely. The writer's point, even wretchedly presented, is well taken. You can't just knuckle under and take a McJob. You have to offer fries, even to people who so desperately need not to consume even worse junk food and empty calories, with added salt. You have to push the store credit card, with high interest and nasty policies, to every customer, and you may very well be fired for poor numbers.
I really hate ads, marketing and consumerism. One reason I shop at thrift stores is to opt out of that cycle. Of course, when you shop thrift stores, you see that so much stuff is crap that falls apart and that there's just plain Too Much Stuff. But an awful lot of people watch tv all the time and learn to want the crap being sold, and get sucked into the over-consumption trap, and are absolutely unaware that they are paying a small fortune in interest for those shoes that will fall apart long before the credit card is paid off.
And the owners of the corporations are shareholders, who are generally unaware and unconcerned with the integrity of the company's business processes. The only thing that matters is maximizing profit. Maybe if enough consumers make different shopping choices? I'm cynical. So, yeah, this is us going to hell in a handbasket. Happy Monday.
posted by theora55 at 8:56 AM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]
Retail work does suck. The things that retailers do to their employees sucks. This article also sucks.
Our economy doesn't make stuff anymore.
I hate this shit. I work in manufacturing. In America. I can confidently say that we still make plenty of stuff here, folks. Just not in Manhattan, or San Fran, or LA, or any of the other trendy places that Medium writerly-types prefer to inhabit. I feel for the subject of the article with her two graduate degrees from "fine, storied universities," but I know too many people who looked at their job prospects coming out of college and not seeing what they wanted, retreated back into graduate school only to emerge two years later to find that not much had changed, except their debt burden. You want a spectacular, exciting, fulfilling, well-paying career with an excellent work-life balance? Yeah, me too. At most you'll get 2-3 of those things. You want a decent job with decent pay, don't double down on grad school. Pick up some tools and learn a trade. The world will always need plumbers.
posted by dudemanlives at 9:18 AM on April 27, 2015 [8 favorites]
Our economy doesn't make stuff anymore.
I hate this shit. I work in manufacturing. In America. I can confidently say that we still make plenty of stuff here, folks. Just not in Manhattan, or San Fran, or LA, or any of the other trendy places that Medium writerly-types prefer to inhabit. I feel for the subject of the article with her two graduate degrees from "fine, storied universities," but I know too many people who looked at their job prospects coming out of college and not seeing what they wanted, retreated back into graduate school only to emerge two years later to find that not much had changed, except their debt burden. You want a spectacular, exciting, fulfilling, well-paying career with an excellent work-life balance? Yeah, me too. At most you'll get 2-3 of those things. You want a decent job with decent pay, don't double down on grad school. Pick up some tools and learn a trade. The world will always need plumbers.
posted by dudemanlives at 9:18 AM on April 27, 2015 [8 favorites]
The funniest thing to me about the "we don't make stuff" meme, even more than the fact that it isn't really true, is the aggressively materialist presupposition that making stuff is inherently good, and doing anything that doesn't result in some junk you can throw in your garage is useless.
I think what's really behind it is an acute awareness that most lower/working class work is unnecessary, or includes unnecessary levels of toil, dehumanization and meaninglessness, while most upper-/middle class "work" is basically just day care for adults to prevent educated people from having blocks of time in which they can think about anything worthwhile. Even work that is meaningful and pays tends to include a lot of added-in meaninglessness or inhuman shift lengths. In a country with centuries of class and caste in the open, it's a lot easier to see and think about a life/work balance. In a country that prides itself on being "classless," that lionizes "work" for its own sake while doing everything it can to roll back workers' rights to the Jungle, it's a lot more difficult to articulate. There is also a dying association in the US between factory jobs and economic security, so that plus the tangibility of "making stuff" means we still see occasional echoes of, "Things were better when we Built Junk!"
As for the article, I don't like the writing style either, but there is a good insight in it: that power makes people act like crazy psychopaths in order to secure marginally more power, and that that carries over into employee working conditions because power allows you to force others to act as your proxies.
posted by byanyothername at 10:03 AM on April 27, 2015 [9 favorites]
I think what's really behind it is an acute awareness that most lower/working class work is unnecessary, or includes unnecessary levels of toil, dehumanization and meaninglessness, while most upper-/middle class "work" is basically just day care for adults to prevent educated people from having blocks of time in which they can think about anything worthwhile. Even work that is meaningful and pays tends to include a lot of added-in meaninglessness or inhuman shift lengths. In a country with centuries of class and caste in the open, it's a lot easier to see and think about a life/work balance. In a country that prides itself on being "classless," that lionizes "work" for its own sake while doing everything it can to roll back workers' rights to the Jungle, it's a lot more difficult to articulate. There is also a dying association in the US between factory jobs and economic security, so that plus the tangibility of "making stuff" means we still see occasional echoes of, "Things were better when we Built Junk!"
As for the article, I don't like the writing style either, but there is a good insight in it: that power makes people act like crazy psychopaths in order to secure marginally more power, and that that carries over into employee working conditions because power allows you to force others to act as your proxies.
posted by byanyothername at 10:03 AM on April 27, 2015 [9 favorites]
This author gets fluffy at the end. He is right in the beginning. I grew up speaking and reading English, but found English classes a nuisance. I feel sorry for people who are so attuned to the mechanics of English, it becomes an intellectual disability, in that they can only understand the academic register of language or above. Then they, not realizing it is a shameless, faux classist, disability, talk about their lack of comprehension as if it were the author's problem.
Good luck in non-English speaking areas where you speak a second, or third language. I hope every one there doesn't also pretend to not understand you, or value your opinions, because of your lack of finesse with the P's and Q's.
posted by Oyéah at 10:39 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good luck in non-English speaking areas where you speak a second, or third language. I hope every one there doesn't also pretend to not understand you, or value your opinions, because of your lack of finesse with the P's and Q's.
posted by Oyéah at 10:39 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
Definitely describes my year an a half telemarketing for MCI Worldcom back in the early aughts.
posted by daHIFI at 11:38 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by daHIFI at 11:38 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is a good rant. Not great, just good.
Please forgive me if I cut to the last boilerplate qualification on your page: I understand that your contact list is only one of many that have been generated containing my phone number. I realize that you have no way to know that having my name put on the DO NOT CALL list was obviated when I bought that shit online and filled in the mandatory boxes with my data. I was naïve. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that, even if you did know this, you wouldn't in any way be able to fit that metric into your working day (this guy hates phone solicitors). In any case, I am absolutely sure that your supervisor doesn't want to hear about it. (Sometimes I ask, but the phone operative just hangs up, and nobody answers when I try to call back.)
I suppose that phone solicitation isn't the job you dreamed about having when you were a child. As long as we are wallowing in the abstract, you may assume that I am sympathetic to your situation. But in concrete terms, please allow me to extend a hearty Fuck! You! to both you and the company that drives you like a pit pony. It may help you if you understand that yours is the twentieth call I've had this month, and I stopped being polite around caller number 12. When I say 20, I'm referring only to the ones about the warrantee expiration date on my car, not the mortgage reinvestment schemes. I know you are merely trying to eke out a living at what has to be a distressingly low wage. You shouldn't be held responsible for not knowing that what you are doing perfectly illustrates one of the determining forces in the dehumanization of humanity.
I'm truly sorry that circumstances for which neither you or I have any control cause it to be the case that the appropriate interface for the standard Fuck You response (from somebody your bosses mistakenly assume is a potential customer) has to be inputted at your level. My venom will never reach your bosses, or their bosses, and anyhow the machine they've created doesn't care. Worse, they'll blame you, not because I am pissed off, but because I don't authorize a debit on my credit card.
I believe, sadly, that it won't ever get any better for you. It probably will get gradually worse as your ego deteriorates under the consistent, relentless negative feedback that you will have to carry on your own shoulders on account of how your apex-level bosses have created no mechanism that requires them to take on any responsibility. Sooner or later your efficiency-quotient will deteriorate to a number their bean counters have determined to be returning red ink for the miserable wage they pay, and they will fire you.
I hope constant feedback of this sort doesn't turn you into the robot you must pretend to be while you are at your job. Anyhow, don't call me back.
posted by mule98J at 12:39 PM on April 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
Please forgive me if I cut to the last boilerplate qualification on your page: I understand that your contact list is only one of many that have been generated containing my phone number. I realize that you have no way to know that having my name put on the DO NOT CALL list was obviated when I bought that shit online and filled in the mandatory boxes with my data. I was naïve. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that, even if you did know this, you wouldn't in any way be able to fit that metric into your working day (this guy hates phone solicitors). In any case, I am absolutely sure that your supervisor doesn't want to hear about it. (Sometimes I ask, but the phone operative just hangs up, and nobody answers when I try to call back.)
I suppose that phone solicitation isn't the job you dreamed about having when you were a child. As long as we are wallowing in the abstract, you may assume that I am sympathetic to your situation. But in concrete terms, please allow me to extend a hearty Fuck! You! to both you and the company that drives you like a pit pony. It may help you if you understand that yours is the twentieth call I've had this month, and I stopped being polite around caller number 12. When I say 20, I'm referring only to the ones about the warrantee expiration date on my car, not the mortgage reinvestment schemes. I know you are merely trying to eke out a living at what has to be a distressingly low wage. You shouldn't be held responsible for not knowing that what you are doing perfectly illustrates one of the determining forces in the dehumanization of humanity.
I'm truly sorry that circumstances for which neither you or I have any control cause it to be the case that the appropriate interface for the standard Fuck You response (from somebody your bosses mistakenly assume is a potential customer) has to be inputted at your level. My venom will never reach your bosses, or their bosses, and anyhow the machine they've created doesn't care. Worse, they'll blame you, not because I am pissed off, but because I don't authorize a debit on my credit card.
I believe, sadly, that it won't ever get any better for you. It probably will get gradually worse as your ego deteriorates under the consistent, relentless negative feedback that you will have to carry on your own shoulders on account of how your apex-level bosses have created no mechanism that requires them to take on any responsibility. Sooner or later your efficiency-quotient will deteriorate to a number their bean counters have determined to be returning red ink for the miserable wage they pay, and they will fire you.
I hope constant feedback of this sort doesn't turn you into the robot you must pretend to be while you are at your job. Anyhow, don't call me back.
posted by mule98J at 12:39 PM on April 27, 2015 [6 favorites]
Why do we have this constant nostalgia for a non-existent yesteryear where we were not assholes? (Although I long nostalgically for a yesteryear where articles were edited before they were published.)
I agree, there have always been assholes. The problem now is that being an asshole has become the norm, a requirement, something actively encouraged.
posted by rankfreudlite at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
I agree, there have always been assholes. The problem now is that being an asshole has become the norm, a requirement, something actively encouraged.
posted by rankfreudlite at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]
Telling that the dude's prescription for curing the Asshole Factor is not some sort of systemic overhaul, which would be complicated and stuff, but Be the Special Snowflake That Is Yourself, which is actually the source of more assholery these days than is ever admitted.
Yes, "Be yourself," the stupidest piece of advice I ever heard. Who else can you possibly be? What if you are a serial killer?
A friend of mine set me up with a girl he knows. Before the date, my friend told me "Just be yourself." During the date, the girl and I did not particularly care for who each other were being, so we decided that I should be Boris and she should be Natasha from the old Bullwinkle cartoons. The rest of the evening was awesome!
But seriously, why don't we have choice in what kind of person we would like to be? Do we no longer have a choice? Is the pressure towards assholery so out of hand that it is becoming impossible to succeed in business without it? Are we experiencing an asshole arms race? One in which the only way to challenge the assholification of your competitor is to outdo him in assholery?
I hate to go all Godwin on the topic but, did not the same thing happen in Nazi Germany?
posted by rankfreudlite at 5:15 PM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
Yes, "Be yourself," the stupidest piece of advice I ever heard. Who else can you possibly be? What if you are a serial killer?
A friend of mine set me up with a girl he knows. Before the date, my friend told me "Just be yourself." During the date, the girl and I did not particularly care for who each other were being, so we decided that I should be Boris and she should be Natasha from the old Bullwinkle cartoons. The rest of the evening was awesome!
But seriously, why don't we have choice in what kind of person we would like to be? Do we no longer have a choice? Is the pressure towards assholery so out of hand that it is becoming impossible to succeed in business without it? Are we experiencing an asshole arms race? One in which the only way to challenge the assholification of your competitor is to outdo him in assholery?
I hate to go all Godwin on the topic but, did not the same thing happen in Nazi Germany?
posted by rankfreudlite at 5:15 PM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]
I agree, there have always been assholes. The problem now is
... the tools they have access to. Or as rankefredlite just put it ...
Is the pressure towards assholery so out of hand that it is becoming impossible to succeed in business without it? Are we experiencing an asshole arms race?
posted by philip-random at 8:23 PM on April 27, 2015
... the tools they have access to. Or as rankefredlite just put it ...
Is the pressure towards assholery so out of hand that it is becoming impossible to succeed in business without it? Are we experiencing an asshole arms race?
posted by philip-random at 8:23 PM on April 27, 2015
Is the pressure towards assholery so out of hand that it is becoming impossible to succeed in business without it? Are we experiencing an asshole arms race?
I would say the answer is yes. I read an article the other day that gave an explanation for why this is happening. Apparently, the assholes have discovered that merely being an asshole causes people to assume that person has a higher social status. In effect, the behavior causes others to put the asshole on a pedestal, in which he/she now actually does rank higher than the others. If anything, this is the thing that needs to stop - putting assholes on a pedestal.
This is happening in my workplace. There is one person there who is loud and mean, condescends to others, badmouths her colleagues, reports people to management for tiny errors, and doesn't have the experience or education that several of the others in the group have. Yet, she is in line for and will probably get a promotion, supported by other assholes on the team. It is sickening.
posted by jenh526 at 6:29 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I would say the answer is yes. I read an article the other day that gave an explanation for why this is happening. Apparently, the assholes have discovered that merely being an asshole causes people to assume that person has a higher social status. In effect, the behavior causes others to put the asshole on a pedestal, in which he/she now actually does rank higher than the others. If anything, this is the thing that needs to stop - putting assholes on a pedestal.
This is happening in my workplace. There is one person there who is loud and mean, condescends to others, badmouths her colleagues, reports people to management for tiny errors, and doesn't have the experience or education that several of the others in the group have. Yet, she is in line for and will probably get a promotion, supported by other assholes on the team. It is sickening.
posted by jenh526 at 6:29 AM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
In effect, the behavior causes others to put the asshole on a pedestal
Oddly enough, the only time I have any desire to put my own asshole on a pedestal is when I'm full of shit. So I guess that works.
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oddly enough, the only time I have any desire to put my own asshole on a pedestal is when I'm full of shit. So I guess that works.
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 PM on April 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is being monitored for quality and coaching purposes.
The following employees, having failed to meet the prescribed participation standard, are to be assigned performance improvement plans: acb; asavage; bad grammar; beckybakeroo; Bee'sWing; blucevalo; byanyothername; Catblack; CincyBlues; clavdivs; cstross; daHIFI; dephlogisticated; DoctorFedora; Drinky Die; dudemanlives; ed; eggtooth; emptythought; etherist; fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit; five fresh fish; flug; frumiousb; fullerine; GenjiandProust; George_Spiggott; Halloween Jack; hellojed; JakeEXTREME; jenh526; Legomancer; LooseFilter; mellow seas; mrhappy; mule98J; Nevin; odinsdream; officer_fred; oneswellfoop; Oyéah; Parasite Unseen; Public Corruption?; pyramid termite; Ray Walston, Luck Dragon; ROU_Xenophobe; ryanshepard; shakespeherian; SisterHavana; strangely stunted trees; Talez; theora55; TheWhiteSkull; Thorzdad; TimTypeZed; um; webmutant; wuwei. Have a nice day.
posted by flabdablet at 5:00 AM on April 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
The following employees, having failed to meet the prescribed participation standard, are to be assigned performance improvement plans: acb; asavage; bad grammar; beckybakeroo; Bee'sWing; blucevalo; byanyothername; Catblack; CincyBlues; clavdivs; cstross; daHIFI; dephlogisticated; DoctorFedora; Drinky Die; dudemanlives; ed; eggtooth; emptythought; etherist; fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit; five fresh fish; flug; frumiousb; fullerine; GenjiandProust; George_Spiggott; Halloween Jack; hellojed; JakeEXTREME; jenh526; Legomancer; LooseFilter; mellow seas; mrhappy; mule98J; Nevin; odinsdream; officer_fred; oneswellfoop; Oyéah; Parasite Unseen; Public Corruption?; pyramid termite; Ray Walston, Luck Dragon; ROU_Xenophobe; ryanshepard; shakespeherian; SisterHavana; strangely stunted trees; Talez; theora55; TheWhiteSkull; Thorzdad; TimTypeZed; um; webmutant; wuwei. Have a nice day.
posted by flabdablet at 5:00 AM on April 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
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