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Archives for August 2016

Gene Wilder: An Appreciation

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A couple of days ago, a true legend, Gene Wilder, passed away. Today’s column is dedicated to him. Gene Wilder was one of the true idols of my youth. He embodied a warmth, humanity, and joy in all his performances. Even in his most outlandish roles, you always felt like you were watching someone real and recognizable. Beyond his ability to make me laugh with his hysterical performances, Gene Wilder also radiated a sense of kindness and decency. There was something utterly delightful and gentle about the man that made you want to be his friend.

We chose Pure Imagination for our tribute. The reason was simple. This section is about underemployment in the media. Many working people feel trapped by their circumstances. It’s not easy to escape the chains of unhappiness. We let slip, day by day, the reality that we don’t have to put up with a life we don’t like. We can change it. We often forget how much we have to give and offer. This song reminds us, and it is largely due to Wilder’s magical, almost ethereal singing. Enjoy the song, and crying is definitely permitted.

Working Without Purpose

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My whole lifestyle is a cop out. I’ve been given every advantage. I’m a straight white male. My parents paid for my university tuition. I’ve traveled extensively across the world. I’ve taught English in Asia, worked on farms in New Zealand, and took vacations in Europe. Yet, through it all, no line of work has ever satisfied me.

I hear about people finding their spark, their drive, and how everything falls into place once that revelation appears. I’ve never had that spark. Every job I’ve ever held has merely been a place holder. Just a way to make money and avoid living with my parents; rather than a creative outlet. I want to do something that inspires me to do more, give back, and lay a foundation.

Early on in college, I knew engineering wasn’t the right major for me. But changing paths halfway through my sophomore year, would have meant another year of tuition, housing, textbooks, and reliance on my parents. I felt guilty having them pay most of the costs in the first place, but didn’t see an alternative (even back then, people could see the risk of taking on so many student loans). So I kept at it, not because I enjoyed it, but because I was capable of doing it. When graduation came, and I was no longer bound by anything: debts, family, school: I did what any rational millennial would do: I hopped on a plane to teach English in Japan for a year.

“Recent work has reminded me that others’ priorities are different, and in my opinion, really depressing to consider.”

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Working with Dickheads- A Five Thousand Part Series

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A few years ago, I worked a job in sales. It’s not important what I sold; all sales jobs are the same. You’re essentially an underpaid drug dealer. People either know what they want, and you’re there to smile and collect their money, or they just want to have a look at the product. If all they want to do is look, you’re there to push something on them they probably don’t need, and have no clue how to use. Then you collect their money with a laugh. The job isn’t important though; it’s a particular dickhead at the job I’m here to talk about.

This dickhead went by the name of Jim, which is short for Jimmy, which is another word for dick. So I really should’ve seen this coming, and now I’m wondering if he’s actually a good guy who never stood a chance, because his parents are dicks.

Jim had been working this sales job for ten years when I was hired. So needless to say, he was higher than me on the food chain. He made sure to remind me nearly every day. If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “you have to defer to me, because I’ve been here longer,” then I wouldn’t be writing a story about this dickhead, I’d be friggin rich.

“If you told Jim that Usain Bolt was trying to take a sale from him, there would be a new fastest man in the world.”

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A Brit, A Brexit, A Break

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A Brit, A Brexit, A Break

“Wow, blimey, well I no longer feel fancy smanchy. I’ve now been boiled down to a British person, and that is basically it. Bye bye European Union.”

Being under the EU had a lovely ring to it. This umbrella term made us, as Brits, appear to have the finesse, charm, and culture other European countries have, such as France, Italy, Greece, and Spain, etc. I feel with the latest election results of BREXIT or British Exit, we’ve washed that persona clean. In my opinion, I think we made a huge mistake voting out of the EU.

It was exotic “Sounding” to declare you lived in Europe.

I love being English, and so proud of the country I was born and raised in. However, now that we’re no longer EU citizens, will we still attract as many visitors? Will it be harder for us to fly out to European countries, passport wise, after these new changes are implemented? Only time will tell.

The majority who voted to leave the EU perhaps did not think about such questions. Just wanting England to be British, and that’s that.

“Then I picture little Britain; standing all on it’s todd, (all alone) watching the other kids play, standing by the wall, lonely, because none of the other countries want to play with it.”

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How Working At a “Start Up” Almost Killed Me- Part Two

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How Working At a “Start Up” Almost Killed Me- Part Two

To read part one, click here.

Originally, we were supposed to return to New York. Somehow, the West Coast became the target. First Santa Monica, then Los Angeles, and then, because some random douchebag opened his mouth and encouraged our foreign CEO’s… we ended up in Palo Alto, the single most expensive place to live on the planet.

The powers that be rented out a mini mansion to serve as our office, and our home. It was like one of those hacker houses on Silicon Valley; the HBO show that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the horrific injustices that occur here.

Our boss was fired a week before we left for California. He was “invited to leave” after a skirmish that was probably about money. Don’t quote me. (Ed. Don’t worry, we won’t)

An interim replacement was appointed, and basically uprooted to run a team he had no investment in. I was starting to think the CEO’s didn’t have any investment either.

“A woman was brought in who had worked at several video game companies. She used to know our CEO’s in college. She was kind, thoughtful, and attentive. I knew the company would eat her alive.”

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Australia and Underemployment: Throw Another Millennial on the Barbie

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Underemployment isn’t only a problem in the United States. It’s a global issue. In our July Interview with Maureen Judge, director of the Canadian documentary, My Millennial Life, she discussed the underemployment problem hanging over many of Canada’s youth.

Since our website launched back in March we’ve received several emails from people in other countries asking to write for us. In response to that request, we’re debuting a new section: Underemployment Around the Globe. The section will feature voices from around the world, talking about their lives, and sharing what their underemployed life looks and feels like for them.

In preparation for that new section we selected as this week’s clip a news report from Australia on increasing underemployment among the country’s younger population. The video is a little under four minutes, and we’d swear, if you took away the adorable Aussie accents, you’d have little idea you weren’t watching news from the United States.

How Working At a “Start Up” Almost Killed Me- Part One

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How Working At a “Start Up” Almost Killed Me- Part One

It’s Tuesday, and the entire U.S. team at my company was fired. We’ve been working together at a “start up” company for just about a year. We worked 70 hours a week, night and day, on weekends, and even Christmas. We relocated three times; twice domestically, and once internationally. We received no benefits, no salary increase, no vacation, no health insurance, and no notice of our impending exit.

The world of start up companies is foreign to many. They’re a somewhat illusive beast, that has been inaccurately described since Silicon Valley became a thing in the 90’s. Start up companies get the exact opposite reputation they should. They’re mistaken as ultra hip and liberal, with snacks and trips, and little actual work to do. A real start up company is populated by a shark tank full of thieves, corrupt business people, unscrupulous investors, and fickle employees. It’s not a place for the faint of heart, those with mental illness, or people with souls.

I graduated from Ohio University with a degree in theater, and a minor in journalism in 2015. My father lost his job when I was a sophomore in high school, so I worked and student loaned my way to a diploma. 40,000 dollars in debt later, I entered a hostile market with no jobs, and no hope.

“We were the only foreigners in the small neighborhood of Sindaebang, a section of Seoul that had never seen a blonde haired, green eyed person before. I was frequently called a prostitute.”

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Jobs With Justice: Fighting the Good Fight

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Image by Rick Reinhard

Image by Rick Reinhard

 

We’re currently in a job climate that’s become increasingly fractured. Well paid, full-time employment is declining. Alternatively, low skill, low paying temp work, part time jobs, and independent contracting work is increasing. That means workers are having a tougher time trying to survive economically. It also exacerbates the power imbalance between employers and employees.

When good jobs are hard to find, and wages are depressed, employers can more easily get away with poor treatment of their employees. Workers are also less likely to seek remedies, fearing for their jobs if they speak up. Jobs With Justice, a grassroots organization founded in 1987, fights to level the playing field for workers whose rights are often trampled on by those with more economic power.

Jobs With Justice campaigns for fair wages, a safe work environment, the right to organize, and other workplace rights. The organization recently lead battles for improved labor laws, racial and economic justice, and a higher minimum wage. Their work has had a positive impact on millions of workers through their tireless efforts.

We had a chance to talk to Mackenzie Baris, a Senior Organizer from Jobs With Justice. We asked him about the organization’s hopes, toughest battles, and the most most appalling case of worker mistreatment the organization has taken on recently. He answered those, and other questions in a wide- ranging interview.


The Underemployed Life: What would you say are the core principles of Jobs With Justice?

Mackenzie Baris: At Jobs With Justice, we believe that change comes when working people organize and negotiate together to have greater power in our economy. We also believe in solidarity, and the value of people being there for each others’ struggles.

TUL: Are you contacted often by workers looking for assistance in their battles against management? How does the organization decide which specific issues to fight?

MB: At a local level, our affiliates are sometimes contacted by individuals, and we try to refer them to the right places for support. We focus our efforts on supporting groups who are coming together on the job or trying to make deeper changes in their sector or community. Our affiliates are all coalitions of unions and community, faith and student groups. The members of each coalition decide together what struggles to prioritize, and what strategies to use at the local level. Sometimes, that means supporting a group of employees in organizing or bargaining a contract, or in reclaiming stolen wages from their boss. Sometimes, it means engaging in a policy fight to change standards across an industry or a whole city or state. Wherever working people need us, we’ll be there.

“Rights on the job, safe and dignified working conditions and fair pay are not privileges or rewards or bonuses—they are the basics of what Americans need to thrive.”

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What The Beatles Can Teach Us About Pursuing Meaningful Work

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When we’re little, the message most of us get is–“You can be anything you want.” Once we hit 7th grade or so, the message changes to-“Good luck with your life, it’s a fucking zoo out there.” That’s a serious extreme. We get trained to accept less as we get older, and in this difficult economy, we’re often told “It could be worse, at least you have a job,” from well meaning, but wrongheaded friends and acquaintances. It’s no wonder lots of people settle for jobs that don’t satisfy them in any meaningful way.

Our take is–no one, and we mean no one, should go to work and think “Well, only 9 more hours until I get to go home, and be free of this crappy job until tomorrow.” We spend more time at work than anywhere else in our lives. Yet, so many of us get stuck in jobs that are lacking in joy, meaning, or stimulation of any kind. The reasons why we get stuck are complex. There’s no singular answer for it. However, the way our economy is driven, most of us never hear real encouragement about doing something we love and how to pursue it once we find it.

This week’s clip deals with finding meaningful work. It’s a short, but inspiring commentary by author, Malcolm Gladwell. In the video, Gladwell discusses how following your passion and investing time in work that feeds your passions can ultimately give you the kind of life you want; a livable wage included. Check it out and let us know if you agree or disagree with him.