I feel like an old dog, irritably snapping at flies from a prone position on a hot Summer afternoon.
There is a curious - and perhaps unprecedented - situation here in that, since lockdown, there are a lot of job vacancies at the same time as the standard of living is falling rapidly and costs rise.
The curtailing of freedom of movement due to the pandemic and Brexit has something to do with it to a certain extent, but something else has happened.
To stop themselves from going mad during lockdown, people were encouraged to use their empty days to take stock of their world, slow down and appreciate nature. Take time to look up at the sky and trees, relax and stop worrying about the future.
Once you have done all these things it is difficult to get back on the treadmill, and many people have decided that they never want to again.
Richard Braughtigan once found a scrap of paper in a laundromat. On it was a note written by a Mexican worker to his American boss. It said:
Sorry I am not coming in today, boss. I am not ill, I just feel too good to work. If I feel any worse tomorrow I will come in.
Sorry, my comment can't be longer today, Tom. I am not ill. I feel fine, sun shining.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way!
DeleteI was talking to a man on the train yesterday, on the way up to Norwich, not the woman on the way back, who had worked at home for 2 years during Covid and then went back to the office and found that most people were not coming back having decided to call it a day. He was given more and more work to do. He couldn't cope so he left too. He now collects and delivers cars all over the country, works three or four days a week, says everyday is an adventure and doesn't miss his old job.
ReplyDeleteI think he is one of many.
DeleteSo true. There is a big shift in the workplace. Employers can not find employees. Pay and benefits are being increased attempting to draw people back to work. New unions are forming; e.g., Starbucks and Amazon. I recently heard, England has adopted a 4 day work week.
ReplyDeleteEngland has not adopted a 4 day week as far as I know. In our heads, maybe.
DeleteThispost could only have been written by you dear one!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that's true, but I like being a dear one!
DeleteA thoughtful post, Tom. Perhaps people are beginning to realise that the old philosophers were right!
ReplyDeleteGo placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence etc.......
I hope I don't spoil it for you when I tell you that 'Go placidly...' was written by a 1960s American hippy.
DeleteThe same here. There are help wanted signs outside every place of employment.
ReplyDeleteShutting places down for a year does not help the general morale.
DeleteYes, people have looked at the jobs they were furloughed from and saw them for what they are.
ReplyDeleteIf only we lived in Saudi Arabia where everyone gets paid oil money to do nothing.
DeleteThis makes me wonder how people manage without the income from their previous jobs. Now that furlough has ended.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same here in New Zealand - the job market is really tight and we're trying to recruit people into roles by networking like mad. I've always been fairly picky about the roles I'll take on as I know that I cannot abide pointless jobs. And the corporate world seems full of them.
ReplyDelete