A Haiku for My Deep and Abiding Love of Capitalism & American Work Culture

This is just bullshit

Why is the system so rigged

Fuck all of this shit

It is so easy to feel discouraged. Over the last (nearly) six weeks, I have submitted countless resumes and cover letters, reached out to goodness knows how many employers, had multiple interviews that led nowhere. The constant barrage of job listings, hoops I have to jump through...it's just too much. Recently, I'd had two promising interviews with a real estate company that checked all the boxes: good pay, hours, benefits, location. They'd asked me back for a third and final working interview, one where I'd be paid for my time, and they would be making the final decision to see if I was a good fit for their team. And then they just stopped. I called and emailed multiple times and they gave me absolutely no response whatsoever. 

I was fucking ghosted by a company. 

In the wake of the #GreatResignation, I find myself increasingly at odds with American work culture,  looking back on my previous work history and wondering why I devoted so much of my free time to work: answering emails outside of office hours, coming in early or staying late, picking up one or two small things for the office at my own expense because who cares if the home office doesn't reimburse me the six dollars I spent on some smoke alarm batteries as long as my customer was happy. 

It's all bullshit. Companies do not care about their employees. 

This environment that we've cultivated of making work the central focus of our lives is not merely harmful, it's sinister. Using working-class people to feed the pockets of greedy corporations who are more interested in maintaining their bottom line than helping their employees live comfortable lives is not just infuriating, it's downright deplorable. There are actual living people struggling to put fucking food on the table and we have billionaire bags of dicks like Jeff Bezos living out his dreams of being a space boy™ instead of investing his literal billions of dollars into country infrastructure. 

Though I'm hopeful this ongoing trend of employees quitting at record rates to demand better pay, more accommodations, and healthier work environments will continue, I'm skeptical that anything long-term will come of it. Complacency is the name of the game. If people believe they're not worth more or worth a wage that earns a comfortable living, then nothing will change. A revolution is what we need and I don't think we'll get it. 

And that's kind of where I find myself now. Do I settle for a job that pays the bills even if it's ultimately not what I want to do or do I subsist on unemployment until the right opportunity comes up? Does such a thing even exist?

These are the questions that have been circling in my head for weeks upon weeks upon weeks. Asking myself the same questions over and over again, wondering where the end will be, desperately wishing for my life to be different than it is now. I think everyone wishes that now and again. 

Until next time.