h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah, if terms have changed that's bad. I can see how employees are motivated to take as much as they can get when contracts are so stingy.

Hmmm. If your parents don't give you what you want for Christmas, or as much as you personally feel you deserve - - -

Do you just take things from their home that you feel that you want?

In my view, obviously not one held by many, you are only ever entitled to what has been agreed to. Nothing that you "feel" is your due. Of course it is your life to spend as you wish. But NOT at the expense of others, even if you deem them cruel and too wealthy. If you are not satisfied with your lot in life, it is up to YOU to change it. Easy or not, it is entirely up to you - the individual.

In brief - take personal responsibility for yourself.

OK... And when will corporations take personal responsibility? Corporations ARE people, right!?

Corporations are deep buckets of money, looking to become deeper. They owe the country they are in and that allows them to flourish. But they owe you, personally, nothing more than what an employment agreement dictates.

Technically, that may be correct but, in reality, there is no such thing as a pure free market system. Most large corporations recognise that they require a stable political system in which to operate profitably so there is always a certain amount of balancing going on.
Of course, one of the driving mechanisms for the development of multi-national corporations is the balance between being having stable economies and the benefits of less stable political systems that may provide cheaper manufacturing.

"Corporations are deep buckets of money, looking to become deeper." [Rev Nick]

Nonprofit corporations can always use more money, of course. At the very least, they need enough to survive. But they usually have something called a "mission statement." This is part of the glue that holds the volunteer force together, since a volunteer is someone who works without compensation. There will usually be a few people who do get paid -- volunteers have limits as to what they can and will do without money.

I worked for a nonprofit. When I was preparing for book discussions, I read the books to be discussed, and I read them on my own time, not work time.

I also also have some theories about what it is that makes leaders great. George Washington and Lord Nelson were great leaders. People who didn't have to reenlist in the war effort did so anyway, because it was a privilege to fight under such great leaders.

Do you see where I'm going with this? There's more to your life than the pursuit of money, necessary though it is. This is partly why I feel discouraged when I read that employers owe employees nothing more than what an employment agreement dictates. The president of a nonprofit has a supreme goal, that of choosing a worthy successor. This has to involve imagining one's responsibilities as being greater than what a contract spells out. It involves using tough love to correct bad tendencies in subordinates, but it can also involves lots of praise and personal attention when a person of potential is starting to see the light.

we can be shaped by other people, regardless of what our contracts say.

Obviously, an employee who is inspired to believe in the firm's mission statement will make a better successor than one who isn't.
If the company you work for (whether for profit or not) uses positive incentives and honesty in communicating with the workforce, the corporate climate is likely to make the place desirable to the next generation of jobseekers. A virtuous circle can arise.

I am sincerely sorry to read about people who are not appreciated in their jobs, other things being equal. There are things I do not know, though. Is Jeff Bezos doing something we don't know about, that lets him give workers too much work and below-market pay? Are there positive incentives that we don't know about, that satisfy people who would otherwise be heading for the exits? Is it generous vacation time? A profit-sharing plan?

(I was the head of a collective bargaining group. I negotiated three contracts. I know something about the tradeoffs involved. It's never just about the money)

Part of it is the fall of Unions. As mentioned, wages have stagnated over the last decades, often not even keeping ahead of inflation. There are far fewer workers with union representation. I've never worked a job with a union. While many say the economy is booming right now, almost all of the growth has gone to the top. I'm a member of the first generation that even though we are, on average, better educated, we are also doing worse than our parents generation. The generation behind me is the deepest in debt (even though they're also the least likely to purchase cars or houses!).

Henry Ford, for all his many faults, at least recognized that you have to pay workers enough to be able to afford the products you sell.

I saw an interesting graphic a few years ago. It correlated the party in power with corporate tax rates and the "health" (wealth and capital/workforce reinvestment) of companies. When corporate taxes are higher under progressive governments, corporations are incentivized to invest in capital investment and worker education and benefits. Such investments improve the Wealth (as opposed to profits) of the corporation as they also lower their tax burden. When taxes are lower under conservative governments, corporations seek short term profits by slashing workforces and capital investments. They have less cash on hand making them more susceptible to market ebbs and by not investing in infrastructure and employee education they lose competitive edge to foreign companies that do reinvest.

It really comes down to short term profits versus long term survival and growth. The '80s got the 1%ers hooked on short term profits and the rest of us have been suffering for it.

Your points are all well-taken. I am glad, though, that globalization had enabled foreign factories to flood our shores with inexpensive products. Then again, some of our companies in turn have exported jobs to those other countries, where they won't have to pay as much in wages.

I on't mind globalization, but I think some caveats are in store. Cheap fossil fuels enable this arrangement. Make those fuels more expensive or less available, and we'll just have to start making more of what we need right here at home, darn it!

The concept outline in #1 is quite difficult to apply to teachers. There are no "loopholes" to exploit, or "company time" to use for yourself. I'd say it's perhaps the opposite during term time.

Most teachers provide and pay for resources, at the very minimum their own personal stationery such as paper, files, pens and printing, but usually much more. And there's no personal time in a working day, most breaks or lunch would contain work related activities. Private and family time is what gets taken for extra unpaid working hours.

This is not complaining, just stating how there are different working experiences. I've always been suprised how it seems normal to access h2g2 (or in fact any internet) during working hours.

Ditto, working in a hospital outpatient clinic we're on duty all the time when at work. Although I do see my colleagues using their mobiles at odd times. I leave mine in my locker - partly for security.

We also have to use a certain amount of our own time for related work eg training, odd bits of paperwork etc.

Chat rooms etc are noticeably quieter at w/e & I often wonder if it's because people are just busy on other things, or principally use them when at work.

I think of H2G2 as a resource for information. I'm no longer in the information business, but lifelong learning is important for me.

Off topic

Post 3:

"Piqueño dinero? piqueño trabajo!"

It is pEqueño.

I guess you are translating from Little money? Little job!

But in this case we would say poco, instead of pequeño. Poco dinero, poco trabajo.

Pequeño is small. It refers to size.

I just misspelled it. I heard it from the Mexicans I worked with on a crappy job site. Maybe they said, "Poquito dinero, poquito trabajo."

I'm not sure I want to know just how crappy the crappy job site was.

I was pondering today, if the attitude is different if you simply have a job as opposed to a career or vocational employment or are doing a job you really enjoy.
Could still be tempered by the quality of one's employer though.

If you have a fool for an employer, and you are self-employed, what can you do?

Well, paulh, if you must know....

It was a college summer job at a small manufacturing company. They focused on pressed steel and fiberglass. My job, paying the grand sum of $5/hr (25 more than minimum), was to clean up around the fiberglass side of the building. One of our signature products were port-a-toilets. Besides the constant itching, and the unbearable gulf coast heat, one day, while sitting on one of the loading docks eating our sack lunches, we see a truck driver pull in next to the load of port-o-johns he's picking up. He hops out of the cab and runs right for the fiberglass outhouses and enters the nearest....


Yes, they were empty, no blue water.


And guess who had to clean it up.

I have to guess?

Was it animal, vegetable, or mineral?