A Call for Twenty Somethings To Bring Back The Sanity

My poor brother. Tonight at dinner he shared his frustrations with me about his situation at work. My first reaction was to tell him to find a new job. It is an automatic response, for me as an American, to assume that we have complete freedom when it comes to upward mobility, that working hard will get you places. But wait, not so fast. Is it really that simple? Andy told that he was playing video game on Yahoo at work today--on his break. The boss caught him playing and lectured him not to waste company time playing games. Ok maybe I can understand that. The problem is that it isn't just that Andy was playing games when he shouldn't have been, it is that in every job I have ever had--and I have had a lot of shitty jobs, there are always certain personality types at the top of the pyramid. They are the people that talk the loudest, that follow rules, that PLAY THE GAME. At the hotel, I do my work and I do it well, the best, I was raised to work hard. My dad made it clear to us that working hard honors God, family, and self. But working hard doesn't always pay. It pays, at least in minimum wage service jobs, to be as lowly as possible, to do what you are told with out question, to conform and smile.

Andy is so talented! He is brilliant. I have found that my bosses are usually lazy and wasteful, and have not one shred of imagination. The work force is being filled more and more with conformist. This is a severe unintelligible rant, but it bothered me so much to see Andy so sad about his boss not appreciating all the hard work he does, and to only focus on one instance. Young people today are so smart and so full of imagination....When are we going to be recognized as adults and then allowed to contribute to society instead serving burritos, and making copies, and ringing registers....? When are the baby boomers going to retire!!!?

What would happen tomorrow if all the workers quit and only the bosses where left? What would happen if people decided to ask big questions, about life, and love, and our place in the universe, and decided that it didn't matter that much that the salt shaker goes on the left and pepper on the right.

I pray that after school I get a job that allows me to be myself. My worst nightmare is that I will be a corporate drone, following protocol!