Bosses. They're all out of touch. I remember working for a large corporation in Buffalo NY when they were preparing to open a new call center in Las Vegas. Although I'd had no intention of moving to Vegas, I took the opportunity to get some time off the phones & sat in on the meeting concerning moving personnel. In addition to all the "wondrous" things the company was offering we lowly wage earners (virtually nothing, actually) to entice us to transfer was no provision whatsoever for relocation.
The president of our division stood up & said that must be an oversight. But no problem -- they'd figure that out later. One of the wage earners who was planning on making the move asked how can anyone working in the call center make the move if they have no money? The president stared blankly at her & said, "Well, each of you should put it on your credit cards." This drew a distinct groan from the wage earners. Confused, the management just looked at each other wondering what was wrong. This is where I decided to justify my being there & pointed out that "...in America, most wage earners live pay check to pay check & normally don't qualify for any form of credit. What's more -- just because I happen to (have been) fortunate enough to qualify for credit, each of us is literally hovering round the country's poverty level & even the credit I have wouldn't get me any further than the state line."
Not only did the president not believe me, he said I was being very offensive & should sit down.
In the end, only a few people from the call center -- after loans from their families -- made the move. People making even anything over $40,000 a year lose touch with what it might have been like for them -- assuming they weren't from wealthy families -- before they made that much. And I've yet to meet anyone in upper management in corporations who has the slightest clue what life is like for the rest of us. It's too stupid.
Oh, I certainly didn't fall for their crap. As for opening eyes...I think this is why I get passed over for promotion in large corporations because experience & ability have nothing to do with corporate promotions. Why have I been singled out? I'm no "company man". I point out fallacies, I complain to management when their marketing-laden ideas have no value for anyone but those who already have lots of money. Corporations don't like those of us who see through the BS -- they're only too happy to abuse our knowledge & talents by always demanding more of us & not paying us a decent wage -- let alone paying us even a little extra for all the extra they want of us. All the while they whine about all the money they'd spent on training us & all the cookies, literally -- cookies, they dangle before us, not caring really that we're "ungrateful" & threaten to quit. Why? Because to them we are easily replaced by another wage earner whom they can abuse till they get fed up & quit.
In spite of the fact it is we who put food on their tables, braces on their ugly, spoiled children's teeth, & make it possible for them to spend tens of thousands of dollars on their three or four long vacations every year, it is we who are treated badly & it is we who are forever called ungrateful.
Ignorance really is bliss. The most painful is seeing though the BS, knowing that we're treated as slaves & fodder, & knowing that any change we make simply changes the circumstances -- we're still slaves & fodder in the eyes of a new employer.
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