The subject of this book kind of reminds me of the end of Office Space, when the lead character decides to give up his cubicle for a job in construction. Isn't there just a hint of the romanticization of working-class life in all of this?

It's not a new thought, but maybe especially relevant these days when many of our seemingly safe and comfortable (if not exactly fulfilling) office jobs aren't even safe any more. There's a long history of looking back nostalgically to the days of the medieval blacksmith, or what have you--the idea that work became degraded in the industrial (and postindustrial) era.

The mention of The Office also reminded me of the comics artist--maybe Tom Tomorrow I'm not sure?--who utterly despises Dilbert because it allows readers to stifle any genuine criticism of corporate life with a little chuckle at our "dumb boss."

I've also seen this in numberous newspaper "trend" stories--I remember one in the Boston Globe a few years ago about "professionals" who were switching to careers in woodworking, or whatever (there's a school here in Boston that seems to specialize in this).

I appreciated the author's point about the cult of "teamwork" in the modern office. Employers spout a lot of talk about "entrepreneurial," self-actualized employees who have a stake in their companies, but in my experience, traditional hierarchical structures are difficult to get rid of. I suspect, as he says, the real effect is simply to make us more dependent.

I think there's a legitimate fear of specialization out there--anything is liable to become obsolete or outsourced at any moment. But the alternative seems to be the empty narcissism of building one's "personal brand" based on amorphous qualities like "problem-solving" and "communication skills."

Forgive me if I ramble... it's only because I've been thinking about a lot of these issues myself recently.

Very nice post! Corporate phoniness is a constant - it is built into the system. What changes are the buzz words, every few years.

Most recently, I see a lot of job ads calling for employees who are "passionate". This has got to be the most annoying piece of corpo-jobspeak I have seen. Right, you are not sitting in a cubicle for 8 ( or maybe many more) hours a day to keep your job and pay your bills- you have to pretend to be "passionate" about it.

Good point about the "passionate." Makes me want to puke. I can fake being competent. I can fake being hardworking. I can almost fake giving a rat's ass. I just can't fake being passionate.

nobodyswatching:

The subject of this book kind of reminds me of the end of Office Space, when the lead character decides to give up his cubicle for a job in construction. Isn't there just a hint of the romanticization of working-class life in all of this?

It's not a new thought, but maybe especially relevant these days when many of our seemingly safe and comfortable (if not exactly fulfilling) office jobs aren't even safe any more. There's a long history of looking back nostalgically to the days of the medieval blacksmith, or what have you--the idea that work became degraded in the industrial (and postindustrial) era.

The mention of The Office also reminded me of the comics artist--maybe Tom Tomorrow I'm not sure?--who utterly despises Dilbert because it allows readers to stifle any genuine criticism of corporate life with a little chuckle at our "dumb boss."

I've also seen this in numberous newspaper "trend" stories--I remember one in the Boston Globe a few years ago about "professionals" who were switching to careers in woodworking, or whatever (there's a school here in Boston that seems to specialize in this).

I appreciated the author's point about the cult of "teamwork" in the modern office. Employers spout a lot of talk about "entrepreneurial," self-actualized employees who have a stake in their companies, but in my experience, traditional hierarchical structures are difficult to get rid of. I suspect, as he says, the real effect is simply to make us more dependent.

I think there's a legitimate fear of specialization out there--anything is liable to become obsolete or outsourced at any moment. But the alternative seems to be the empty narcissism of building one's "personal brand" based on amorphous qualities like "problem-solving" and "communication skills."

Forgive me if I ramble... it's only because I've been thinking about a lot of these issues myself recently.

getting a job involving physical labor is pretty rewarding, when you're young and the weather is nice. but construction, mechanicing, etc. really suck when you're arthritic and it's cold and dank.

Here's a job ad I made up:

We are looking for people who are passionate about debugging customer service issues on the 3 AM shift with version TXV-124 of Whackamatic Toaster software, the leading waffle toasting software in the Mid-Atlantic region.

We work hard and play hard and only self-starters need apply. Please enclose a cover letter explaining how the Whackamatic has influenced the major stages of your life.

Mmmmm wrote the following post at 05/19/2009 6:23 PM: Good point about the "passionate." Makes me want to puke. I can fake being competent. I can fake being hardworking. I can almost fake giving a rat's ass. I just can't fake being passionate.

AHHHH too funny. Made my cubicle day. Thanks.

Good post....or to quote the last line of Office Space: "Fuckin' A"!