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says I myself have observed this problem. At diners, the dishwashers almost never care about anything except getting their paycheck and doing the minimum work possible. Basic things like putting away clean dishes is not common–I have seen very few actually wash their hands with soap and water before putting clean dishes away. And I have seen plenty of dirty dishes put away. This is because it doesn’t affect them–they get paid the same amount whether they put away clean dishes or dirty ones.
Grocery stores are similar. I have seen people doing sloppy jobs because they are only interested in their paycheck. Much time is wasted in reading magazines that are brought into their aisles, taking smoke breaks, and talking on their cell phone while on the clock. The ones that work hard and fast rarely care about quality of work.
And the rules! They have directives about how the product is supposed to look: no innovation to improve efficiency is allowed. The management is directed on how many hours they are allowed to schedule, and I have seen such as “You must work one Sunday per month, and one evening per week” directed at store managers. They have to have rules directing people on how long they are allowed for lunch and break (this is universal in today’s stagnation “jobs”), rules about wearing headphones (which results from the stagnation and the horrible “music” that is often piped in), rules about procedures, rules about what order you are to put up stock in, rules on what words you are to say to customers. Everything you do is what your supervisor tells you to do. Everything your supervisor does is what HIS supervisor tells you to do. And so on, right up to the CEO of the whole company.
Also, pay raises are set by policy. No matter how well a person performs, they are only going to get the same 35 cent pay raise as the person that does lousy work. You might be making $10 an hour (which, given today’s sky high prices, is no longer a lot), while a co-worker that does lousy work makes about the same (or more). The supervisor’s power to reward good work is tied by upper management–everything is dictated by policy, from pay raises to hours to vacation and sick time to everything else. Often, the stores are prevented from giving any reward whatsoever to outstanding workers–and when there is any reward, it is some token acknowledgement that may result in winning a small monthly prize.
And with today’s economy, this results in shortages of jobs. I cannot take my job and make a mini-company today, and hire 5 or 6 unemployed people (so they too can create mini-companies and hire another 5 or 6 people each, which would soon end the whole unemployment problem). Instead, everything I do is what I am directed by the company leader–and it is a lousy way to motivate people.
This is why our political system that favors this kind of job traps has to go. Democrats are especially vicious when it comes to regulating businesses and preventing people from starting their own, but the Republicans are far from innocent in this department. And the unelected regulators do not care about which party is in–they are only going to protect the stagnation trap “jobs” at all cost because the “CEO” ‘s are lobbying for extra regulations. This wastes everyone’s time and money, while creating massive unemployment as companies turn to China to manufacture instead of letting a worker start manufacturing products on his own. In turn, we see the kind of economic depression (which is what it actually is, despite the downplaying it to a mere “recession”) like what we are in now.
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I myself have observed this problem. At diners, the dishwashers almost never care about anything except getting their paycheck and doing the minimum work possible. Basic things like putting away clean dishes is not common–I have seen very few actually wash their hands with soap and water before putting clean dishes away. And I have seen plenty of dirty dishes put away. This is because it doesn’t affect them–they get paid the same amount whether they put away clean dishes or dirty ones.
Grocery stores are similar. I have seen people doing sloppy jobs because they are only interested in their paycheck. Much time is wasted in reading magazines that are brought into their aisles, taking smoke breaks, and talking on their cell phone while on the clock. The ones that work hard and fast rarely care about quality of work.
And the rules! They have directives about how the product is supposed to look: no innovation to improve efficiency is allowed. The management is directed on how many hours they are allowed to schedule, and I have seen such as “You must work one Sunday per month, and one evening per week” directed at store managers. They have to have rules directing people on how long they are allowed for lunch and break (this is universal in today’s stagnation “jobs”), rules about wearing headphones (which results from the stagnation and the horrible “music” that is often piped in), rules about procedures, rules about what order you are to put up stock in, rules on what words you are to say to customers. Everything you do is what your supervisor tells you to do. Everything your supervisor does is what HIS supervisor tells you to do. And so on, right up to the CEO of the whole company.
Also, pay raises are set by policy. No matter how well a person performs, they are only going to get the same 35 cent pay raise as the person that does lousy work. You might be making $10 an hour (which, given today’s sky high prices, is no longer a lot), while a co-worker that does lousy work makes about the same (or more). The supervisor’s power to reward good work is tied by upper management–everything is dictated by policy, from pay raises to hours to vacation and sick time to everything else. Often, the stores are prevented from giving any reward whatsoever to outstanding workers–and when there is any reward, it is some token acknowledgement that may result in winning a small monthly prize.
And with today’s economy, this results in shortages of jobs. I cannot take my job and make a mini-company today, and hire 5 or 6 unemployed people (so they too can create mini-companies and hire another 5 or 6 people each, which would soon end the whole unemployment problem). Instead, everything I do is what I am directed by the company leader–and it is a lousy way to motivate people.
This is why our political system that favors this kind of job traps has to go. Democrats are especially vicious when it comes to regulating businesses and preventing people from starting their own, but the Republicans are far from innocent in this department. And the unelected regulators do not care about which party is in–they are only going to protect the stagnation trap “jobs” at all cost because the “CEO” ‘s are lobbying for extra regulations. This wastes everyone’s time and money, while creating massive unemployment as companies turn to China to manufacture instead of letting a worker start manufacturing products on his own. In turn, we see the kind of economic depression (which is what it actually is, despite the downplaying it to a mere “recession”) like what we are in now.