A guest post from an anonymous friend of mine, who fired off this rant this morning. Sometimes you just need to vent… I’m sure he’s not the only one who has experienced something like this in corporate America.
Begin rant
Today is a special day here at my place of employment; there is a man here, a supervisor (let’s just call him Bob), who is retiring after 42 years at the SAME JOB. In this day in age especially with our Gen X crowd moving jobs every other year to find the mythical brass ring. A ring filled with fame and fortune beyond all comprehension. This is an accomplishment that most of us will never know of. Loyalty like this used to be rewarded with such cheesy luxuries like a watch, a clock or plaque something that took thought and a little more than a memo to a secretary to make sure it got done. It was followed by a hand shake full of meaning and praise and appreciation for a man who had dedicated his life to company. What does he get here at the wonderful company I work for……..Pizza and Cake for lunch!
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the current state of business today. A market with so little regard for the working men and women of our country that they don’t even take an employee’s personal life into consideration when wishing him well onto the next stage of his life.
Pizza and Cake?
Bob is a healthy guy; he eats healthy lunches, exercises regularly and is an avid outdoorsman who takes pride in his appearance and has no time for cheesy shit like Pizza and Cake. In our grandfathers time companies knew their people and appreciated the pride they took in their job and how well they performed everyday. The plant manager knew their kids and wife had them over for dinner and what do I hear this morning?
“Oh yeah Bob was a good guy, but you know what. He’s replaceable”
It’s that kind of shit that should piss us all off.
He may be “replaced” but he isn’t replaceable, not by any root of the meaning replace which as we all know is: To put something new in the place of; and implies a filling of a place once occupied by something lost, destroyed or no longer usable. Is that how management views this great man, no longer usable? This man of 62 years gets more done in a day than 85% of the people I know. His work ethic is unstoppable. Even today on his last day of work for the rest of his life he is getting shit done and getting it done right. He has the care and attention to detail the likes of which hasn’t been seen since, I don’t know, Van Gogh. Is this how you would reward Van Gogh with a shitty lunch of fatty foods and sugars for the younger slovenly generation to gorge themselves on? I think not.
So, today, we should all raise up our glasses to Bob. A man who is a member of a work force the likes of which we may never see again. Not because we do not have the motivation but because of the society we live in. A society that has no honor, no loyalty and no chivalry whatsoever. Sure there are those of us who recognize these failings and do our best to represent our elders and be the men and woman who they are or were. We are the ones who refuse to honor excess and greed, celebutants and the fat pigs who hang out on MTV and VH1 reality shows fighting for their 15 minutes.
Today lets honor people like Bob. People, who work for their money; who get up everyday and make the trek to a job that gets them by and lets them live their life the way they want to, with no excuses. Here’s to you; we should all be so lucky.
/End rant.
Pizza and cake? That’s the same thing they serve when they celebrate all the February birthdays on the first Tuesday of the month. Pizza and fucking cake! Christ…. – dz
