This is always how I pictured office life being
Weird shower thought: as a guy who’s nearly 30 now, I remember there just being A LOT of “office work sucks” media being on the TV. And it lead to a lot of my peers all being like “oh that must be why our parents are so miserable, working in an office, I never want to do that” so we all like went to trade school or graphic design college to try and become some freelancer laborer, and 15 years later a lot of us are exhausted and underpaid. I know a lot of people who today are like “yah know maybe majoring in accounting and getting a job where I sit in an air conditioned room and spend most of my time playing flash games while pretending to work wasn’t so bad, maybe my parents generation was blaming office work on their misery when it was actually something else.”
But I’ve never worked in an office so maybe it does actually suck that much. Idk.
I don’t wanna get all political but I think the connecting link is capitalism and wage theft
I don’t wanna get all political
Good we try to keep this place politics free.
I mean I think another part of it is the internet and increasing computer literacy means we’ve automated a lot of the old admin jobs that had to be done by desk workers. Used to be anyone who could type and had any sort of business major from any college could land some kind of job flying a desk, updating windows to display 20 instead of 19 in the calendar or whatever BS. Nowadays teenagers can write bots to do that in an afternoon.
Now imagine how miserable you'd be sitting in an office doing a job you know you could easily automate, but also knowing if you wrote that bot you'd be jobless.
gigachads who automate their job and dont tell anyone, especially if its a wfh job
I remember one guy on reddit did that and it was like 3 years of browsing forums all day before his bosses found out. King shit.
I found a way to secure my job for life. I don't follow procedure with storing stuff on the shared server and at this point there is nothing they can do about it because it's been going on for years. Good luck finding your logo on my external hard drive filled with thousands of unorganized files that can only be sorted via searching the correct combination of keywords I use in my filenames!
Sometimes being just "high functioning" enough to blend in at the office is a blessing. The downside is I really need the kick in the ass to get me out of this job I hate... I sort of wish they'd fire me.
The work can be alienating, and social dynamics a tad weird. But yeah, for the most part you get a decent paycheck for sitting in an air conditioned room. My dad worked his whole life in a factory and then as a trucker. His advice was that work sucks no matter what you do, so do your best to get a job that won't ruin your body. I sometimes daydream about doing something more physically active for work, then I remember that I'd have to do said physical activity for 7 or more hours a day.
I'm trying to do the independent contractor thing and it's not as hard as you would think. Lot of time spent on your knees, but it's nice feeling like I'm making a difference in people's lives and I make my own hours.
Right, FWIW my parents are working class immigrants. While we had skilled tradespeople in our family, I think the assumption was that a well treated and well paid tradesperson was some weird quirk of the formerly socialist state we lived in and not something that happens under capitalism. So there was a firm belief in the dichotomy between well paid office job and getting treated like shit and ruining your body otherwise in my house. That's not quite true in practice, but how were my parents to know.
Most of my experiences working in hard labor jobs were for pretty shit pay. At least in the U.S. it's very common to make maybe a dollar above minimum wage and if you want to go beyond that you need to have a few thousand dollars in tools and a truck or go into business for yourself.
The ideal job for me would be a physical one for 6-7 hours per day with a 1 hour break and other people to socialize with. I did something like this for a while but it was minimum wage. Under communism it would be my dream job, though. Hell, my job now would be fine if DOT regulations weren't fucking awful and actually tried to protect workers. I've had days where my load was light and I got done in 8 hours without going at 120% and if that was every day I wouldn't have much to complain about. But instead my days are 9-13 hours long, with forced 6 day weeks.
No it’s miserable even when you’re just sitting there playing video games pretending to work
gen Xers were trying to figure out what NAFTA and the internet were and somehow still decided that gommulism no food
cubicle walls aren't that high anymore. the bosses like "open" floor plans, so they can more easily see what is one everyone's screens. so, more panopticon style.
Also hot desking so you don't have an assigned space you can personalize.
I have the dumbest office job. I go in, walk upstairs to my office, sit in my room alone all day, leave and go home. I only ever see anyone when I need to go to the kitchen, or when I go to make a copy.
and yet it's imperative that I go in. My boss doesn't even work in my building. So most of the time I don't even go in, and I never tell him. Barely even talk to him unless it's an emergency.
I like that i don't have to deal with anyone, but it's so dumb that they really want people in the space...
the best part is, I"m kinda exaggerating because i don't even have an office space. I work in an empty classroom that they just slapped an extra desk in for me.
the students don't come in because they're still remote. The rest of the building is sorta used for differnt things, but have nothing to do with me. so either way the space is being used for something if i'm there or not.
honestly, at this point i just don't really give a shit. I'm on a mental health break from my previous employment that fucked me up. I'll deal with internal boring nonsense rather than emotionally and intellectually abused while living in poverty.
Yeah I'm in a similar situation, I got fired (likely for union agitating but of course they didn't say that) but I had like 150 hours pto saved up so my last check plus my savings means I get a chance to take a much needed vacation before hitting the job hunt, though I already have a few places I'm thinking of applying. Literally haven't been able to take a vacation in years outside like an extended weekend here and there.
so moral of the story, I don't have the experience of this video at all, except when I ask the building secretary what she's eating for lunch.
The other woman who works downstairs and I have the same conversation
"good morning PPF, how are you?"
"good morning J---, im doin alright, how are you?"
and then she doesn't even respond so I just walk away.
“good morning PPF, how are you?”
“good morning J—, im doin alright, how are you?”
and then she doesn’t even respond so I just walk away.
lol I've had this conversation so many times
it's funny because I work in the English as a Second or Other Language field and we always have to be like 'often times, "what's up" or "how are you" aren't actual questions you need to answer'
Could be IT. It's a job that is really important when something goes wrong, 99% of the time the problem could be fixed remotely or you can drive in quickly, but no one in management believes you can do it from home lol.
I run an english program for foreigners. I'm basically just fielding applicants and fixing problems for my teachers if there are any. mostly just administrative stuff.
the funny thing is, the teachers don't come in because we are still remote, but I, who have next to no interaction with students once they are enrolled, need to be there...
I go into the office and spend my day in video calls because I mostly work with people from other branches of the company.
same. Phone calls and video calls and otherwise just doing emails and stuff like that. absolutely 0 reason to be in an office, except for the odd time i need to meet a student. which can be planned ahead.
I got an office job a couple months ago, after years working in some pretty intense homeless shelters. Now I get paid more and 90% of my job is sitting alone in my office with zero supervision, reading and playing games on my phone. I just had a check-in with my boss where she kept telling me how amazing I'm doing at this. I tell her that I I'm spending most of my time just sitting on my ass, and she tells me that's normal and okay with this company.
It pays the bills but I really feel like I'm defrauding someone and I was definitely doing more meaningful work before. My bf says I should stop worrying and keep the easy job but it also gives me anxiety. My internalized work ethic sucks sometimes.
If you haven't, you should give Bullshit Jobs a read. It was honestly enlightening to see exactly the way I felt about my work explained thoroughly and with backing testimonies by other people in other careers who felt the same as I did. Really contributed to me knowing what I wanted to do and helped me leave that soulsucking role.
but I really feel like I’m defrauding someone
remember though time theft from your work is cool and good
They say don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I feel what you mean by internalized work ethic and defrauding someone however the alternative here is busting your ass so the company can see 0.1% growth or whatever meaningless number. All my favorite jobs have been where I do the least. Keeps the mind free of bullshit, at least for me
A big part of why office work is so soul-sucking is because of the internal sacrifice you have to make to your individual personality.
Basically, you have to compromise who you are as a person to fit the benign, false-friendly unoffensive neutrality of the company's branding.
Since clearly the company's "personality" is just carefully curated marketing optics, it comes off as disingenuous and inauthentic. Then people sort of have to fit in those unnatural molds in exchange for the stability of working there.
tactically slacking off which creates a whole new dynamic of slowly-creeping dread
This is exactly where I'm at right now :agony-soviet:
Working in general sure might suck, but these structures aren't conducive either to making it suck less.
I know the feeling of being shackled to your chair as described-- either emotionally drained from mental energy needed to work or passive dread for not working enough. And even sitting for prolonged periods takes a toll of physical health too.
But many of these structures do little to change the environments, like offering employees autonomy or increased ownership over their roles. That in itself could certainly make menial or repetitive work feel less terrible.
And we saw during the pandemic just how unimportant 90% of the jobs out there are. They only exist like spinning plates to keep people busy and prop up the illusion of productivity in an economy that doesn't produce any actual commodities besides entertainment & fast casual food concepts. Labor could be free to be redirected into more worthwhile tasks, especially those that involve helping people.
In this economy, jobs like teachers or social workers are grossly underpaid and overworked, but rest on the "reward" of altruism. You'll get paid better without the reward of helping others but again at the expense of your "work" being isolating, unimportant, and a waste of time & resources for both you and everyone else.
This isn't a problem just in office work, but it's certainly a giant connutate where you can see the results pretty clearly. The looming existential worry manifests as helplessness against institutional machines that only exist to extract wealth through the most efficient ways possible.
I think it’s just that work in general sucks. even if it’s close to your passion
that and managers love to make people do pointless boring crap for no reason
I think it mostly has to do with the abstract alienated labor that often creates no socially necessary value, the grey cubicles & the forced 8-5 schedule
Office work would be much better if it was non-bullshit jobs and the workers were less alienated
Yep.
Maybe with less work involved and slightly more self loathing
Also more obnoxious coworkers that you cannot get away from
Office jobs want you for some specific part of your brain, which they'll work until it stops working correctly. Then some hyper specific, unnamed, hard to define part of your psyche is missing all the time, and you're still expected to be able to socially function despite this, so you cobble together a backup personality that works around it, and become someone who laughs at Borat references.
So yeah, it's pretty accurate.
Oh fuck, is it this. Especially the break room. Any excuse to talk and not work even if you have nothing to talk about. Often about the weather.
pretty much. at least, pre-covid. only differences are that 1) commuting and sitting in traffic actually sucks 2) it does get old pretty fast and 3) you do live in constant fear of your boss.
But yeah, it's definitely bullshit that office workers make more than restaurant workers.
It's bullshit that restaurant workers make less than office workers*
Small but important distinction.
you're right! thank you for the correction, comrade! that is indeed what I meant to say!
The best part of a desk job is you can spend all day reading books, if your boss walks by and sees nothing but a wall of text on your screen they assume you're working.
They even make web browser plugins that make certain websites look like code. I know :reddit-logo: had one
yeah, I straight up just watch movies at work now. I have a desktop and a my personal laptop, so I just throw a movie or tv show on, and have something else on the desktop. no one ever really comes into my space, so it doesn't matter.
I've also started listening to a lot more audio books too.
I'm not in the office much for my job, but I assure you it is the worst part of my day, right next to doing live scenes at murder-suicides or whatever.
He's obviously a night crawler, like that movie Nightcrawler
