Re: The Method in My Madness
by The Inmate
When I was child I remember watching a cartoon, the name of which escapes me, about a sheepdog and a wolf. Everyday they arrived at work together, chatting about families, life and the weather. They seemed like a couple of old union workers who had worked with the same company for a long time, been through good times and bad times together and who knew each other well. They always met in front of the time clock where they punched in their timecards, asked about family, commented on the weather and then as pleasantly as possible would say, "Have a nice day, George," to which the other would reply, "Yeah, you too, Joe." Then they started their jobs: the sheepdog guarding the sheep; the wolf attempting to steal them. The sheepdog always, or at least usually, won, thrashing the wolf to such a degree that his continued attempts to secure some good mutton for his family are a tribute either to his perseverance or his stupidity. At the end of the day the sheepdog and the wolf met again to punch their timecards and resume their pleasantries. In truth, they were friends, but this fact did not stop the sheepdog from doing everything in its power to thwart the wolf's intention to steal sheep.The purpose of The Corporate Asylum is not to criticize management in a personal way. I am not insinuating that management is evil, that they hate workers and kick cats whenever they get the chance. There are many fine managers who are doing what they think is best for the company and for workers. I am criticizing those aspects of corporate culture that are demeaning, absurd and harmful to workers. I am attacking managerial methods and assumptions and the ways they are perceived by workers who have to live under them. Decisions made by management often affect workers adversely and the sincerity of the managers who make those decisions does not change that fact. I have no doubt that many managers have made decisions with the best of intentions that workers hated or found insulting. Knowing that management is sincere does not make the rules and regulations that workers have to live under any more bearable.
This could have been a quaint little web site that systematically delineated the problems of the corporation and then in a very nice, tender way suggested ways to alleviate them. Nothing wrong with that. There are lots of books like that; there are probably lots of web sites like that. My contention is that most everyone knows what the problems are. Ask any CEO what the most important asset of their company is and they will answer definitively: "Our employees are our most valuable assets." Ask managers if bureaucracy should be reduced and the "yes" will come before you can finish the question. But employees do not get treated as if they are that important and bureaucracy is a pest worse than termites. The problems are obvious and yet they continue to persist. No one needs to be persuaded of what they are.
Therefore, I intend to ridicule, I intend to drip sarcasm, I intend to be cynical, to bite and to poke fun at the corporate institution. This tone is a reflection of how many lower-level employees feel. What conclusions are we to draw from some of the idiocy that goes on in the name of business? Frederick Douglass once said, "For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder."
Recently I was asked by my immediate supervisor to perform a task that was completely unnecessary--that had nothing to do with the quality or purpose of my work. I am a nice guy. I simply want to do my job and go home. But I had had it. I do not normally use vulgarity but for ten minutes I argued in a calm but firm voice with my superior using such terms and phrases as "fucking stupid," "bullshit," "asinine," "absolutely ridiculous," I wanted him to know how much this bothered me. He relented. It's not a typo.
I will admit, that it is difficult sometimes to separate the individual from the decisions that they make and in some instances it should not and must not be done, but as a general rule in the work environment of a corporation it is necessary in some sense to separate the personal life from the professional one. "Out of the pulpit he may be a model of justice, truthfulness, and the love that thinketh no evil," wrote George Eliot of a preacher she was criticizing, "but we are obliged to judge of his charity by the spirit we find in his sermons . . ." or in this case, by the ways that management manages.
It is not my intention to belittle a particular corporation or individuals. I know because of the people I have talked to on both a personal and professional level that the problems I face are no different than the ones that millions of other workers face themselves.
I am also not suggesting that there is nothing good about corporations. There definitely is. Though those things will be mentioned from time to time the emphasis here will be on what needs to be changed--or at least what needs to be laughed at continually and in stereo.
Have a nice day.
©1999 The Corporate Asylum . . . www.corporateasylum.com
More Misc. Essays | Home | Back to Top | Contact The Inmate
http://www.corporateasylum.com/methodinmymadness.html
Copyright 1999-2004 The Corporate Asylum all rights reserved
Web Design by Sweet Thursday Web Development(Contact Me) / Last Revised August 1, 2004