Alienation aka "renting your time and skills"

[pan]

Marx was right. Not in his utopian eschatology that ensured a workers' paradise, but in his analysis of capitalism.

Just looked in my job search folder and realized that I have submitted 15 applications in the past month. The groovy hippie college down the road that prides itself upon valuing individuals, etc, has completely blown us off after the phone interview that was full of standard issue, cookie cutter questions and interviewers who seemed to be more annoyed that they had to take the time to do this than engage in any exchange with the professionals on the other end of the line.

Ms. Medusa and myself both applied to a J.C. in CA wine country. She got the call indicating that she was one of 13 culled to pay their own full expenses for an interview trip. I decided to come along an make a weekend out of it. Last night (in)human resources called to say that they had made a mistake and then disinvited her because it was me that they wanted to come.

Was shocked when the mail brought a courtesy letter acknowledging receipt of application materials from a U. "Common" courtesy in the hunt to find a renter of your time and skills is exceedingly rare these days.

It will only get worse as more layoffs and less job creation accelerates. Who is going to be the new Woody Guthrie?

[pan]

Of course, both capitalism and lenin/stalinist versions of marxism became enraptured with Taylorism and Fordism so, in many respects, there really was no difference in the base of the structure - just substitute bureaucratic party members for capitalists and you have the soviet version of the theory of alienation.

Perhaps it is time to see Georges Battaille's "new copernican project" of The Accursed Share as more than just an interesting exercise in philosophical pondering and see how it might apply in the real world.

So, ready to host the next potlatch?

[BO]

Well, that old phrase comes to mind when I hear about job applicants unable to get a foot in the door--it's who you know, not what you know. So true. Especially when you're an old fart like me. Over fifty? Fogettaboutit.

I'm working these days only because an acquaintance knew that I had been put out to pasture for no other reason than I had reached the higher-income, healthcare-drawing-age--somewhere north of fifty.

Maybe in academia it's different, but in the corporate world, you ain't hire-able past fifty unless they need to fill some sortta quota. And these days, without any protections from union or government, age discrimination is blatant--no need to hide it since it's become too hard to sue over.

Luckily, my wife still has her job. She's paid well, and the company she works for actually practices the diversity thing. She's a female manager, over fifty, in a sea of generation x-ers. She spent 10 years working at the company as a contractor before she was hired. At her current age, she probably wouldn't be afforded an interview.

Of course we all are familiar with the prevailing mind set in business these days--talent and experience take a second seat to cost. I think most companies would rather pay ten lesser-qualified employees to do the work of one competent older person. Take talent out of the picture and productivity becomes more measurable. And being able to quantify--not qualify-- effort is the name of the game.

And you're right--it's gonna get worse. We are well on our way to creating a two-tier society. The middle-class is history. The upper classes are global and feel no sense of allegiance toward any country. There are no job protections as we descend into third-world status.

Truly, all we have now are friends and family, word of mouth, and hopefully, a little bit of luck. Outside of that, those jobs at WalMart and Home Depot are about all us old farts can hope for.

[BO]

American Refugees are flooding into Canada: Tens of thousands of Americans are now economic refugees

Of course, this is the real problem...the US is in a depression. Considering the lack of truthfulness in US media, for them to admit that we're in a recession (which is global, BTW), you can surely bet that it's much worse than that.

What's got me spooked is the impending banking collapse that appears to be picking up steam. Even those that thought they were prepared for a downturn, saved and lived well below their means, are going to get caught in this thing--if they haven't already.

I know that we, personally, are one job loss away from disaster. And retirement gets further away the more our currency is devalued. The rich are the only ones who can protect their assets in this economy. While the rest of us watch our meager savings go up in smoke. That trailer park of LOM's is starting to look pretty good.

[pan]

LOM = littleoldme

[waldopaper]

Here is a fairly good guide to all the "correct" answers. I don't get interviews any more... probably because they check my credit rating... or my criminal record (yes- I have a "past." 40 years ago). Several years ago when I took this shit seriously and I DID get interviews, and since I had all the pre-requisite MBA OLS courses... I knew most of the correct answers. I still had enough of an attitude to believe the "interview process" was as much for me as for them... do I want to work here? ALL interviewers assume you "want" to get the "job." Here's how it goes down between the "interviewer" (I) and me (M). I have always done this... and wouldn't recommend it to ANYBODY.

I: Tell me about yourself.
M: Most interviews start with this question. Let me ask you one: do you want the correct answer, the honest answer, or the real answer?
(this usually produced a face fart... and then the usual response...)
I: What's the difference? (sometimes they would say, "the honest answer")

M: The correct answer is the response that tells us what we think we want to hear. I am a detail-oriented team player capable of multitasking with a positive attitude in a competitive environment to create customer, partner and shareholder value for xyz company. The honest answer is where the question is taken at face-value and answered at face-value to the best of the respondent's ability. We both know that's a trap. The real answer is this: If I didn't think I were capable of doing the job as described- that is, translated to the best of my ability from HRese- I wouldn't be here. I don't expect you to believe that... and you shouldn't. You are a skilled interviewer... and so am I. So what's going to happen now is probably this: you are going to see if I "fit in" without actually telling me what it takes to "fit in," because then I'd tell you what you want to hear. I am going to try to find out what the job really is and how it may differ from my HRese translation to determine if I really want to work here. To answer the original question, I'm the type of person who responds to standard questions with non-standard answers that contain another question. If the real purpose of this interview is to find a reason NOT to hire me... you've probably already found one, and we can stop now. Are you looking for someone who doesn't always take the standard approach?

If I remember correctly... about 1/3 of the interviews ended right there. Another 1/3 veered off into the weeds (exactly what I wanted) with questions like, "what do you mean by "HRese?" The remaining 1/3 continued with... "What do you consider your greatest strength?" ...which meant it was simply a pop-quiz to see if I knew all the correct answers... like, "I tend to be a workaholic and care too much about pleasing my boss."

In only TWO cases was this technique successful... it got me an "audition," That's what I usually want... because that's how I did it when I was hiring people. My interviews always began with, "OK... let's see what you can do."

This is probably why I'll remain "underemployed" for the rest of my days.

[pan]

Eat the rich with a few purple carrots on the side.

Just figured out that I have put out 40 applications in three months and only gotten 3 interviews out of it. That puts my nibble rate at 7.5%. Actually thinking of going for an MBA to beef up my arts administration credentials. Yikes!

[waldopaper]

You mean your going to learn how to "...to facilitate detail-oriented team-player market-focused entrepreneurial vision strategies by multitasking in today’s competitive environment to create customer, partner and shareholder value?" Run Luke... RUN!! Don't give in to the DARK SIDE... like it will do ya any good- ya weirdo. So how is "Train" being received??

Right now Ms. Waldo is downstairs describing the black van(s!) to my nephew: "...my god... it was like a bad sci-fi movie!" I guess mowing the lawn didn't help. Well, my outrage circuit blew completely with the pallets of 363 tons of shrink-wrapped C-notes (remember that story? how long has it been?). Good thing too... otherwise the gold-plated clusterfuck "Missile Defense" story would REALLY fucking freak me out. Now, I'm sure if I really tried I could dig up an even bigger, more expensive and stupider clusterfuck of biblical proportions... but this one takes the cake for now... and what's even weirder: hey, do i fucking CARE? fuck no... "business as usual."

Which makes me wonder if my schema/ Weltanschaung is THAT different from the "voters" in West Virginia. I got some model of the universe in my head that really doesn't have a fucking thing to do with what's really happening. Do ANY of us really have a FUCKING CLUE? This is why "Reality-Based Community" is so important... not how it should be... not how we want it to be... but how it fucking bloody well IS.

So... there it is.

[BO]

Wow. A whole summer of reading in one post.

And it all boils down to the fact that the inmates are running the asylum. And those inmates happen to be the greediest pieces of crap on the planet.

Colliding ethos, methinks. And poor Ms. Waldo is suffering from a wee bit of cognitive dissonance. And Waldo's been saying, "I told you so" all afternoon.

...and the fucking sirens are going crazy in BO's neighborhood as the local thugs start to overheat on this fabulous sunny day...should be an interesting evening of mayhem under the waxing moon.

I really need to remember to get those damn shells. I wonder if gramps would mind me sawing off the barrel of his shotgun so I could pretend I was Steve Mcqueen in the 'Bounty Hunter'.

[pan]

"...to facilitate detail-oriented team-player market-focused entrepreneurial vision strategies by multitasking in today’s competitive environment to create customer, partner and shareholder value?"

Yap, that pretty much sums it up. Didn't really want the indoctrination, just the initials so boards would be confident that I could lead their non-profit....cuz right now my credentials are in art making and teaching and you know what flakes those guys are.

Train is over. 4 performances at the Studio, 14 mini-performances throughout the city in various sites with rail connections. Proud of it. The Studio performances were sold out, the free mini-performances were sparsely attended...go figure. We did get some press but all in all, I think the concept was too big for many folks to wrap their heads around. The review that came out was good though she was stupid about somethings in the typical way of newspaper reviewers. The section that was based upon your poem was the major chunk of my work - the performers recited your poem and then performed a dance that was created from the words in the poem. Bo came and saw but he didn't stay for the reception with great food, beer and wine and he hasn't said anything about the show since so I figure it wasn't what he expected. Oh well, can't please 'em all the time!

[BO]

"Bo came and saw but he didn't stay..."

Couldn't stay, had to pick up the kid from the sitter.

Except for having a sore butt, both Ms. BO and I enjoyed the show a lot. We'll be back for every performance.

My wife developed a crush for the tall skinny guy with the mutton chops (she talked to him after the show). I developed a crush on the Blond with the perfect butt. We were both amazed at the diversity of body types and were a astounded at how graceful the chubby guy was.

I loved your soundtrack. Your sense of humor pervades everything you do which is refreshing given the potential for pretense and taking one's art too seriously.

Your wife's segment was put together very well. Although more serious, she did a really good job of conveying the shit role in life most females have to endure. I loved the contrast she painted of females moving between sex machines and caretakers. My wife commented about Ms. Pan, "What a well-built woman".

I absolutely love your performances. Bravo to you both, and to Waldo. Gonna be a bummer for us if you get a job and leave town. And it certainly won't do Tacoma any good.

[pan]

I see my little fishing expedition has done its work.... thanks for the compliment.

Gotta wonder about your wife's taste in men - definitely attracted to guys who don't get along with society's rules - David, the one with the muttonchops, has a wonderful sardonic humor and an acid wit that is sometimes aimed at anyone who he thinks is in charge (including me).

I don't have any nibbles but the wife has a hot prospect in the land of survivalists and Mormons. Let you know if/when it pans out.

[waldopaper]

Winter Soldier on Democracy Now- part 3/5... the part featuring Dennis Kucinich. Watch all 5 parts if ye got the stomach for it. I'm all cried out right now...