Recently had the realization that I am a debtor elitist … high income, higher debts, highest entitlement.

Ugh.  I did not recognize me as that person.  Mirror, meet face.

A Reddit post asked for stories about toxic employers.  One person said the request for time off had been placed a year in advance of a planned trip to Europe; three weeks before departure, the request was denied.   The person quit and enjoyed a month-long vacation. Well good all over them.

I don’t request time off.  I do my employer the courtesy of notification when I will not be working on a particular date and then simply don’t respond to emails or enter the office.  There are even times that I choose not to work and inform my employer after the fact, with a friendly post-dated note of absence.

I also remote work, with one day expected in the office.  Sometimes I just take that day off, because people are not my … jam.  Is that a thing I think that’s a thing. 

Anyhoo, the aforementioned foregoing triggers my gratitude.  For GOD blessing me with a job that doesn’t have such … draconian, regressive, dare I say toxic working conditions. 

Early in my working life I did administrative stuff, commuting via public transit into a building everyday.  Whelp, the commuter train would either drop me off to be 10 minutes early for work or three minutes late … I chose the 3 minutes late, and just stayed beyond my scheduled shift to (a) give the employer their time, and (b) avoid the after-work commute crush. 

In all, the employer usually got an extra and unpaid, 27 minutes from me each work day.

Whelp, the employer decided to get pissy because I arrived at work at 8:33 rather than 8:30. 

I actually went back to school after that, decided punching a clock would cause me punching someone.  Not really, but such officiousness is not actually conducive to mental health and well-being, nor does it foster a sense of commitment and duty to a job, but rather churlish resentment and high turnover. 

There was a good reason this employer couldn’t seem to retain staff.

Which brings me to my point andyesIhaveonethankyouverymuch! that in a labor-based economy, employers would do well to remember that the work doesn’t get done until the robot overlords are fully in charge … thus in the meantime they need to be nice to people. 

There’s a MickeyD’s in … China?  Japan? somewhere that is fully staffed by non-humans. 

Robots take the order and payment, robots prepare the food, robots provide the food, robots clean up after the humans eating the food depart.

AMZ is apparently moving towards a fully automated order fulfillment process, and people won’t need to complain about conditions and (gasp!) unionize because there will no longer be people working there.

How handy.

OK so who’s left to click on crap?  If there are no jobs for people people to work and get paid from, then there’s nobody to pad the pockets and fill the coffers of those wily masters of mankind …

I think the Black Death (thass ray-sis!) or bubonic plague in Europe taught that uncomfortable lesson.  All the commoners died and the wealthy had to tend their own gardens, cook their own meals, clean their own houses. 

A healthy workingman could charge boo-coo (that’s beaucoup to you) bucks for labor that used to cost a pittance … even Parliament had to get involved and cap the price of labor because the rich bitched the poors were using capitalism against them.

Hah!  Priceless … so pun intended.

Famously attributed to Henry Ford is the belief that employees should be paid enough to purchase the products built … smart guy, even if he hated God’s chosen. 

The relationship of ownership to labor should … stress: should … be symbiotic, not parasitic, because both need both to survive _^dareIsay succeed … and the same notion should … stress: should … apply to creditor and debtor. 

Hear me out (or not by-yeeeee)

If individuals, as young people, as burgeoning students of life, are taught early and often about the realities of money, of spending, of using future funds to pay for past purchases, then it is unlikely that the US would have nearly $1T in consumer debt burden (yes, that is a “T,” as in “trillion” … speaking of, an African-American will likely be the world’s first trillionaire … here’s looking at you, Elon diii-gress), which further hobbles the nation, because if people believe that they must use credit to live then debt becomes a way of life. 

And spending (a la consumerism) becomes the engine powering the economy.

Labor and innovation should be doing that, not clicking on crap with 2-day delivery and years of repayment. 

Unless the goal is to become a medical doctor or engineer or architect, something sciency and bright, college (and its resultant debt) is not necessary.  Apprenticeships can replace, oh-dunno, 80-90 percent of college degrees, including law, education, and business. 

Keeping up with the Joneses usually means the Joneses have filed for bankruptcy – don’t be that guy.

Recycling, reusing, and repurposing should be the way, the truth and the life for GODless capitalism … if one doesn’t believe in / can’t teach about JESUS (John 14:6) at least educate about being deeply frugal.

Had I gotten that lesson early, often and right, wouldn’t need to feed a metric-ton monkey.

Whelp, never too late until dead and then it doesn’t matter.  I prefer alkaline hydrolysis but Half was grossed by the idea of having me melted, so prolly just go with a shroud, natural decomp, and a tree.

Got some real good life insurance, payable directly to Half and theKid (trust that).

No worries, just thoughts.