thoughtsdartiste

By now most people know what quiet quitting is. Supposedly, Gen Z (but also anyone else who hopped on the trend) is doing the bare minimum to not get fired, ensuring to not put in any extra effort to avoid burnout. Honestly, I’m happy for them. I’m not saying there’s no negative consequences if this is done in a collective, I’m just saying that personal fulfillment is not coming easily nowadays. 

When I think about quiet quitting, I start questioning myself on the why. How did we get here? How did a new generation of workers suddenly say: “Well, this sucks. You guys have been doing this for how long?” And if you’re a manager reading this, don’t crucify me for saying the quiet part out loud. It’s not easy to live in the US nowadays. So, I think the quiet-quitters have figured out a way to function amid rising rents, college debt, and grocery inflation (or rather the everything-flation). But if you’re still blind to this, by all means, get angry at them. Get angry at what is nothing but a passive protest, a claim for self-dignity. 

Workers need to feel empowered, because they’re people, need I say more? The trend, from the outside, as a non-employer, seems to be that employers see workers as numbers, sometimes as inconveniences that are sucking the company dry. Nothing but parasites. There’s a dehumanization of the employee. A brandification of the employee. You hire this homo sapiens to work at your company, it must speak the way you want, and it must think the way you want, and do as you say for a monetary exchange. In the defense of this creature, in the current state of the world, the monetary exchange is no longer enough. Not everywhere, there are states and countries where this is a reasonable exchange. I’m saying in a lot of places. The money is no longer enough, because the effort to stay afloat is too big. 

Wake up, go to work, smile, don’t talk back, respect the hierarchy, sit in traffic, go home, try to cook some dinner with the few brain cells that are left floating around, maybe try to go somewhere to take the stress off…oh no, it’s too late – you have to go to bed. Doomscroll until 1am and do it again tomorrow. Oh, rent’s due. The gym membership you don’t use because you’re too exhausted is due. You have nothing left in the fridge, go to the store. $150 for a few days’ worth of food. Phone bill. Streaming…did I mention you have to subscribe to everything now? Those are due. You don’t really want to own anything of your own, right? Oh, gas. Your gas is low. Car insurance. Why are you getting fat? You look more bloated nowadays, maybe it’s the food – maybe it’s the fact that your cortisol levels are over the roof. Keep it that way, you can get on a medication eventually and be a real contributor to society. Money to big pharma makes the world go round.

Anyways, just try to make it another week before payday… But once that’s finally here, don’t forget your employer takes a cut for taxes and extremely reliable health insurance. Uhm, excuse me? You’re tired? You want a vacation? Yeah, no problem you can have 7 days a year. That’s enough, right?

Seven whole days. What more do you want? You give us 2,080 hours of your life and we give you 168 hours off. Paid, did I mention we’ll pay you? I almost forgot, there are also 11 federal holidays! Those are almost once a month, you get an extra day of rest, and we get every single ounce of your individual soul.  

I know, I know. I’m exaggerating. I know companies are also struggling, I get it. We’re all doing our best. 

So, then, let’s try to manufacture friendships in the office through team building! That’s what employees need, a sense of loyalty and trust among themselves. When there’s a sense of belonging, there’s a sense of duty to contribute and produce. That’ll fix our feelings of dread and despair. 

Which role am I playing? I don’t know if I’m playing the oppressed or the oppressor anymore. Maybe because we’re all playing the same game and realistically, it’s all getting mixed. The person on top is someone’s bottom – contributing to the same rat game, I mean race. 

Now, parasite, don’t disobey, okay? Don’t you know it’s perfectly okay that your manager dangles the possibility of promotion and success in front of your eyes, like dangling a piece of exquisite meat in front of a starving child who hasn’t seen a good meal in years? Don’t you know they can make your life a living nightmare? One wrong step and you’ll get reprimanded. How will you pay everything you owe? You better stay in line, parasite. 

But what am I talking about? This young generation is just lazy. They don’t know what it’s like to work hard! All they need to do is save every dime of their monthly salary for 10 years and stay inside and probably not drive anywhere, and only eat ramen noodles – oh, and invest of course – and then they will be able to afford a house… maybe. Unless a private equity firm gets there first. But these are just details…

Well, that’s enough of depression for one essay. Again, I might be way off and too narrow thinking… or I might be highlighting a background scene which is too often overlooked. 

-Victoria Davis

Read also: A.I. – artefix imperitus