But your assertion that you can just find another job beguiles the reality of the situation. People know this and your false sense of freedom is thwarted by the difficulty in actually getting another well paying job.
You got me right in the heart. I am crushed. Who told you what hurts the most?
The truth.
I know youâre an advocate for unions. Surely your sales job wasnât a union job, was it?
It wasnât a sales job.
Was it a union job?
Serious question: Are you talking about yourself?
I wouldnât call carpenters or masons common laborers. And athletes and common laborers are both human beings. Guess which group makes the world go round.
But are they more essential to society than firemen or even garbage men?
When we start equating someoneâs value relative to how much money they generate, what are we saying about the value of human life? It makes us no different than godless commies who see people as a cog in a wheel.
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No, but they are more valued by the segment of society contributing to their paychecks.
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Yes, by far. It isnât even close.
Without world-class athletes there would be no sports entertainment industry. World-class athletes are rather hard to come by compared to firemen and garbage men.
Taking just one example, Michael Jordan has done far more good for the city of Chicago than Barack Obama or any fireman ever did. The amount of economic activity he generated is probably impossible to calculate, as is the positive social impact he had as a role model. He inspired millions of kids just like me to go outside and play as much basketball as we could. He made basketball an international sport, helping put countless kids from all over the planet on the path to academic and life success.
Without world-class athletes, sports ends at college and no multi-billion dollar industry exists at all. The jobs are all gone.
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Are actors essential to society? Models? They all make millions.
Are luxuries essential to society?
It isnât about being essential or their innate human worth. It is about their ability to rake in massive profits due to their popularity. Donât blame them. Blame society for putting them where they are and supporting such ventures. Anyone who generates more money is going to be worth more financially. That will never change and it shouldnât.
Scarcity will also always draw more cash. Professional athletes, actors, etc. are far more rare than common laborers.
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It gets down to simple economics of supply and demand.
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Bigotry and racisâ
I think there is some reality that being popular in the workplace and liked (especially by the boss) is very important. In some cases more than actually working hard.
I can think of examples where adequate workers advance more quickly than more competent workers, because they are liked more than the more competent worker.
Work is often a lot like high school. Social capital can go a long ways. Many adults donât act a whole lot differently than they did in high school either.
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More often than not it is better to be liked than to be right in the workplace. I find I can accomplish far more when Iâve done the legwork to cultivate good relationships than I could on my own.
YMMV.
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Would you rather work for/with someone unlikeable, or likeable.
When in an interview, are you more likely to choose that company if the interviewers seems fun and enjoyable to be around?
Same concept extends to soliciting work and maintaining client relationships. Or maintaining internal relationships. Your more likely to help out someone who you like, or who you think is a ârising starâ.
Incompetence is one thing, but some who excels at relationships is a better mgmt candidate than someone marginally better technically who struggles at relationships.
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I agree with you and @twojarslave.
It is the best to be competent and liked.
Have you guys heard of the halo and horns effect? Basically that if you are liked that everything else you do is more accepted. If you are not liked even a solid competent solution will be met with doubts. It is possible to only be adequately competent and to be seen as more competent than the actually more competent unliked coworker. People want you to be right, vs wanting you to be wrong.
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Imagine youâre trying to convince someone to, say, vote for your ill-conceived socialist boondoggle thatâs totally not recycled Marxism put into increasingly vague terms.
If people like you, like Barack Obama, youâll get a lot more of your shitty policies implemented. If youâre a sour jerk, like @castoli, youâll never convince anyone that electoral politics is a losing game, let alone get to the part of the thread where you reveal what the winning game is, which is not even remotely close to recycled Marxism.
Not even if youâre the most competent person on the whole internet at repeatedly disagreeing with conservatives.
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