Blinded by Success

I know I haven’t been posting a lot here for a while now. Fact is, my book reviews and my thoughts about writing and storytelling go on my Writer’s Blog. Social stuff which heavily involves or revolves around women and women’s rights goes on Feminism Wow. There’s little left for this blog, my first on. Although, perhaps I’ll start doing game reviews here again. Subnautica and Sims 4 come to mind, as does Stardew Valley (a game I have sunk more hours into than I should admit). But the topic I want to tackle right now doesn’t fit with either of my other blogs, so it goes here.

I got into an argument with a guy of FB today which showed me again that people sometimes get completely blinded by their own success - or what they perceive as their own success. Now, this is not about the topic we argued about so much - the question of why minimum wage is not a living wage in most places, although it should be -, but about the way his personal success blinded him to what other people can and can’t achieve.

You most often hear people like that guy chiming in on two topics: success at work and success at weight loss. Those people have either managed to work their way up the career ladder from humble beginnings to somewhere in management or they have lost a lot of weight in a short time. The problem with them is not the success as a such, success is recommendable, especially when self-achieved. But here’s already where things can go awry.

Let’s have a look at the definition of ‘success.’ A promotion at work surely is to be counted as a success, it’s something to strive for and something to be proud of when it happens. Same goes for losing weight and becoming more healthy and fit. But how much of the success is really self-achieved?

Surely, if they lose weight through dieting and working out, it’s their success. And, yes, in the weight-loss category, success usually is self-achieved (unless they got a liposuction, of course). However, there are quite some factors they can’t influence which can help or hinder their success. Such as certain diseases which will either make it easier or harder to lose weight. Such as the fact that some bodies lose weight easier than others on the whole. Such as having the money for a personal coach and someone to make diet food for you. Such as having gained the weight in a short time (which often makes it easier to lose it again as well). Don’t misunderstand me - even in the most unfortunate cases, it’s still possible to lose weight permanently, but it might be a lot harder than in others.

And as far as business is concerned, there’s a lot of things outside of the successful person’s control which play into the success. First of all, all qualification and hard work won’t do them any good if there’s no free position. Or if their boss has a favourite subordinate which they are not. In such cases, they might still be looking for a new job for a long time, since most companies first try to fill positions higher up the ladder with their own people and reach out to the job market only after having exhausted their own resources. Entry-level jobs are easy to find, those higher up require more luck. A lot more luck in some cases. Vitamin B helps, of course (or is that Vitamin R in English?). Knowing the right people can tremendously expand their chances for a better position, inside and outside the company where they’re working at the moment.

In those cases listed above, success might have been easier than the person thought it was, simply because factors outside of their control were in their favour.

The problem, however, is not that those people were successful. The problem is that their personal success (or what they perceive as their personal success) has blinded them to the problems of others.

That guy I mentioned above simply continuously stated that because he’d been successful, everyone else could be, too (a staple of people with that problem). If people didn’t have his work ethics or weren’t prepared to work as hard as he had, they, essentially, deserved not having a living wage. That is a general opinion of those blinded by success. They were successful and everyone who doesn’t want to do as well as they did deserves their fate. When I asked him what would happen if everyone were as hard-working as he was and had his work ethics, if everyone qualified for better jobs and got their promotion, he didn’t answer my question. Because my point was that society actually relies a lot on there being people to do minimum wage jobs. Our society wouldn’t continue for a long time without waiters, cleaners, and many other minimum-wage workers. His point only was ‘I was successful and they’re just lazy and that’s why they’re not.’ And while that might be a possible interpretation, it’s far from being the only or the most realistic one.

The same kind of discussion can also happen if you talk to someone who lost a lot of weight quickly (and, perhaps, even made a career out of it). They are blinded by the success they had and don’t understand that not everyone will have the same success with the same method. Some people can lose weight the same way, others have a body chemistry which makes this an impossible or near impossible way to lose weight. Some people can’t dedicate that much time to their weight loss (which might mean not having as much workout in their day or sometimes eating less-than-ideal meals). Some people have other things interfering (like family life).

And in some cases (less with the weight-loss and more with the career), people might not even want a success. They might know they will never qualify for something better (because, for instance, they have a learning disability). They might like the overall work (because, for instance, they like physical work much more than mental work). They might simply have a life outside of work which demands the resources (mostly time and money) which ‘successful in business’ has invested in their success. They might be caring for a sick or simply elderly relative, they might have a big family, they might be following a project outside of work (like remodelling a house or creating art) which takes their time and money. There’s many reasons why not everyone can work their way up in business. And, again, would it be good if they did? If everyone was over-qualified for the low-level jobs? The jobs on minimum wage?

Women are often ‘accused’ of not putting as much time and energy into advancing at work. Of being more comfortable with the job they’re doing, even though they could do better. A lot of the time this is down to women having another focus outside of work. A focus on society, family, other projects. At the same time, it’s seen as more normal if a woman doesn’t do her best to advance at work than if a man doesn’t. Men are supposed to be focused on success, on getting on, on advancing through the ranks. So to a man who has done his ‘duty’ of succeeding, men who don’t may seem even more lazy than women who don’t. The whole ‘if you weren’t so lazy, you wouldn’t have to do this job’ discussion is getting us nowhere.

Neither is the ‘if I succeeded, you can as well’ attitude of some people. It’s an attitude which assumes everyone is living the same life (and, hence, has the chance to distribute free time and money the same way), has the same life goals, and has the same chance of success. Neither of these three things is true.

Even two people who seem to have the same life (same marriage status, same income, same area they live in, same job), most of the time don’t really have that same life. One of them might have to pay off an old debt (car, house, student loan, etc.). One of them might have a relative in the same job who they’re on good terms with. One of them might have another passion than work which they need time and, perhaps, money for. One of them might get on better with their immediate superior. They do not really have the same life. The one in debt doesn’t have as much disposable income as the other one. The one with the relative in the same line of work doesn’t have to invest as much money in a new qualification, because he gets the training ‘for free’ (or, perhaps, a few lunches and beers). The one with the other passion isn’t as driven in business matters and will spent less time and money on a qualification and do less overtime. The one who gets on better with the superior will be more likely to be chosen for promotion if there’s several candidates.

And even if they’re similar in the question of spare time and money, they might have different goals in life. Not everyone is totally focused on their career. And even if they initially are, life has a way of changing things. One might suddenly find themselves in a situation in which they need to put their personal life above the career. Or they might realize they don’t want to spend the rests of their life in that job. There’s a lot of things which can change a life goal. Epiphanies are more common than people often realize. So they ‘slack off’ in the eyes of the one blinded by success and are no longer worthy of that person’s support.

Finally, not everyone is born with the same chance to succeed. If you’re born into middle-class, you have more chances to succeed than someone born into the lower class (it goes without saying that the rich and wealthy have it easy to succeed, not to mention some of them don’t even have to succeed something else than their parents). If you can afford college after school (and go to a good school in a good area), your chances are much higher than those of someone who does evening courses to get their college degree. If you manage to get into a certain line of work to begin with, you have much more of a chance to promotion. Some jobs simply don’t have a big career ladder.

If you’ve been successful in your line of work or consider yourself very successful in another aspect of your life, please try to keep in mind that life isn’t ‘one fits all’ and you shouldn’t stop caring about your fellow humans just because they seem to ‘slack off,’ unlike you.

Surprises

Life is full of surprises, apparently. There’s the nice ‘expensive jewellery in your cupcake’ kind of surprise and the bad ‘poisonous spider in your shoe’ kind of surprise. (Also known as the ‘surprise visit by Count Olaf’ kind of surprise - sorry, I’ve been playing a “A Series of Unfortunate Events” custom game this weekend.)

I received a ‘poisonous spider’ surprise on Thursday - as I’ve already written. (I also received one of those on Sunday before Eastern, when my PC broke down.) Today I received the other kind, the ‘cupcake’ variety.

I basically went to work to tell my boss ‘I quit.’ Not that I don’t like my job - or my colleagues or my boss, they’re all okay. But I’m finished. I’m steps from a burnout syndrome, if I’m not already there. I thought that was the only way I could at least save some of my health.

My boss didn’t like it one bit, of course. He didn’t want to lose me - as I’m a good and reliant employee, it seems. Still, I was set on going through with it. Then I went over to the office in order to tell my colleagues goodbye. They didn’t want to let me go, either. And one of them had a good idea. They talked it over with me, then we talked it over with my boss and now it seems things will take a different course.

I stay at home this week, just as planned. Of course, it would have been better not to have had the stress I had with my decision this weekend. I’m probably going to stay home during the next few weeks, too - mostly on unpaid leave. I will recuperate, I’ll gather new energy and afterwards I will take it slower at the office for a while, go back to 30 hours a week, maybe 25. My boss will help me with this, as long as I stay.

This is a whole new experience for me. I’ve never worked in a company where I was appreciated like that. I was a call-center agent before. The bosses there basically give you the feeling that you should be honoured to work for ‘the coming thing’ - and probably bring money to work instead of expecting it on your pay check at the end of the month. It was a good feeling to see various people try their best so I could and would stay. And, of course, a great ego-boost, too...

The pest of temporal employment

We’re in the middle of a crisis and nobody wants to lose his or her job. That much is for sure. If that means drifting into temporal employment, then it has to be done. Really?

Even though I can’t say anything bad about my own temporal employment agency, I’ve had experiences enough. Usually, working for such an agency means lower pay than people who work directly for a company get. It also means being seen as someone lower up the ladder of the hierarchy. And it means, of course, that you never know how long you’ll be working somewhere.

All in all, working for a temporal employment agency is a rather uncertain affair. And it is something which more and more people in Germany get subjected to. In fact, there’s quite some companies which found their own agencies in order to put their workers into those agencies and then rent them back. That seems quite illogical, but it seems to work from a financial point of view.

At a time when the government wants more children, it makes the decision for people whether to become parents even harder. And politicians even claim that there is no other way...

Isn’t there? The global market just goes that far. There are jobs that can’t be taken to another, cheaper country. A lot of production has left Germany anyway. And some of them come back, because they realize that less pay might also mean less quality.

And there’s something we call the law. The government can make certain dealings of the companies illegal, if they decide it harms society. That’s why you create laws against something, because it harms society on the whole.

The German government could render any wages below the tariff contracts in Germany illegal. Then it would be punishable (by prison or a very hefty fine) to pay your employees less than the wages the unions and the representatives of the employers have agreed on. The government could render this ‘we found our own temporal employment agency and then rent our workers back for lower pay’-business illegal, too.

Admittedly, the employees could do more to fight for their rights, too. In France, our neighbouring country, trains will stand completely still if the employees of the transport company decided to go on strike. It’s not just a ‘this train station today, this train station tomorrow’-affair like they did it in Germany. We do not have a history for going on strike without any reservations - and the employers in Germany know that. Even that slightly half-hearted strike of the employees of the Germany train company was seen as a very strong threat against the employers - and the all-mighty employers broke down. (Because transport is indeed something you can’t outsource to China or Eastern Europe.) Imagine what would happen if employees in Germany acquired a reputation for going on real no-nonsense strikes to strengthen their position towards the employers.

But back to temporal employment. It an uncertain form of employment that harms - or at least threatens to harm - society. There are specific areas of employment where the temporal form has its use. As a replacement for someone on vacation - or a sudden sickness. As a boost during a very busy time. As a short-lived need for another employee. Or maybe, if it really needs to be, in order to preselect the applicants for a new job. But today, if you get a job via temporal employment, you’re going to stay in temporal employment. It’s not just the principle ‘we’ll find someone over temporal employment and after a while we’ll hire him or her for real.’ It’s the principle ‘we hire on temporal employment, pay the higher costs for it and will therefore be able to fire people at will - and it’s fashionable, too.’

This makes me so sick, I want to puke. Temporal employment the way it’s used these days is a pest, a disease that should be fought, not supported. But the government ignores it.

I've reaced a decision

This is post 800, if I’m not mistaken very much. Normally, I’d be writing a joyous little piece about how long I’ve had this blog and how great it is to have written 800 posts so far. But not right now.

Between the time I put out the last post yesterday and the time I sat down this morning - after four hour of sleep, I might add - to write this post, I’ve reached a strange mindset. I’ve entered it once before, also because of work, but because of the last job I had before this one.

I might not have a job any longer before next week is over, because of the decision I’ve reached. But even in this crisis, it will be worth it, if it means I’m not going to run any lower on energy.

Fact is, currently I’m running on reserve. I’ve been running on reserve for most of this year since January. If I were a car, the alarm lights of the cockpit would be flashing. But I’m not a car and not everyone can easily see how low I’m running. I’ve been motivating myself to get up, to go to work, to do overtime by thinking about the fact that I was going to have two weeks for recuperation at Eastern. I have only managed to go on by concentrating on this thought.

Yesterday, after my boss’ call, I’ve almost had a nervous breakdown. Maybe it even was one, I don’t know, I’ve never had one before. I was crying and I was screaming and cursing for about an hour after the call. Then I wrote the last post, but I couldn’t let it go. I feel kaput. I don’t really know where I will get the energy from to get up on Tuesday, to go to work, to go on doing overtime.

So I decided to step on the brake. If the company cannot take care of me, of my health, of the rights I have as an employee, then I will do it. I’ll have a talk with my boss on Tuesday (and he’s probably going to hate me afterwards). There are quite some topics to talk about.

Why does one of us in the import department (3 1/4 people) have to keep up with the export (about 10 people), so she can step in ‘in case of an emergency,’ but there’s nobody from the export who can step in ‘in case of an emergency’ in our department?

Why don’t they get somebody as a replacement for my male colleague who will have to leave at the end of October? It’ll take at least six month to get a new colleague settled and ready to tackle at least the usual daily work on his or her own.

Why does my boss get four weeks of vacation and I can’t even stay at home for two?

I’m not in charge at work, I can’t take care of anything there. I’m not in the position to change anything. Therefore, I do not have the duty to take care of things, either. It is not my problem how they do get things done with one person being sick for who knows how long.

I can’t just call on Tuesday and say ‘I’m not coming,’ but I don’t have to do more than my contract (with a temporal employment agency, not with the company I work for) says. When I took the job, there was no talk of a regular early shift. Had there been something about that, I would have thought twice, maybe even three times, before taking it (during the job interview with the agency, I said ‘between eight a.m. and six p.m., maybe longer in the evening, but not earlier; early shift means being at work at seven a.m.). I have a 35-hours-a-week contract. There’s no way in hell they can make me work longer. If I can’t take off the overtime I’ve done (and, obviously, I can’t), then I’m not going to do any.

I’m not going to take any more considerations about the company. I will take off the 15th of May - I need to get my car through the TÜV at that time (you’re not allowed to drive a car that’s not been through the TÜV regularly in Germany). I will not be there for the seminar about import the Saturday after this. And I don’t care whether that means my colleague will be alone that Friday. All considerations are off - and I’m going to tell my boss this.

If they don’t get it going, if there’s no new colleague during the next month, if they don’t consider at least another part-time employed (we’re being paid for four full-time employees in my department), then I’ll be leaving. I’ve sacrificed my health for one company, I’m not naïve or stupid enough to do it again. No job is worth this, crisis or not. And certainly no job with a pay like mine.

And if my boss doesn’t like what I have to say, he’s free to fire me. I can be kicked out of the company within hours, as I’m not employed there. My employer, the people who pay my wages, is the temporal employment agency I’m working for. They might fire me right afterwards, but they can’t do it from one minute to the next. As far as I remember, a have a three-months-deadline for dismissal. That’s one of the few good things about working in Germany.