A brief background. I am late Gen X, raised by well you can guess what generation, we all know the type, I don't need to beat that horse in this sub reddit. Moreover immigrant grandparents from the Silent Generation, both were incredibly austere.
I knew early on I didn't think the same way about the world any of them did, and would now view myself as somewhere on the revolutionary socialism spectrum. I firmly believe in the power of the working class, and want capitalism to have its death rattle already.
After decades of being taken advantage of and exploited it has of course only gotten worse. Fast forward, at the current company six years. We were all WFH for two years because of the pandemic. Productivity soared, call outs were down, turn over was lower than ever. Then it happened, the email to return to office first came last August, another wave came, and it was put off. The email came again in March to return in May. All of the department heads but mine offered their employees the option, and of course, only about 11% chose to return or hybrid from said departments. This department made very numbers based metrics for our reps to earn WFH, the supervisors under no condition can return home (I am one of said supes). Manager, assistant manager, and admin assistant still hybrid as they wish. I will not get into how I was taken advantage of or exploited here, it would be a novel.
There are times I'm here alone for hours, for no reason. Literally none. I now have to drive 1.5 hours each way, and work four 10 hour shifts each week. Covid is ripping through our office. Needless to say I have a new job on the horizon which is full WFH. I can't wait to leave!
Enter the co-worker. She is a much younger than me, orange and pink hair, tattoos, and piercings. The things she says now, you wouldn't expect to come out of her. She didn't come across this way a few years ago when she came here, and I ultimately encouraged my Manager to promote her to supe. She had me bamboozled. She has begun non-stop complaining about how “no one wants to work, they are here doing nothing, or calling out constantly”. Last year, one of the reps let us know in Teams they were logging off for the restroom, we always just reply with “OK!”, she replies with “can you just hold it 10 minutes to your break”. They said “no” rightfully so! I then pulled her aside and sent her the laws for our state regarding breaks (you cannot deny reasonable access to the restroom), and not to do that. She had a fit, all about how “well when I worked at x, y, and z they'd do this, and we'd just be fired if we didn't comply”. Ok? I'm sorry you experienced that, I have too, I think a lot of us have, and it's not legal, nor should we continue that mindset, it's time for change.
This morning before I left (we work overnight) she was on another tirade, and because I have basically both feet out the door, and have learned she is a lost cause, I usually just say “sorry to hear that” or don't reply. This morning I came after her, I asked her why she cared so much, why she was so angry that “no one was working, or meeting metrics when it's not her money, or company, or concern” this is just the gist, I went on about dragging people back in during inflation, a recession, our not competitive pay etc. She got short with me, and I left. This evening I came into an email to our Manager with our team CC'd full of her complaining about all of this stuff to him, I'm not mentioned, but it's nearly exactly what I said to her this morning. Our Manager will “check it out”.
I even sent this person the job information for the position/company I'm leaving for a couple of months ago when I also applied. She had a hissy fit in her first interview over the compensation and bonus structure being “too low”, but hadn't bothered to ask to understand what the bonus structure meant. It would have added another 20% to her yearly pay minimum, putting her well over what she needed and is currently making, but because she didn't bother to ask, and the way she behaved, she burned that bridge. We currently get bonuses here, but there is no structure, it's not transparent at all, you just get whatever number shows up in your bank account, and this is her first experience with bonuses.
Recently she told me about how she went to McD's to get breakfast, and they weren't open at 5a when they were supposed to be, and she sat in the drive thru and waited, then finally went and parked and waited for lights to come on, they did about 5:30. Went through and got her food, and told off the employee at the window for “not opening on time”. She then mentioned how the employee said “we're understaffed, we're doing our best”, and she told her “that's too bad, that's not our problem, everyone out here expects you to be open at 5a maybe you should get here earlier”. She's worked in fast food, she's been that person being screamed at by people like her, WHY would you ever demean another person that way?!
My point to this long post other than to get it off my chest in a group of people that will understand is that we need focus our attention on younger folks with this mind set, the world won't move forward towards change for the better if we don't pay attention to the generations that will be running things in the coming years and decades.
TLDR; Co-worker had me bamboozled, capitalism sucks, let's change things, yea?