Dolly Parton Would Be Proud

You thought this post was about boobies, didn’t you? It is national Love Boobies month after all, (Breast Cancer Awareness). But alas – I have tricked you again. This post is not about boobies.

It’s about work. Work in America, specifically. When, exactly, did a 9-5, 40 hour a week job turn into 9-6 with an unpaid lunch and mandatory overtime? And why, exactly, is this ok?

And please, let me specify at this time, that in this post I am specifically speaking about jobs at large corporations. The mom and pop stores, and small businesses that I love to support are not included in this tirade, they have their own weaknesses and strengths and maybe I’ll address those in a future post.

Now, back to the issue at hand. It used to be, back in the day (I don’t know when, exactly, my family has always been overachievers) that the standard work week was 40 hours. That meant you spent 40 hours at work, not 40 hours working. The most common hours were 9 am to 5 pm. Most people had an hour off for lunch. An hour they got paid for. They had two weeks of vacation to take with their families and paid sick days. If people weren’t exactly happy in these jobs, at least they could pay their bills, had paid benefits, didn’t feel they had to come to work sick to make ends meet, and didn’t have to spend a huge amount of time in an office they didn’t like. Then they reached the required age and years of service and they retired and got a gold watch and a pension. A ‘thank you’, if you will, for years of loyal service to the same company. Many people spent their whole lives, from right out of college, with the same company. And there was nothing wrong with that.

These days it seems like just the opposite is true. Most people my age have had a plethora of jobs over their short lives, myself included. My full job history includes 10 different companies and over 15 different positions at those companies. People are working longer and longer hours just to pay the bills. It’s not uncommon in this day and age to be a two income family, and not by choice. In many families both adults have to work just to make ends meet, especially if you have children. Many people have Vacation/Sick days, meaning if they take a day off work when they don’t feel well it takes hours away from their vacation time. This means many people come to work with a cold so as not to “give up” any time. (On a side note, isn’t it funny how the human brain works? I remember right when I started my last job they still had separate “vacation” and “sick” days. I remember people were much more likely to stay home when they were ill because those days didn’t roll over. That January the company changed to combine the vacation and sick days. The number of days given to any one employee didn’t change, they just all because usable for any reason. Way more people started coming to work sick, because they were reluctant to stay home and “waste” vacation days on being sick). And if you do stay home when you’re ill, then some “hardcore” employees look at you like “Suck it up, I do.” I really prefer not to make other people ill when at all possible. Share your scissors, not your germs.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am hugely grateful for my current job. It pays well, I have a lot of time off to take advantage of, and the health benefits are decent. But I feel I’ve paid my dues. I’ve had a job of one sort or another since I was 12. I worked five jobs all through college (RA and Work-study during the school year, busser, swim instructor and drama teacher in the summers). I have frequently worked more than one job at a time (for a year I was the resident stage manager at a local theatre as well as working full time as a theatre technician for a Union house here in Denver). Even in my current position I am frequently called upon to put in mandatory overtime or volunteer for ten hour days. I’m in my 30’s for goodness sake. Not old, per say, but not young anymore either. When is working class America going to stand up and say enough is enough? Everyone should be able to have a steady job, with benefits, vacation and decent pay. Why are we allowing corporations to work us longer and longer hours? Why is it ok? The original Union motto was 8 hours work, 8 hours play, 8 hours sleep. When did that change to 16 hours work at two different jobs with no benefits, 4 hours play and 4 hours sleep? Or no play and 8 hours sleep?

I’m ready to introduce the Latin tradition of the siesta into the American workplace-who’s with me?