I complain. You complain. We all, unfortunately, complain from time to time. Anyone who says otherwise probably complains about people complaining too much, or complains about someone viewing the concept of complaining about complaining as legitimate complaining.
But there is a time when even I have to say that enough is enough.
And yes, I realize that it is wholly ironic that I have a blog, much of which centers around complaining about things such as lack of sleep, shitty roommates, etc. However, there is absolutely a time when complaining becomes wholly ridiculous and completely unnecessary. Namely, when you don't try to do anything to fix what you're complaining about.
Most people, unfortunately, hate their jobs. But a lot of these people seem to complain constantly about jobs while ignoring some really simple solutions. Personally, I've been employed pretty much constantly (minus college last year and a short duration of my senior year) since I was 16. And believe me, I've had a lot of jobs. A lot of shitty jobs too, wooo boy. Shitty jobs with piece of shit managers that weren't fair, ever. I used to bitch a lot about my jobs with shitty managers a lot too. But, through all of these crappy jobs with unfair managers, I learned how to deal.
I learned. I learned that life is really unfair sometimes. I learned that, sometimes, no matter what you do, it seems like you can never get ahead. I learned that, in the real world, you shouldn't live with a sense of entitlement, because reality sucks sometimes, and the world isn't fair. Need evidence? Look at the fact that some of the most brilliant minds on the planet were a victim of their own circumstance. Someone who lives in a shack, starving to death, with no running water in Nigeria could be the next Barry Sanders, Tupac, Usain Bolt, or James fucking Patterson, but because of their circumstances, they'll probably die before they turn 30. Or, what about that adorably fugly Chinese girl who was supposed to sing the national anthem at the olympics, but because of how she looked, the government made her sing backstage so the cute one could show the world. That's a fucking circumstance that's a little hard to get around.
See, in America, we have this cool thing called freedom. Now, freedoms get abridged all the time, but hey, the basic ones are still there. So, if you don't like your job, or you feel like you are being treated unfairly and not getting the kind of schedule that you believe you deserve, THEN FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, OR FUCKING LEAVE. The thing about having a job that doesn't require a specific, particular skill set is that you have to bring something to the table that other people don't. Personally, working in a restaurant, I try and assure that I don't get caught with down time. I manage myself so my managers can worry about other things. I run food, I clean shit, I do dumb errands that, in the grand scheme of the fucking place, probably don't significantly change anything. But its the fact that my managers know that, when they schedule me, they get something that they don't get when they schedule other people. By not doing that, and not even trying to be mildly exceptional, why would they put you on the schedule, when they can put someone else on, who will do their core duties as well as you? That is like paying the same amount for a mazda as a beamer.
I learned the hard way. I spent 4 years in JROTC in high school working my ass off and working against an instructor that actively loathed me. I went above and beyond what nearly everyone else in the program did, but in the end, I got stiffed. Hard. Life is unfair, but as a privileged, white, anglo-saxon, you have it a lot better off than plenty of other people in the world.
In fact, be grateful you have a job, because there are a million people lined up with the same skills and something more than you don't offer.
RAH!
xoxox
Joe
