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from the work-like-a-dog-/-fingers-to-the-bone-/-nose-to-the-grindstone dept.
Mary’s story looks different to different people. Within the ghoulishly cheerful Lyft public-relations machinery, Mary is an exemplar of hard work and dedication—the latter being, perhaps, hard to come by in a company that refuses to classify its drivers as employees. Mary’s entrepreneurial spirit—taking ride requests while she was in labor!—is an “exciting” example of how seamless and flexible app-based employment can be. Look at that hustle! You can make a quick buck with Lyft anytime, even when your cervix is dilating.
[...] It does require a fairly dystopian strain of doublethink for a company to celebrate how hard and how constantly its employees must work to make a living, given that these companies are themselves setting the terms. And yet this type of faux-inspirational tale has been appearing more lately, both in corporate advertising and in the news. Fiverr, an online freelance marketplace that promotes itself as being for “the lean entrepreneur”—as its name suggests, services advertised on Fiverr can be purchased for as low as five dollars—recently attracted ire for an ad campaign called “In Doers We Trust.” One ad, prominently displayed on some New York City subway cars, features a woman staring at the camera with a look of blank determination. “You eat a coffee for lunch,” the ad proclaims. “You follow through on your follow through. Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer.”
[...] At the root of this is the American obsession with self-reliance, which makes it more acceptable to applaud an individual for working himself to death than to argue that an individual working himself to death is evidence of a flawed economic system. The contrast between the gig economy’s rhetoric (everyone is always connecting, having fun, and killing it!) and the conditions that allow it to exist (a lack of dependable employment that pays a living wage) makes this kink in our thinking especially clear. Human-interest stories about the beauty of some person standing up to the punishments of late capitalism are regular features in the news, too. I’ve come to detest the local-news set piece about the man who walks ten or eleven or twelve miles to work—a story that’s been filed from Oxford, Alabama; from Detroit, Michigan; from Plano, Texas. The story is always written as a tearjerker, with praise for the person’s uncomplaining attitude; a car is usually donated to the subject in the end. Never mentioned or even implied is the shamefulness of a job that doesn’t permit a worker to afford his own commute.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 24 2017, @03:58PM (12 children)
Simple: The world, and indeed employers, owe you nothing.
Not a good wage. Not a living wage. Not even a job. If you bring almost no value to a relationship, you should be paid like it. Your needs don't, and shouldn't, make a fucking bit of difference to the pay for a job.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @04:05PM (3 children)
Sounds like someone has some personal problems leaking into your online politics. My guess is high employee turnover for some very specific reasons, and now you're a bitter troll trying to convince internet strangers (and secretly yourself) that you are correct and righteous. Get bent.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 24 2017, @04:16PM (2 children)
Guess again. I've never had anyone quit a job with me who wasn't moving on to something better because of the skills they'd picked up working with me. And I don't for a second begrudge them that. If they become worth more than I'm paying, and I pay what the job is worth, then they should absolutely find something better. The unskilled labor that would normally pay chicken feed I've generally done myself because it's not worth the trouble of hiring anyone to do.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 27 2017, @01:33PM (1 child)
You presume the labor market works better than it does. I've seen it on both sides. Hard to find the job you want, and hard to find someone to hire for the job you have to fill.
It's the latter in particular that leads me to believe you're not being honest when you say you don't begrudge the employee who leaves you for a better job. You do. You have to stop doing productive work and start reading resumes and interviewing people again. As mercenary a market as this has become, that still takes time and is a pain in the ass.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 27 2017, @09:13PM
It's the latter in particular that leads me to believe you're not being honest when you say you don't begrudge the employee who leaves you for a better job. You do. You have to stop doing productive work and start reading resumes and interviewing people again. As mercenary a market as this has become, that still takes time and is a pain in the ass.
Sounds like Buzz has successfully impedance matched his expectations to reality. Perhaps you could give that a try sometime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @04:11PM (7 children)
Sure, outline further how you're a complete dick with no empathy. Know what happens when your shitty philosophy gets to run things? Slavery and eventually revolt. So you cause horrors, then those horrors revolt and your types get hammered by a lot of angry people. It would be better if we skipped the whole massive human suffering in the first place. But then what would you do with your bootstraps???
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 24 2017, @04:19PM (6 children)
Fuck empathy. Empathy has no place in business. Only value does. Thank you for highlighting the greed that is the basis of socialism and their economy of perceived need though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @04:45PM (3 children)
Yes, but if you don't pay people what they need to survive then you're a shortsighted psychopath.
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
That's what happens in every other developed country. Including places where businesses are doing well. They just don't expect to get rich off virtual slave labor.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Friday March 24 2017, @05:45PM
Did you not hear him? "Fuck empathy". His mindset is 100% the reason the US is failing, and I'm sure he can't see past his own nose but it is why corporations globalized and are bringing in H1Bs. If we all boil down to a spreadsheet then why stop at just one human rights violation? He is only capable of seeing his own narrow world view where hard work lets anyone be successful, and there are zero barriers to entry aside from "know what you're doing".
TNMB: The Narrow Minded Buzzard
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 26 2017, @10:43AM (1 child)
Yes, but if you don't pay people what they need to survive then you're a shortsighted psychopath.
Welcome to the real world, where unicorns and pixie dust is not always the optimal solution.
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
Ah yes, the ugly "we didn't need those jobs anyway" approach. If someone is desperate enough to work for so little, then we're going to kick them out of a job and starve 'em. That'll show everyone how much we CARE.
Who again is the psychopath?
That's what happens in every other developed country. Including places where businesses are doing well. They just don't expect to get rich off virtual slave labor.
Boy, I hope not. Else they won't stay civilized for long!
And heh, "including places where businesses are doing well".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 27 2017, @09:59AM
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
Ah yes, the ugly "we didn't need those jobs anyway" approach. If someone is desperate enough to work for so little, then we're going to kick them out of a job and starve 'em. That'll show everyone how much we CARE.
I got a little ahead of myself. First would come the argument that Boss Buzz would easily be able to afford whatever costs you feel like throwing on top of the "bare minimum compensation". We can't trust Boss Buzz to do even the slightest thing right - except cover the costs of your fantasies. That's a remarkably skewed trust there.
Then of course, when someone points out Boss Buzz probably can't afford your fantasies, despite your breezy assertions that he's good for it, then comes the "we didn't want those jobs anyway" argument.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @05:40PM
Remember well the words you say.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday March 24 2017, @10:04PM
Spoken like a true psychopath. There is literally a hole in your mind.