this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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Not The Onion

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Don't worry everyone, you 100% have the freedom to exploit the working class yourself. See? The system is fair. Oh, you're not exploiting the working class for passive income? Maybe you're just not smart like you think you are dummy!

/$

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Nobody can convince me that passive income is real.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I get around $400/mo from the VA for being exposed to toxic chemicals that will lead to me having cancer in the next ten years.

Pretty good trade off, let me tell ya!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

that reminds me I need to get the burn pit stuff going

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yes, you do. If you need help, message me. No dox, but I can help you out.

Google “intent to file VA”, and fill it out right meow. Whatever claim gets processed will be backdated to the date that form was submitted.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lol well ok there's one. I do surveys for money so I suppose that's kind of passive?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I think you need a refresher on the definition of passive

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

This just puts a huge spotlight on the thing I hate the most about my line of work. I'm sure it's not just my line of work with this problem, but there's plenty of examples of workplaces that do not have this problem.

My career is in IT support. Whether doing systems administration or networking or something else related, it's my lifeblood.

Almost every job I've ever had in this field works on the basis of tickets. A concept which, isn't in and of itself a problem, nor is it unusual. Similar systems exist in many careers; they're similar to a chit in the restaurant industry, which contains an order, which is passed to the kitchen for the cooks/chefs to complete. Same thing. And there's examples of this same idea across many careers, called all kinds of things from a requisition, to a work order, they're all variations on the same idea.

The trouble begins with how tickets are worked and completed. In other industries, you pick up a task, whether a chit or work order, you finish the task, and you mark it as complete, but in IT, it's very different in one key way. We have to not only justify and report everything we do, but also mark down exactly how long it took. It's this last point that's the problem. I am under continual scrutiny, every minute of every day to justify what I've done, and when I did it. In every job I've had, my ability to fill every second of my day with records of what I've done and how long it took to do is praised, or the lack of that ability can create some significant issues with maintaining my employment status.

There are good reasons to keep these records, to have a record of changes, and coordinate with coworkers, in the event they need to continue work I've started, or vice versa, and to note when something changed so that if issues arise, those actions can be examined as a potential cause. But this requirement has become weaponized by every employer to keep a stranglehold on productivity. If you take too long on a task that they think should have taken less time, you're suddenly found in a meeting where you have to explain why you were so inefficient. If you excel and you're able to complete your tasks quickly, that faster pace becomes the new standard, and anyone who isn't capable of keeping up gets reprimanded for dragging their heels and wasting time.

The goal posts continually move. I can't so much as take an extended shit without someone taking notice.

Meanwhile, so many jobs are simply focused on being present and looking busy. Before I went into IT, I worked at a grocery store, and short of clearly and obviously standing around doing literally nothing, no manager even took notice of you. If you were doing something, literally anything that looks even remotely productive, you were left alone. Which isn't to mention all the down time, when there isn't anything to do, and you just go and adjust the products on the shelf needlessly because it made you look busy. That same concept can be applied to a lot of different jobs, but with IT, it's not sufficient to simply look busy. Your time must be put into a ticket.

It's oppressive and the way of things in IT.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

The perpetual problem in IT

BOSS to you "If everything is working fine, what do I pay you for?"

Also BOSS to you "Things are broken, what am I paying you for?"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

IT support

And the mentality you've described is extra bullshit in an IT or support role, as I'm sure you're aware.

This is paraphrased in the "Doom talk" I had to have with my boss back when I was working in systems maintenance. As in, he'd come into my office and complain, "Every time I come in here you're just playing Doom. You need to justify your salary or otherwise maybe we don't need to pay you."

What MBA's and PHB's don't realize is that IT and systems maintenance is not a production-oriented operation. You're not making widgets. The metric is not how many tickets do we generate and how fast are they solved. The metric is, how can we have as few tickets as possible? Because by and large what you're doing in support and IT is fixing stuff that's broken. The ideal state for the business to be in is not to have anything that's broken at all, on a minute-to-minute basis.

Boss, you want to see me in my office playing Doom. Because that means none of your millions and millions of dollars of mission critical infrastructure which your engineers rely upon to generate billable hours is on fire. If any of it catches fire today, I am on site to put it out. If anyone has a problem or a question, I am on call to solve it. If there is maintenance to be performed or new equipment to be rolled out, I'll be doing that. But otherwise I'm not going to invent busywork just to placate middle management which, as a whole, can't reliably remember which of the two mouse buttons to click.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

This doesn't seem like c/nottheonion material

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Twice as exhausting for us boomers. You think you're tired. 60 and 2 jobs is bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This points out why the idea that boomers (as a whole) caused many of our modern problems upsets me

I sincerely doubt you voted for the situation you're in now

This in-fighting and blaming does nothing but detract from the real issue of who's doing this to us (spoiler alert: it's the politicians and it always has been)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yeah some dude has a failed acting career, and now I have to hope my for profit insurance will cover a doctor or I'll be eating ramen for the rest of my life

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

"failed acting career" is apparently ending up the chair of the Screen Actors Guild, parlaying that into Governor of California and then the presidency, after being a known talent in the 50s.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Failed acting career applies to most of the current online right wing pundits spewing nonsense.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago

Yeah let's just pretend he wasn't talking about Reagan

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

At least he didn’t fail art school in Austria

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Though he likely killed nearly as many.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Sounds like they're just lazy

/s

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

You joke, but that has been pounded into our heads our entire life, and even me (a gen x’er) feels like it’s my own fault because the world has been beating me down for not reaching whatever arbitrary standard it’s set for us.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Don’t worry, the oligarchy commends your lifelong efforts with a pizza party … :/

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I know. I'm right there too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

We should get all of us together, pool what little money we have, and buy us a huge compound somewhere and have our own community. I mean, what could go wrong, right? 👀

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Sounds good to me. Kool aid?

Hands you a cup

It's Ecto Cooler flavor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

People do this already, check Foundation for Intentional Community. You can find communities near you that are open to visitors or new residents and check them out.

Make sure you're well acquainted with the traits of cults to keep yourself safe. There are groups out there that are fundraising and building infrastructure for new communities, as well, so there are many ways to get involved.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

"Just be careful, you might accidentally join a cult" lol I totally get your point but that just made me laugh.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Don't want to end up like waco

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Speak for yourself

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

man this sounded so cool until I realized they were all going to be weird sex cults.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I'm an older millennial and I look at the younger generarions with horror. We still had some good years. They only had worst and worst times. Disasters, wars, economic craches, pandemics, more wars... fuck! Guys you need to change the world!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Gen X and I’m not making much more now than I did in 2008.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Millennial and I'm making over twice at much as I was in 2012. 🤷‍♀️

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago

Millennial and I’m making over twice at much as I was in 2012. 🤷‍♀️

And able to afford a third as much..

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The US never really recovered from 2008.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You say this as corporations are making record profits.

The US recovered just fine, the elites just didn’t think it necessary to include us in that recovery.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago

My issue is that I have to believe my lying eyes. Rates of homelessness, buying power, financial solvency, they all dropped through the tank and never really came back after what amounted to a financial earthquake for many many families. Whole extended families dropped through the cracks and never came back. There was basically no relief for the working families most effected by the incident, and basically no consequences for those that cause/ profited from it. Covid and the financial repercussions seems about the same. We've "recovered" from it "economically" because those permanently impacted by it that will never recover stopped being counted.