This isn't a brain piece. This isn't going to make you think more deeply about late stage capitalism. This is a shitty hate piece about how the work world is operating, and how dehumanizing it is.
At a later stage in life, I can tell you work is fucked (in the US). I don't think a lot about the macro factors that are at play in the equation. Are billionaires the problem? Probably. I just know what I've experienced.
At this stage, I think joining a union seems pretty smart. That, or going camping with the Rainbow Coalition. Fuck it.
Here's my experience.
I got a job right out of college. Mailroom. Starting pay. Lived on spaghetti and broccoli for something like three years. Biked to and from work, the store, anywhere I went. I was fit, sure, but only because a car was out of reach.
Someone, thankfully, saw me and thought I could do more. I rose to a middle level in the company and saw more closely the leadership. Leadership. Haha.
The company collapsed. A third of the staff were fired. My friends. A woman who basically treated me like a son. Gone. This was a company whose CEO talked all the time about unity, oneness, togetherness. A family business feel, but a corporate chopping block.
The HR department told everyone that they wouldn't be able to use their managers as references. “Thanks for everything, and go fuck yourselves.”
And now, I'm on a new job search. While I'm older but certainly capable of doing this specific job, I received this very generic email from the company “no thank you” email after interviewing on five different occasions with everyone from their CFO to their “people” person.
Then soon after, I get a form email that asks me to review their interview process.
Fuck this shit.