Friday, September 24, 2004
The Greed Conspiracy
Let me tell you a little story…
At the beginning of this summer, I landed a job at Fedex. The job was only part time, although full time was offered to me after a while. I will tell you, this job hired anyone from any background. After meeting a few of my associate employee contemporaries, I realized that some of them had done jail time, many of them wanted to offer me marijuana, and all of them had to put a sizeable amount of energy into each workday. This job was straight up physical labor, some of the guys described it was a full time job crammed into part time hours (and pay).
The good thing about this job was that I could see the results. I could count how many trucks I unloaded, and watch the packages travel down the conveyor belts. Without us, the package handlers, Fedex would not exist.
Oh yeah, the pay rate for a full time Fedex employee who has been with the company for more than five years is definitely still at poverty level. The part timers received less than 10$ per hour.
The interesting part about this job was that it was dominated by men.
For now I am going to continue to believe that many of them are there because they choose to be there, not because they are stuck there.
After about a month of working my tail off (although I believe my body never looked better), I quit Fedex and began work through a temp agency. Those being hired had to pass certain tests to prove their communication skills and professional temperament. This new job was completely different. Instead of part time it was full time, and paid better than 10$ per hour. Here’s what I did:
Sit in front of a computer all day long and enter data into a computer while listening to music and talking with people. I got better pay for nearly mindless, motionless action whose only threat to me was dulling my intellect and breaking my will to dream.
The maddening thing about this job was that I could not see the results. I was putting information into a screen, helping organize and shuffle loads of information to its proper storage place.
The other interesting part about this job was that it was dominated by women.
These two experiences got me thinking about working, and employers. I began to become angry with invisible corporate leaders who were obviously keeping the wealth and keeping us little guys in our place. I wrestled and wrestled with this in my mind for several weeks (not very productive, honestly).
I looked around me and saw many different creative people who had a great work ethic, but who seemed to just barely get by. I thought about my own musical pursuit and how many walls were financial. I began to think about advertisements and how much money is used (wasted) trying to make all of us aware of the new flavor of Coke that is out.
I thought about the sports stars, movie stars, and corporate leaders who are worth millions. Half of the reason they are worth so much is because of their God-given gifts of physical or mental capabilities, something they did not work to acheive, but rather discovered. As I thought about the people around me, most of whom are able to make a pretty good living off of the lower-end jobs they have, I kept replaying the voices in my head saying, “I am poor, if only I could get a raise, or win the lottery, if only I had just a bit more money…”
Then I realized…this nation is plagued by a conspiracy of greed. Then I realized another chilling reality…I am in on it. Every time I attempt to place a monetary value on myself, I am guilty. Every time I stop the flow of money and attempt to build a small fortune, I am guilty. Every time I fail to give when I can (and sometime when I “can’t” afford it) I flirt with the conspiracy. Every time I spend a little extra something for entertainment on myself that I “earned” from my employer, I am threatening to live that lifestyle.
I’ll be honest, Jarod, every now and then I get this feeling that something huge needs to be done. But since I am no economist, I will end this letter at the point that I have already come to. I must rid myself of my own greed, and follow the Spirit’s leading on what I will do with what I’ve been given. This is where it starts…
Until next time,
Dave
At the beginning of this summer, I landed a job at Fedex. The job was only part time, although full time was offered to me after a while. I will tell you, this job hired anyone from any background. After meeting a few of my associate employee contemporaries, I realized that some of them had done jail time, many of them wanted to offer me marijuana, and all of them had to put a sizeable amount of energy into each workday. This job was straight up physical labor, some of the guys described it was a full time job crammed into part time hours (and pay).
The good thing about this job was that I could see the results. I could count how many trucks I unloaded, and watch the packages travel down the conveyor belts. Without us, the package handlers, Fedex would not exist.
Oh yeah, the pay rate for a full time Fedex employee who has been with the company for more than five years is definitely still at poverty level. The part timers received less than 10$ per hour.
The interesting part about this job was that it was dominated by men.
For now I am going to continue to believe that many of them are there because they choose to be there, not because they are stuck there.
After about a month of working my tail off (although I believe my body never looked better), I quit Fedex and began work through a temp agency. Those being hired had to pass certain tests to prove their communication skills and professional temperament. This new job was completely different. Instead of part time it was full time, and paid better than 10$ per hour. Here’s what I did:
Sit in front of a computer all day long and enter data into a computer while listening to music and talking with people. I got better pay for nearly mindless, motionless action whose only threat to me was dulling my intellect and breaking my will to dream.
The maddening thing about this job was that I could not see the results. I was putting information into a screen, helping organize and shuffle loads of information to its proper storage place.
The other interesting part about this job was that it was dominated by women.
These two experiences got me thinking about working, and employers. I began to become angry with invisible corporate leaders who were obviously keeping the wealth and keeping us little guys in our place. I wrestled and wrestled with this in my mind for several weeks (not very productive, honestly).
I looked around me and saw many different creative people who had a great work ethic, but who seemed to just barely get by. I thought about my own musical pursuit and how many walls were financial. I began to think about advertisements and how much money is used (wasted) trying to make all of us aware of the new flavor of Coke that is out.
I thought about the sports stars, movie stars, and corporate leaders who are worth millions. Half of the reason they are worth so much is because of their God-given gifts of physical or mental capabilities, something they did not work to acheive, but rather discovered. As I thought about the people around me, most of whom are able to make a pretty good living off of the lower-end jobs they have, I kept replaying the voices in my head saying, “I am poor, if only I could get a raise, or win the lottery, if only I had just a bit more money…”
Then I realized…this nation is plagued by a conspiracy of greed. Then I realized another chilling reality…I am in on it. Every time I attempt to place a monetary value on myself, I am guilty. Every time I stop the flow of money and attempt to build a small fortune, I am guilty. Every time I fail to give when I can (and sometime when I “can’t” afford it) I flirt with the conspiracy. Every time I spend a little extra something for entertainment on myself that I “earned” from my employer, I am threatening to live that lifestyle.
I’ll be honest, Jarod, every now and then I get this feeling that something huge needs to be done. But since I am no economist, I will end this letter at the point that I have already come to. I must rid myself of my own greed, and follow the Spirit’s leading on what I will do with what I’ve been given. This is where it starts…
Until next time,
Dave
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I totally agree with you regarding labour to office work. I'm in an office at the moment, but prior to that worked in a supermarket. At the supermarket, I was always working, if I didn't have something to do, I would find something. I came into the office and was always on the edge when I wasn't doing anything, until I realised: Noone cared! I'm lucky because often I do get to see the results of my work. At the supermarket, the results of my work were in the supermarket carpark, in the form of the owners brand new flash car with a name noone can even pronouce, let alone afford!
Hi Dave,
We met briefly at The Mustard Seed a couple of weeks ago. My name's Mike (the guy who did a semi-lousy job of singing a few covers - I *really* gotta practice more).
I read your Greed Conspiracy with some interest. Based on my quick reading of your web site I can tell that you and I are at very different places in our lives - I'm 35, have a wife and two kids, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and a "professional" job with a "professional" income. And yet it is with great juggling and effort that I can barely make ends meet, savings is a fantasy and in the not-too-distant future I suspect past mistakes will make things even worse.
I don't bring this all up as a "woe is me" rant. Rather as a cautionary tale. There is no doubt that our culture is full of greed in all its forms. More of this, more of that - as much as I can get my hands on because more is always better. However, as Jarod points out in his Daoist response, the answer isn't to try and do the opposite. The answer is in balance. I once read that the key to being financially happy is to own your money rather than the other way around. I find myself in the ineviable position to be completely owned by money (and not my own) and I'm not yet sure how to fix that. But the lesson to learn is to avoid getting there in the first place.
However I believe part of the point of The Guy Project is to examine the difference between men and women and I found your experience interesting. Let me add one quick annecdote to that before I leave - during my undergraduate days I worked a couple of summers in a plastic bag factory. We made trash bags of all shapes, sizes and colors. The pay wasn't great (especially for teens just working summers) and the conditions were a little harsh (it requires a lot of heat and machinery to make plastic bags; plus to maximize my earning potential I worked the rotating shift - two days, two evenings, four nights, repeat). But I was the only male working the lowest level job. Every other "packer" (as my position was called) was female. Many had worked that same job for years and years and were likely to work that same job their whole lives never breaking that poverty line unless they had another wage earner in the household. Almost all of the line leaders (as the next level up was called) were men. It never made sense to me but these women never even thought about applying for openings further up the pay scale because they were already convinced they wouldn't make it. It was a strong education and worth every penney they paid me for it. In this job you could definitely see the results of your work.
Fast foward many years. I finally finished my graduate degree and desperately needed a job to support my family. I found a database building job that required advanced education in biochemsitry and compared to the stipend graduate students are given actually paid real money so I jumped at the opportunity. This was a data entry job, much as you described. I entered data into a computer as fast as I could. It is mindless work that makes you numb to the world (for the first several months I could barely have a conversation with my wife at dinner I was such mush; plus you never see the results of your work). It didn't take a lot longer for me to realize if I didn't change jobs I'd go crazy. It took about a year and a half afterwards to actually accomplish that goal. I now have a job that is much more enjoyable (with the same company I should add). I have a job where my opinion matters, where people put their trust in my abilities and when I complete the job I can point to something and say I had a part in building that. Funny enough I also now get to see the results of all that data entry work I used to do. But I still struggle financially. If money were everything I could chase it - change jobs every couple of years always looking for the next better paycheck. But those other things I spoke of turn out to be more important.
Anyway - keep on keepin' on. Money isn't evil and you're going to need some to reach your goals. But be ever mindful for the days when you let that money own you and don't go down that path.
Thanks,
Mike
We met briefly at The Mustard Seed a couple of weeks ago. My name's Mike (the guy who did a semi-lousy job of singing a few covers - I *really* gotta practice more).
I read your Greed Conspiracy with some interest. Based on my quick reading of your web site I can tell that you and I are at very different places in our lives - I'm 35, have a wife and two kids, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and a "professional" job with a "professional" income. And yet it is with great juggling and effort that I can barely make ends meet, savings is a fantasy and in the not-too-distant future I suspect past mistakes will make things even worse.
I don't bring this all up as a "woe is me" rant. Rather as a cautionary tale. There is no doubt that our culture is full of greed in all its forms. More of this, more of that - as much as I can get my hands on because more is always better. However, as Jarod points out in his Daoist response, the answer isn't to try and do the opposite. The answer is in balance. I once read that the key to being financially happy is to own your money rather than the other way around. I find myself in the ineviable position to be completely owned by money (and not my own) and I'm not yet sure how to fix that. But the lesson to learn is to avoid getting there in the first place.
However I believe part of the point of The Guy Project is to examine the difference between men and women and I found your experience interesting. Let me add one quick annecdote to that before I leave - during my undergraduate days I worked a couple of summers in a plastic bag factory. We made trash bags of all shapes, sizes and colors. The pay wasn't great (especially for teens just working summers) and the conditions were a little harsh (it requires a lot of heat and machinery to make plastic bags; plus to maximize my earning potential I worked the rotating shift - two days, two evenings, four nights, repeat). But I was the only male working the lowest level job. Every other "packer" (as my position was called) was female. Many had worked that same job for years and years and were likely to work that same job their whole lives never breaking that poverty line unless they had another wage earner in the household. Almost all of the line leaders (as the next level up was called) were men. It never made sense to me but these women never even thought about applying for openings further up the pay scale because they were already convinced they wouldn't make it. It was a strong education and worth every penney they paid me for it. In this job you could definitely see the results of your work.
Fast foward many years. I finally finished my graduate degree and desperately needed a job to support my family. I found a database building job that required advanced education in biochemsitry and compared to the stipend graduate students are given actually paid real money so I jumped at the opportunity. This was a data entry job, much as you described. I entered data into a computer as fast as I could. It is mindless work that makes you numb to the world (for the first several months I could barely have a conversation with my wife at dinner I was such mush; plus you never see the results of your work). It didn't take a lot longer for me to realize if I didn't change jobs I'd go crazy. It took about a year and a half afterwards to actually accomplish that goal. I now have a job that is much more enjoyable (with the same company I should add). I have a job where my opinion matters, where people put their trust in my abilities and when I complete the job I can point to something and say I had a part in building that. Funny enough I also now get to see the results of all that data entry work I used to do. But I still struggle financially. If money were everything I could chase it - change jobs every couple of years always looking for the next better paycheck. But those other things I spoke of turn out to be more important.
Anyway - keep on keepin' on. Money isn't evil and you're going to need some to reach your goals. But be ever mindful for the days when you let that money own you and don't go down that path.
Thanks,
Mike
# posted by 
: 7:06 AM
: 7:06 AM
Hey guys, thanks for sharing. Mike, I appreciate what you had to say, and agree with you and Jarod about the need for balance. This is still an issue that I wrestle with a lot. I suppose that perspective plays a large part in these GUY PROJECT e-mails, working through not only what I think about my experiences, but how I feel about them. I am glad that you provided positive where I slid into the negative. Blessings
-Dave
-Dave
I enjoyed reading your articles here and you have such great information on data entry operator. I appreciate your information because it will help me in my quest for the perfect typing job.
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