The great game of pretend
When I wrote and published "Why Working Isn't Working for Me" last Monday, I received some direct messages from people who agreed with me, but who didn't dare to admit to it in public because they feared that they would become unemployable by saying they are not enjoying doing paid work. I'm obviously not going to dox these people, but I do want to explore how ridiculous this is.
Maaike Brinkhof
The ridiculous part is not that some people are reluctant to talk about how awful work is, on a public forum. I guess this is the time to talk about privilege a little bit. When you literally cannot afford to say politically incorrect things about (your) work, I understand and empathize.
At the same time, I'm partly privileged, but not completely. I also cannot afford to become unemployable. I have some savings, but not a lot. On the other hand, I don't have children, I have a husband who would (hopefully) prevent me having to sleep in the gutter; that's helpful.
The reason why I like to write and talk about how awful most modern office work is, is because I'm so tired of the great game of pretend. Are we really living in a timeline where you have to fear being unemployable because you have a possibly valid critique on the way work is organized and done? Why work is even done?
If most people are miserable doing their jobs, and/or feel that it should be done differently, more humanly, then why are most of us keeping our mouths shut about it? Why do we fear our bosses so? Why do we pretend everything is fine? That we like it this way?
(Yeah, I know the answer: capitalism).
However, even if the system is stacked against us, we could still look at our own behavior.
Do you know this stupid website, LinkedIn? If ever I want to have a good laugh and eye roll workout, I visit it. It's all people like you and me, bragging about what they have achieved. Most of it is meaningless, and just good old fishing for compliments. I have participated too, at times. Giving a keynote at a conference is a great way to farm likes on LinkedIn. Thus, I have added to this great game of pretend. Look at me being important, giving talks at conferences and shit.
I have decided that I'm done. Under no circumstances do I think that I can change the system, but I can stop playing this game of pretend. Even if I risk becoming unemployable in tech, I'll call out the weird shit we do in the name of work. Having an alternative opinion doesn't mean that I can't do my job well. It just rules out the option of working for companies who fear such opinions. If anything, I think my way of viewing things can be an asset. I see things that a lot of people don't. This is the true diversity that many companies could benefit from, in my not-so-humble opinion.
On the whole, I firmly think work doesn't work for a lot of people, not just me. The dogmatic 40-hour work week, the fact that a lot of office jobs are utter bullshit and could be dispensed without anyone noticing, the fact that a lot of work shouldn't even be done as it adds nothing to the world but does active harm.... my god, there's just so much to critique here.
Since I'm just another dumbass with an opinion, I'll try to scope my critique in future posts. My scope is tech, and software testing & development. That's where I have most work experience in, and there's bullshit happening by the buckets. cracks fingers. I hope you're ready!
And if you can, please also stop pretending like all work things are fine and amazing. Be a little more honest about how you truly feel, if you can. Yes, even on Linked Fucking In.
If you want to rant about work, feel free to talk to me via Private Mentions on Mastodon, or e-mail me your story at maaike@sensibly.nl
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