The Black Vault

I can't help but notice that even during my lifetime how dramatically human behavior has changed. To get and to hold down a job now it is no longer enough to simply pretend your interested in the work you do - you really have to genuinly enjoy it. Now I'm assuming some of you understand what I'm talking about and I know some of you will not. As a person who resents having to go to work, it came as a shock for me to discover that some people actually enjoy the experience.
Being imprisoned at the workplace, has over the years led me to try and unravel the mindset of those who regard their jobs as their chosen vocations. Now I don't like work as I do not have time to go there and do it. Every moment of my life is full of things I want to learn and achieve. To have to drag my carcass off to some meaningless sweatshop just to afford food etc is a daliy grind of astronomical proportions. It has become clear to me then that those who enjoy their work can't have such interest as I. The harsh reality is that work-lovers NEED work to occupy their otherwise vacant minds.
This is an alarming discovery that exposes a massive and invisible divide in the ranks of human-kind. To co-exist together is as potentiallly explosive as mixing matter with anti-matter. Work lovers think that a beach holiday is for morons and can't understand that the likes of me, whilst on the beach for hours - spent most of that time elsewhere (i.e thinking with our self-sustaining minds about anything and everything). A work-lover sits down on the beach, opens his eyes and thinks "OK, so what's happening next).
I could tolerate those dependent on work if their condition was not an infectious one. I'm am happy to say that my breed is most definately immune from directly contracting their disease, but the environment in which they thrive is howeever extreemly hostile to me and other conscientious objectors.
Because the numbers of work reliant (humans?) is greater than that represented my type, certain social conditions have evolved to fit their life whilst forcing my tribe out of their habitat. It is clear that one who works late at night and weekends will become a preferred employee. Over time then all work places will be staffed entirely by those who's minds require work. Social stigmas propogated by the dominant tribe will further endanger those who regard the work ethic as blasphamy.
This evolutionary phase for Earth-humans is now at acritical stage. When I was 17, if a workmate was to discuss his labours down the pub I'd have thought he or she had lost their minds. It is now almost impossible to hear a conversation anywhere about anything other than "sales-targets" or other such mindless trivia.
I once read that the alien "Greys" life form had gone so far down this road as to loose it altogether. Anything not connected to gaining wealth or furherment of the State had been bred out of their pysche. I also read that the Greys mission here on Earth was to re-discover "The free spirit, curiousity, Fun and their soul."
I think they had better hurry up before there is nothing of which they seek left to be found.

Great Subject. We all have these feeling about work, day in and day out, just trudging through everyday without some kind of meaning. We have all had dead end jobs, and if you are lucky you find a lifetime career. Just about nobody finds one of those meaningful jobs and careers without paying your dues, in a few of those other dead end trails.

WE all have hopes and dreams but all things in life have crossroads that derail the best of plans. What better movie portrays this feeling than "Its a Wonderful Life", with Jimmy Stewart. Had all his hopes and dreams to travel the world, and see great things, derailed, just like anyone else in life. In my case, a Viet Nam Era product of the 60's, your military obligation derailed what a lot were thinking about in High School. Some like me, had a few years of my life directed by that path, while others friends of mine refused that path, and took a different road. My time in the reserves pretty much ruled where I could come and go, and in the 60's having long hair was part of the scene, but my haircuts had to be short. Consquently while they were pretty much stoned, and out of it, doing nothing, many of us did our part, stayed on the straight and narrow path, did our hitches and got a little older. We were on active duty, came home, went back to school, got jobs and moved forward with our lives. Meanwhile those on the other path, we not much different, still in a stuper by mid 70's, and were still a step out of highschool 10 years before. The rest of us, were in jobs, getting married, having kids, and evolving in our paths in life. Meanwhile those on the other path were not doing so well, and were paying the price for giving up on school, prosocuted for refusing induction to the military, were not there to support the "Flower Children" they produced, while they were in communes of the hippy period, now long gone.

Yes you get emersed in raising you kids and your families, and usually it means years of being dedicated to a company that gives you a good paycheck, pays the bills which includes schools and tuitions, morgage, and hopefully a few vacations. If you are lucky like me, your path led to a career of being a part of something bigger than yourself, like something that means something to others or to your country. It may mean missing a few things, working overtime, and embracing with a passion what you are doing for a living. Meanwhile those guys from the 60's, never were married, never found anything but dead end jobs, or in the case of the one prosocuted spent a life doing meanial daywork, labor, and still stoned today almost daily. He never moved on and it is sad, seeing him a 65 years old. His dreams in highschool was the one who expected to go on to a great degree in something, he was truly a smart person, but derailed his entire life.

Its not easy to stick to the grindstone, punch the time clock everyday, and think the dreams I had never came true, but those dreams if you are lucky give way for bigger dreams with the one you share your life with. Somehow what dreams you didn't see while that job was the means to a bigger and better dream of your family, makes it all seem Okay. Making yourself miserable over it is a choice.

I get togather with several friends who I went to jr. high school with, and a few have nothing to really show for their lives, and I'm not just talking about property or wealth. Things like knowing you have been a good Husband and Father are what you will be remembered for, which is hard to accomplish without having a miserable or meaningful job in your life. Those are just a means to an end of what is important in life.

I love to work and have a job, wish I could find one.

What has happened, in my opinion, is that the family unit has been set by the wayside. We've gone back to the good 'ole days of people working to the point of jumping out of windows or off a bridges again. Like the days before labor laws were put into place, only today we have tons of legislation. The problem is, that these regulatory agencies, the government and unions are so corrupt that they and corporations run unchecked.

You're expected to work long hours, for less than competitive wages. You're expected to work overtime that you'll later be told to take off and have no social or family time as a result. You're expected to work full time hours but when time comes to be officially recognized as a full time employee, "Oh you don't qualify because of that one week you only worked 31.999 hours. You'll have to work eight consecutive 40 hour weeks to be considered full time. Enjoy your part time benefits."

If you're lucky, you'll get some vacation time but good luck actually taking it. Everyone I know, still with my former employer, are stressed to the breaking point. They are reminded daily how there are thousands of people in line for their jobs. When we go in there to shop the people on the sales floor look like zombies, they are that exhausted.

Sounds horrible, right? Well this is the type of work environment I have always flourished in. Always got to work an hour early, less than a handful of absences from work over a period of years, always called upon to do the job, always the project leader and expected to get it done. My weakness? I called in because I had to take care of my wife whom had just come home from out patient surgery. My in-laws, who were going to come sit with her and the kids, weren't able to. That's it, that was my undoing.

My supervisor refused to accept my call in, out of frustration and lack of time to argue, I quit. Therefore I am a "quitter" and am now the least desirable person to be considered for a rehire. I'm not on the do not hire list, mind you, but less hire-able than say someone terminated for stealing. Yes, really. You see, after having strange encounters with otherwise enthusiastic management who eagerly wanted me to reapply for spots all over the store, I spoke with the district human resources manager. He confirmed my suspicion.

My wife and I shop there maybe three or four times a year, despite that everyone knows my name there. Management still knows my name despite having left nearly two years ago and always stop to acknowledge me. Inevitably, many ask if I'm working and offer to get me back on. They always tell me to call them at a certain date and time, usually their next shift. They either avoid me after that or take the call and tell me to call them back at another date and time.

Usually citing my "job code" and their "looking into it". I never hear from them again, which prompted my call to the district HR manager. I knew there was something they weren't telling me and I was right. In light of that, I had to conclude that these people in management, who seemed to have the utmost respect for me previously, were too embarrassed (for me, for offering their help or both) to tell me and so chose to avoid me.

Obviously I had to cut all ties with them afterward, like social networking sites and losing their phone numbers. Who needs enemies with friends like that? That's the corporate world for you though, you bend over backward, go out of your way to be on call 24/7, sacrifice your family and values for the company and they use you and spit you out. I've seen it so many times. They are fully exploiting these hard economic times, rest assured.

I sympathize with you greywolf, I was lucky that I was in a very big company and was in a union hourly job. Unions have there problems, but the story you just said about your wife, you should have never quit. We have federal law that allows family leaves for situations just like this. If you worked for a place big enough to have a HR department, they know this.

If you think things will get better they are not, becasue many of the Obama policies are going to kill small business, concerning insurance requirments. For a very long time many places have beaten the benifits battle by limiting poeple to under 32 hours, which defines them as part time. They can hire twice as many part timers, expecially in banks, and other places. Union jobs they can not do that, becasue you contract calls for a 40 hour work week, OT is defined, and also systems to give OT equally is practiced. EVen the unions did not escape our companies efforts to force Furlough days, but at least they did them adjoinign major holidays, when many people take off, so nobody complained too much. We were just glad we still had jobs.

When 100 people show up, for any given job, they know they can pick and choose. but its gotten to shameful levels of taking advantaage. Its a fine line when get hired for one thing, but have far more skills, that once you are in the door cheap, its inevitable they will expect your other skills too. Jobs are hard to find, and everyone has made concessions in wages and benifits. Take it or leave it, I have 100 people in that line.

Conventional pension plans are now extinct, if you get a 401k PLAN now thats about it, but the kind of pension where they give you $X for every year of company service are long gone, nobody is offering that now. Pensions from State jobs, are breaking all the states, which are far more than conventional plans. Mine is nowhere near what my neighbor gets from the State having retired as a plumber from the state university.

greeney2 wrote:We have federal law that allows family leaves for situations just like this. If you worked for a place big enough to have a HR department, they know this.

The manager on duty was totally in the wrong in my case, as we are require to report absences through an employee hotline. We then are directed to the store to officially speak to a manager to report that we will be absent. I and many other employees had run-ins with this manager before and I thought she and I were straight and had cleared the air. I was wrong. Anyway, she was terminated a couple months later for stealing time.

Probably still deemed more hire-able than me though. There are people there now that were previously terminated, not once but twice for theft. One was arrested in a sting that busted half a dozen employees stealing tires, yet he's been rehired. Another was arrested for stealing televisions and other electronics yet rehired. These arrests happened in the store, it's just bizarre that these are considered good candidates for rehire.

All I can figure is that they must be getting one hell of a tax break for re-hiring these "rehabilitated" individuals or something. Otherwise, it makes little sense.

I worked in the defence industry, so if you were fired for something like stealing, you were finished forever. My old friend, who is 64 just got himself in trouble in a store where they had a givaway promotion. After so many purchases you could redeem the coupons for a expensive brand of pots or skillets, you recieved a coupon for each time you purchased something, and when you got 10 of them, you could get one of the skillets. Idiot helped himself to a handful of coupons, entering the resister area. My friend a a little dense, and thought whats the difference you are giving these things away, obivious to what he did was shoplifting. A young manager and young proscuter herd his explanation and through the book at him, and he got a shoplifting conviction. Any background check will show a felony conviction now, and he already was refused by California to renew his DMV sales licecnse so he can no longer sell cars or any vehicles, and will probably take his realtors licence next. I think he was turned down for a job at Lowes in the last 2 weeks.

Where I worked you didn't dare think about becasue it a government contract and becomes a federal offence. One day a 5 pound spool of welding wire disppeared, as the welders only had keys to the welding rods. It was left out, and it was a special alloy called "Nioro" which his a very high content of Gold. The rocket engines had many areas where gold alloys were used for hydrogen embrittlment. Anyway this wire disappeared, and the FBI came out of the woodwork as they are a quit part of security. Where ever it went, the spool reappeared on the weld wire cabinet the next morning. This was when Gold was a few hundred dollars an ounce, now its over $1600. Had they been caught stealing that, it would have been federal prison time.

Greywolfe, I really enjoyed reading your post. I can relate to what u are talking about. I have a love hate relationship with my job, but I wholeheartedly agree with your point of those people who jobs satisfy the void in their otherwise dull life. I can't tell u how many times some of my coworkers tell me they couldn't wait for their vacation to be over. In fact right now, on this magnificent labor day weekend, some of them cant wait for it to be over... Which is an absolute mind-f*** to me.
I enjoy work to a certain degree, I enjoy being productive... however, it does not hold a candle to my time of with friends and family.

I'm on the other end of the spectreme where I've done my main working career. I still have a home based retirement business, but boy do I enjoy my freedom after 40 years of working for other people, punching the time clock for 30 years of one of them. I couldn't go back to those days again, but when you are younger thats what you have to do. I worked the Holiday shut down one time and was sorry, they use to always start looking for the holiday committments, and the old joke was "Sorry we are having a family reunion in Minnesota this year".

I worked with many people capricorn, who knew nothing but working every second of OT and being pissed off if they missed one day of it. They make work their only thing in life, and do not know how to take a normal day off, go fishing, or just do nothing for a day. They get so greedy, getting their vacation pay in one lump sum every year, and than can't bring themselves to take a day off, when they have a short payweek, so work it. I know a pair of guys who bragged they worked every Sat and Sunday for a year straight, plus came in 2 hrs early everyday working 10 hr days, 7 days a week, and were pissed off when they cancelled the 2 hr early shifts. they are taxed up the ying yang for it all, and can't see it. Sad people! I've worked with several people the same way who were over 65 and also collecting full Social Security, and could not bring themselves to retire well into their 70's. Meanwhile young guys with families and no seniority got layed off, you would think they would just say, time for me to retire and save a job for a younger person.

I was a workaholic for years, to the point of having to be put on nerve pills. I'd go in hours early and work off the clock or go in hours early to plan what I would do as soon as I clocked in. Yes, really. I've been on both sides. I vowed never again after that company collapsed. I'm still pretty hard-core when on the clock though, as many a manager put it in reviews, "a little too hard-core". I don't dick around on the clock, I'm there to work. My goal is always to do my job and do it better than anyone else. That's why management always came to me when they needed things done.

If they needed me to stay over, fine. If they needed me to come in on my off days, fine. If they needed me to work over night for a week or two to help with a reset, fine. Ask me to take that time off later on, never again. That's where I draw the line. If asked to help out, I'll bend over backwards. Screw me over and forget it. I'll go back to working my schedule, thanks. Unfortunately, retail expects you to take it or else you're not a "team player". They'll gladly put that in your folder too.

There were these step-up positions at my old company that gave more responsibilities but no raise. These positions weren't officially recognized on the pay scale so you got more work for the same pay, unless it was overnight which would see a 40 cent raise for going overnight. These positions were the "proving grounds" positions, so to speak, where you "pay your dues" to get into management. Think internship from hell, for a reference.

As mentioned above, these aren't official positions and therefore you're never officially recognized by the company. This won't go in your folder, I found that out as well since I took one of these prestigious positions for several months and later stepped down. You'd be promised that after six months, you'd be promoted to assistant manager with all the bells and whistles. You could be, and usually would be, locked into these positions for years. They'd tell you it was the fast track into management and that all management in the store went through it. This is a lie as most were grandfathered in when policies were different.

I was brought in to fill the gap where another employee in one of these positions was off three days a week. I covered his off days and he covered mine. So we saw very little of each other. He'd been in said position for over four years, no raise other than the standard yearly evaluation. Oh he did get one perk, he got a key to unlock the back door so management didn't have to take time out of their busy "sleeping in the office" ( we took pics) schedule. It didn't take long to realize I'd been duped.

Having said all that, I'd gladly take a crappy part-time job with full time hours just to bring home a pay check.

Growing up with my handicapped parents(who represent the majority of humans) and profiling random people through my life. I recognized the obvious brainfog people suffer early on in my life. People that enjoy work are generally people that are living a life based on a script. Almost completely incapable of thinking the only thing they excel at is doing repetitive easy activities. Or complex activities they learned at a young age before retardation set in. Everything they do in a work environment or in free time is based off a trigger or done for a payoff. Thus work is a perfect fit for them cause its repetitive and they can feel important.

Take work away from them and they can still function but they replace the same behavior. Usually with some sort of partner. They'll say the same comments and replies every single day and get the same reply back. It gives them a illusion of doing something but in reality they are state of confusion and brainfog 24-7. Unique comments and questions can happen but the reason for doing them is always the same. They say something in attempt to receive a reply to satisfy a emotional need rather then wanting to actually listen and receive information.

They get the answer and the only thing they recieve from it is the emotional response. Anything that could of been learned from it is thrown away and forgotten almost immediately.

To sum it up the average person (working or not) lives in a state of Dementia.