Don't trust corporations? They don't trust you.

Kizzume

Don?t trust corporations? Well they don?t trust you either. Not as a customer, and even less as an employee. Paying people minimum wage to behave like a robot that has no feelings just doesn?t seem like anything to be proud of.

I think corporate America has gotten SO much worse over the past 20 years.

Salespeople used to be allowed to have their own style, and be personal with people. They used to be allowed to actually sell the customers just what they?re looking for. You won?t find a large chain with employees who are allowed their own style, and most of the time they?re having to memorize things that would drive just about anyone insane and then only pay them minimum wage.

Salespeople.

What you have to become to work for a big corporation selling things:

You MUST try to sell them a warranty AND a phone even though they just came for an ipod or a pair of desktop speakers. If you are caught by management NOT trying to sell those things more than 6 times, you are fired or given a notice that any more messups and you?ll be fired.

You can?t just try to sell them what they?re looking for?you MUST try to sell accessories, even if they?ve been clear that that?s all they want. They have to distinctly say 3 different times that they don?t want something for you to be allowed to stop asking in different ways.

People are not trusted by their employers to do a good job. ALL the large companies enforce classes where you get learn acronyms for all the steps of sales and are tested on it. It doesn't matter HOW GOOD you do as an employee, this is REQUIRED because THEY DON'T TRUST YOU. Then, at any given point, you have to be able to answer what one of the letters mean if the manager or supervisor asks. You have to pass those tests. You have to pretend to be excited about learning about this acronym, otherwise, you?re bringing down company morale.

This kind of thing gets WORSE AND WORSE AND WORSE every year! I can?t believe what companies put their employees through?companies don?t trust anyone anymore?about ANYTHING.

Then there?s the office jobs?. An even more strict dress code, and your job is doing something that is absolutely meaningless by itself. Your job is to be a cog. There is no job satisfaction because there?s nothing tangible that you have achieved. You can?t even have an easily pronounceable job title. Yeay, you helped bring the synergy of the project upwards and are moving forward with a whole new set of business-speak terms that your boss is very happy to announce, and you MUST pretend to be happy about it because you?d be bringing down company morale if you didn?t.

I can?t think of a single corporate job field ANYMORE with the exception of if you?re really lucky in the entertainment industry (and even then there?s a bunch of crap) that can actually give people job satisfaction. There?s gardening. There?s manual labor. But if you?re involved with anything corporate, there is NO job satisfaction because the corporations DON?T TRUST YOU, and it will be quite obvious.

Why has this become acceptable? Why have we become complacent to this kind of corporate behavior?

Hackfest · Joined: 04 Dec 2007 Posts: 413

Brilliant insight. Unfortunately I already have this insight, largely in part due to my job. I am not exaggerating here when I say that at my work (Union Pacific Railroad) they come out with new rules EVERY DAY. The absolute purpose of this is to keep you as a worker in total check. A rule came out a little while ago that said "You will wave your hand over top of the rail when you line a switch. After you wave your hand over the rail (to be sure there is no debris) you will point at the properly lined track with your finger (to ensure a proper switch)." The ONLY reason for this rule is so that someone else (a spying manager) can witness that you checking your switch. Why would there be a spying manager, you may ask with little to no concern. Because they HIDE IN THE WEEDS WITH BINOCULARS trying to catch you breaking a rule. Why? To separate the corporate wallet if you have an accident. Our rule book is over 800 pages. When I started a year ago it was 700 pages. When you started in 1972 it was 25 pages and fit in your back pocket. All over my work are posters with acronyms spelling stupid words like S.A.F.E.T.Y. and B.E.L.L.C.A.P.. The corporate thumb is the ONLY DRAWBACK to my job. A job in which people get fired or suspended EVERY WEEK. We even have a "score" and get points taken away when a rule is broken. The stupidest of rules, I might add.

Kizzume · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject:

It's strange to me how more people don't talk about these things. I don't even see it very often in stand-up comedy. How did this become something acceptable to people?