Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Work Ethic

I listen to NPR on occasion. Usually because the people in the office turn it on and it's the only station that can get in and through. One of the news stories was how a lot of resturants have problems finding legal labor-a place in Ohio said that they had an ad for a job, and they only got three people-one whom quit in two weeks, and two that were there only so that a manager could sign their unemployment papers.

One thing that really hit me was that the guy that ran the resturant said that one guy they hired for the night shift was trying to sneak out of work consistantly...and that the teenage help they had was getting their parents to call in sick for them, so they could go to concerts and such.

When I was a teenager-my parents would have been...resisant to call in sick for me unless I was puking.

I worked shit jobs-you work the shit jobs when you get started. You work the shit jobs because you need to have a job, so you can pay the bills. If I had to, I'd work at a pig rendering plant. I'm going to pay for my life.

And, I'm going to keep my job. I'm going to ask, going in, if a job might require me to work overtime. And schedule around it.

What really worries me-more than the bad work ethic of a lot of people-is that a lot of what we'd call "entry-level jobs" is being handled by illegal laborers. Whom are entirely dependent upon the protection of their employers to not be deported.

The term "serf" seems to apply here, so very well...and that is very, very bad for a democracy.

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