I think that the breakdown of emotions does not only occur for employees but also for students too. I think that today, people have too much pressure from both personally and from the society. Like us students, we receive lots of pressure from school due to the comparison of grades between classmates, we also receive pressure from our parents who always tries to force us to go to a good college. I personally believe that have pressures is not a bad thing but having too much pressures may cause us to emotionally breakdown, this is one of the reason why we have so many suicide problems today.
The photo caption reads: "Is this an unhappy employee?"
I wanted to take a better look at the photo on my big computer before asking, but is that a workplace? Could it be a movie set for a rom-com, maybe for a movie called "P.C. Land" or "Some Encrypted Evening" something like that? To me, it looks like the guy standing at far right is looking longingly at the lady working on her computer, trying to think of just the right line that might get her to close her computer and have a drink with him. She of course only has eyes for the business deal she's closing, but the guy will find a way to change that over the next 90 minutes. Meanwhile, the seated guy on the computer at the left is her best friend, repeatedly texting her about the nice guy in the right corner who's trying to make eye contact with her.
But is that a workplace? Looks great if it is!
“The best employees are the people who get assigned more and more work. An overburdened employee is a reflection of bad management.”
tune of “Don’t Worry, be Happy”
When you write your boss a note
And they can’t decipher a word you wrote
Don't worry, be sloppy.
Taking time says, not discreetly,
You have free time to write so neatly.
Don't worry, be sloppy. Don’t worry, be sloppy now
Ooh-ooh-hoo-hoo-ooh hoo-hoo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Just hurry
Woo-ooh-woo-ooh-woo-ooh-ooh
Be sloppy
Woo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Don't worry, be sloppy
A brand new task at half past four?
Work quickly, then sneak out the door.
Don't worry, be sloppy.
If you are sure you won’t be fired
When asked to do more than required
Don't worry (It’s not good for you.)
Be sloppy (Got it done, it’s sloppy though.)
Ooh-ooh-hoo-hoo-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh. Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
(Here, I'll give you my cell number. Call 5 days a week, 24/7, just not after 6, okay?)
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh.
10
It’s...it’s a bit foggy...but I think I see...yep...blanket pardons for Cohen,...and I think...Manafort...and wait...I think there’s one more...yeah, Elmer Fudd’s human persona deals one to himself. Though in any other timeline and/or dimension such a move would be deemed unfathomable, the universe we’ve lived in since November 8, 2016 is as alternate as it is mercurial (i.e., all options and possibilities are on the table).
2
OFFICE WORK
How sweet it is,
In fact sublime,
To surf the web
On the boss's time.
To text and tweet
Both friends and celebrities
Around the globe
From the Aleutians to the Zebrides.
Of course there's work
To do without fail,
But that must wait
Till after email.
So much to swap
On the boss's dime,
No choice but to ask
For overtime.
6
There are companies in which the employee has no choice but to receive emails round the clock.
The biggest con is that anyone ever thought the gig economy was good for workers (A related, stupid concept is the "side hustle.") Its problems were evident from the start. I'm sure if I Googled, I'd find some NYT articles romanticizing it. Why does it take so long for the media to catch up?
9
It's really hard to cough up a tear for Mr. Musk who openly admits he prefers to do everything on his own, and who has more money than Croesus...Plus health insurance!
8
Other people seem to be very judgemental about Elon Musk. I don't feel that way. True he is putting pressure on himself to a great extent but it is still experienced as stress. It is hard to deny that he is a very gifted individual and that he has made a contribution or several contributions to the economy and the nation. I believe that he deserves compassion as much as the next person
7
I quit my corporate job in the spring. It was getting to be too much. I was miserable and my health was impacted. Interestingly, when I left, my employer put 2 people to cover the work I was doing alone. So, telling isn't it? I am now taking time off (my adult gap year) and am planning to re-enter the workforce sometime next year, hopefully in a far-less stressful role. And before anyone says, oh, you are so lucky to be able to afford to do this, luck had nothing to do with my ability to quit. Life choices and good financial planning allowed me this opportunity. Think about that the next time you buy your $5 venti coffee or $15 lunch salad.
17
I was sympathetic until your cheap shot about coffee. Some people regard their stop at the coffee shop as a respite. Others do work in the coffee shop.
7
@Lifelong Reader
MJ is referring to saving the cost of the fancy coffee, I believe.
@Lifelong Reader - Clearly you did not understand my point. It was not a cheap shot, but rather a statement about making financial choices that over the years allowed me to quit my job. And yes, drinking the free office coffee and bringing my own lunch, over the course of 15 years did significantly contribute to my being able to afford a year off from working.
Yes, at the end you will be overworked when you follow a wrong path in your life as Elon Musk did. Battery powered electric cars are not the solution for the future.
Hydrogen driven cars with a fuel cell are the way to master the CO2 problems of this world. Sorry, that as a German and as a former engineer I have to tell this.
A hydrogen powered car is much easier to "refill",you don't have to wait at a "loading station". The greatest advantage: you can drive much more miles with a filling, and you don't have the waste of the worn out battery after ca. 8 years. You will need a new battery which will not be cheap. The old one has to be recycled, again producing costs.
This rational way to the future has neither been taken by the American nor by the almighty and oh-so-wise German car industries (they are still sleeping) but, what can you otherwise expect, by a Japanese manufacturer: Toyota. The fun fact is that Toyota has since several years a model on the market: the Mirai.
At last I can only recommend: make the right choice!
4
@Peter, I don't know about wrong paths, but I do recall that Elon's brother Kimbal really made sure that great care was shown to their mom Maye Musk, so that their mom could get the benefits of their good fortune after she had worked so hard against all odds.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/01/elon-musks-mom-worked-5-jobs-to-raise-3-...
To my mind, Maye made the right "choice" in whatever family values she instilled. I've been touched by their desire to give back to her. However I feel about their projects, I'll always admire that about them.
9
The difference for Musk is that if things really got to be too much for him he could always cash out and live the rest of his life in grand style doing whatever he liked.
The rest of us, not so much.
18
While mental breakdowns can happen to anybody at any pay range, I cannot feel as much empathy with this guy as the average Joe.
Musk has the financial ability to get the best treatment in the world, he is smarter than 99% of the world, and I assume more educated than the average person.
The average Joe is not.
7
@Paul: You're right that Musk has the finances to get the best treatment in the world; that he does not do so is part of why I question his smarts. IMO, Musk comes up short on common sense quite regularly.
I don't think Musk is smarter than 99% of the world, if everyone in the world had access to an appropriate & decent education.
Neither is he necessarily more educated than the average person in developed countries. I know scads of people with more education than him (but who are not as loopy as he seems to be). For a quick overview, just consider the many thousands of people who've graduated from MIT, Stanford, CalTech, etc. Consider Nobel-winning scientists, brilliant physicists, doctors, researchers, mathematicians, engineers, etc.
Yes, Musk is "smart" - but his emotional IQ seems low. His recent statements & behaviors indicate, at a minimum, a person who's extraordinarily sleep-deprived; many therapists would point out that his level of sleep deprivation is used as a tool of torture to break down prisoners of war.
I personally wonder if he is manic (or bi-polar but predominantly manic). Regardless of that, NO ONE is at their best when they're living on nearly zero sleep and "Ambien sleep" (which is not real sleep).
If Musk got a genuinely good night's sleep for 3 consecutive nights, his outlook on the world would be far different. But I fear he sees himself as "too smart" for that.
8
@L-thank you for your reply. a bit verbose but nevertheless important...also would like to congrats you re getting the same amount of recommends as I.
You ramble, but I think what you are saying is that Elon suffers from the same mental anguish as somebody who has no money.
You have taught me something, not to dismiss rich people who have emotional, mental problems.
Thank you L, it was a teachable moment for me.
@Paul said to L, "also would like to congrats you re getting the same amount of recommends as I."
Uh oh, after reading this Times article last week,
"The Flourishing Business of Fake YouTube Views"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/11/technology/youtube-fake-v...
I started wondering how long it might potentially take for "recommends" in NY Times reader comments, and "likes" and "loves" on Facebook, to start mattering enough to follow the path of YouTube views! I'll add a smiley, but I kind of really have been wondering. :)
Yeah well at least there's one boss/owner/investor who works as hard as his employees. And look what happened. That's happening to millions of workers and they can't take off from work can't hire maids and cooks and healthcate workers to care for elserly or sick relatives. The JOB can't be everything in this day and age, it shouldn't even be at the top of the list.
5
What alternative do you propose for people who are trying to survive in a world of outrageous income inequality, debt, including for their education, and an imperiled safety net?
6
Living in the bushes. There's hundreds of them where I live, their biggest worry seems to be buying 40oz. malt liquors, buying methamphetamine, and mooching cigarettes at the grocery store where I shop. "You ask me every day. I STILL don't smoke, yet by just out of habit, you ask everyone that walks by for a cigarette." There are more of them every day, and it seems like a majority of them are there because they choose to be.
1
Seems like a perfect opportunity for Musk to acknowledge pay equity problems with his employees? Maybe he might be more sensitive to his workers complaints?
16
@Ian: Won't happen - he's too tired to think clearly.
And he seems the sort whose workers' complaints would be dismissed as "whining."
2
What pay equity problems? His Space-X is rated the number 1 company in the US to work for. They pay well. Do you think the employees should make what the owner makes?
1
@BorisRoberts: Actually, YES, I do! Because without employees, the owner has no product to sell.
Or maybe Elon Musk is superman and he can, on a little bit LESS sleep than he's already getting, manufacture every single car on the production line all by himself.