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I Believe You Have My Stapler

June 22nd, 2008 by benny

So I was reading this article the other day

But maybe people simply like what they do and aren’t, as some management would have you believe, asking for too much — just the elimination of a small but disproportionately powerful amount of office inanity.

That doesn’t sound quite right to me.

The article has the same tone and message throughout. Maybe it’s me, but I feel like I demand a lot from my job. While I think you don’t necessarily need a job that you would marry given the chance, but I feel like elimination of “office inanity” isn’t enough?

I’d to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe the author is right, but from my own experience and the people around me, the message of the article just doesn’t quite fit?

So how do you like your job and what would make it the “perfect job”?

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 pm and is filed under personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

stephanie

perhaps i am generalizing and stereotyping too much, but i think that this is partially a generational thing. back in the day, people had a job because they needed one to have money to be able to support their families. in some families only the head of the household worked. partially because of this greater dependency, employees didn't have to be happy at their jobs and i don't think they expected to be. i think it was all about finding a job they could do and preferably do well.

but people of our generation have more choices, and therefore become more demanding from their jobs as well as in other aspects of life. (referring to some of your other posts, look at what people expect from just a website or even a phone.) people of our generation expect more from our jobs. we don't want to be bored at work. we want to learn every day. we want to be compensated well, probably more than we're worth. we want to be promoted within a certain period of time. we voice our opinions more freely and consequently complain about a lot - both the big things as well as the small things. in some families, there are there two people bringing home income instead of just one, reducing the importance of keeping one's job. people can also have other sources of income besides your standard 9-5 job. finding a job now is very different than it was 50 years ago. i know this isn't very reliable since i can't remember the reference, but a while back i remember reading an article that said people of our generation will switch jobs or industries something like seven times before we retire. i remember thinking this was insane, but when you think about it, even most of us who are recent college graduates already know some people who have moved on to a second job. we demand more and when we don't get what we want we quit and move on. i don't think people a few generations ago were able to take that risk.

personally, i think that finding someone who truly enjoys their job everyday is rare, even in our generation given the choices what we do have. so if you happen to be one of those people, consider it a gift and appreciate how lucky you are. :)