Jobs

by Eric Chaet

I've taught at 7 schools—literature, philosophy, writing, &, a couple of times, mathematics—most recently in the early 1980's. Usually, I hereby claim, I did an exceptionally good job. Tho not always—due, sometimes to circumstances beyond my control or understanding or both, & sometimes to the immaturity of my understanding of my subject, of my students, or of my own inclinations & habits & response to various pressures.

I have also had more than a couple of dozen other jobs—in factories, warehouses, & offices, delivering packages, doing research. Once, even, for a day, I tried recruiting (the idea was to get the employee of one law firm to move to another law firm) over the telephone—I was desperate for money, & that's what turned up—but I couldn't perform the cunning script, failed completely, &, at the end of the day, decided it would be better to starve to death—if that was what had to happen—than to use myself so.

Getting each job was also a job, sometimes harder than other times, frequently harder than the ultimate paying job itself. Always, as everyone does, I had to play down the detriments in my character & career so far. Usually I had to play down, too, the best parts of my character, the parts of my behavior of which I was & am proudest, & some of my finest accomplishments—which would have disqualified me for the particular job, according to the "type-casting" way most people "think."

(Actually, the thoughts have been planted by others, & are triggered when the situation which they were intended to serve arises—so it's not thinking, it's "software.")

You wrote a book? Oh, this isn't a job for someone who wrote a book. This is a job for a typist. (Whether the book was valuable or not, is not the issue—for the interviewer.)

I got jobs typing—& did a very good job, contributing beyond what was expected of me, I hereby claim—but not if I mentioned that I had ever written a book.

I worked all along at a kind of shadow-job—as far as others were concerned. That is, they didn't realize that I was a working writer & artist. They didn't realize it, because I couldn't say, up front, that that was my career, or I wouldn't have been hired; & because I wasn't getting paid for it.

(These days, a growing number of people consider me a writer & artist, & I have difficulty preventing everyone who considers him or herself a writer or artist from behaving as tho we are doing the same thing—no matter what we are producing, or why.)

If I had been getting paid for being a writer & artist—enough to live, & also enough to do my work efficiently—I would not have sought almost any of the other jobs—in offices, factories, & warehouses, doing research, making deliveries. ... (I don't know what I may yet have to compete for the opportunity of doing.)

As a writer, I was most interested, at first, in writing novels. Novel means new, unique. But, currently, many dozens of novels are for sale at every grocery & giant general store, & they are not unique. They are permutations of one of several formulas: romance, mystery, the struggle of some too-sensitive soul, spy, murder, police, law, medical practice, western. ...

Successful novel-writers are well-paid & well-respected entertainers within the system of aggressive development of natural resources (at no matter whose expense, unless they are powerful enough to resist). The natural resources belong to no one in particular, until, somehow (by unusual innovation & effort, most frequently with a greater or lesser degree of force, then by providing a rationalization that the victims can live with more easily than the consequences of rebelling), laws are established that give someone or some investor-owned corporation title to them. The natural resources are then developed into more & more marketable commodities, which are available to more & more people, but the choicest to the richest, & at the expense of more & more people who are left out of the economy, & of those who labor for wages for decades producing them.

I am not saying that those who seize natural resources are always AWARE that what they are doing is a form of theft such that mere burglary is a childhood prank in comparison. They may be acting on the basis of ideas shared by the members of their community (or at least of their class), ideas of which they are thoroughly convinced, that allow them to see that which belongs to no-one & everyone—a river or forest, for example—as you would see a bunch of dresses or suits on a rack, or a shelf of books or computers in a store, for sale.

It is only recently that it has become impossible to be completely unaware of the polluting side-effects of industrial production. Or, maybe for some, it is still possible—as a concerted effort is made to avoid confrontation with anyone with dissenting views—a subtle "advance" beyond mere suppression of dissent.

Those who are left out of the economy are left out either because they are preoccupied with cooperative forms of subsistence, or weak, or "drunk" with some feeling or idea (perhaps a very wise one that would greatly benefit humanity or some needy segment of it; or a—usually egotistical—delusion), or because they are strong enough not to want to be part of what they see as a less satisfactory way of being, sacrificing aspects of their potential to which they are devoted—even a dishonest, crazy, evil way of being, which can only, ultimately, self-destruct—the result being an immense ruin such as what we now call The Dark Ages, of Europe.

Being outside of the continuously expanding economy of aggressive development of what belongs to no-one & everyone til someone seizes it & gains title to it by a combination of legal or illegal force, then legal rationalization buttressed by legal force & education from which no-one ever graduates, makes merely subsisting in any particular ecological niche harder than it has ever been—even without periodic difficulties such as drought, flood, exceptional heat or cold, or illness—or wars fought with floods of mass-produced high & low tech diabolical weapons, occasionally sold at market-clearing bargain prices to those at the peripheries of the global economy—east Africa, northern Pakistan, or, say, the South Side of Chicago—the nest from which I emerged.

Most who are outside of the economy are striving to enter it. It's hard to resist that which seems bound to overwhelm you if you resist—& which offers bright beads & metal fish hooks, needles, & cookware—not to speak of television, labor-saving appliances, cheap computers & software, lots of temporary thrills, the prospect of a comfortable old age, even domination over others. All are welcome to join the "successful" people's economy, starting at the bottom, doing the most onerous tasks for the least reward. Some will advance by leaps & bounds, either because of brilliance & extraordinary energy, or because of least scruples—or some combination. But most will die of exhaustion & disappointment.

Novel writers are entertainers. There are, of course, extraordinary novel-writers (& other kinds of artists, journalists, teachers, politicians, clergy, etc.)—who speak to parts of the intellect or soul or heart, which are otherwise being left to wither, or who use the form to say that which is otherwise taboo, or which is overwhelmed by the never-ending iteration of sales messages & simple-minded ideological brain-washing (often delivered conscientiously by people themselves previously brain-washed).

But, with the rarest of exceptions, novel-writers are entertainers, & the entertainment allows people to continue, with some of their stress sublimated, within their routines within the aggressive development economy, which mostly rewards those who need rewards least, mostly at the expense of those who can least afford to give up anything.

There is an element of random reward, too: lottery-winners, boys who grow to be 7 feet tall where playing basketball is a high-paying job (if they can avoid being shot by gangs of outraged adolescents before they come of professional sports age), girls of a particular kind of slim attractiveness (if they can manage not to give their affection away for free, or for mere affection in return), etc.

Currently (spring, 2000), in the USA, it's easy to get a job—tho not a teaching job in literature or philosophy, say, or the job of paid writer or artist—no matter what your ethnicity—as long as you dress & behave (in EVERY way) within a very narrow range, called normal.

These are desirable jobs—not too repetitive, or dirty, no heavy lifting, not too much sucking up required once you're in, a good chance of high pay. Competitors for the jobs ruthlessly eliminate from their self-presentations any element that may disqualify them (e.g., economic analysis other than that favored by "The Economist," "The Wall Street Journal," or by the talking heads on television or National Public Radio—supposed to represent the range of opinion!)—& those who don't do so are those who will be disqualified.

It's especially easy to get a job if you are a member of one of the groups currently favored by law, because previously members of those groups were discriminated against (tho not by me)—women, Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, south Asians—that is, if your behavior & appearance are suitable according to those judging. (Conversely, more difficult, especially when it comes to more desirable jobs, if you are NOT a member.) The greatest advantage, tho, remains among those with the most contacts, most frequently northwestern European, especially British, in descent. Tho, of course, by behaving incorrectly or appearing incorrectly, it's easy to lose such an advantage, even to become the one everyone punishes in order to feel that they are not practicing racism or classism or nepotism—or being uncool.

It helps to be tall, energetic, light-skinned, without health problems or apparent physical flaw—& to be supremely confident, either because of great ability or great lack of understanding of the complexities & difficulties of the situation.

It helps to have been raised to compete for money as a primary motive, rather than as a secondary necessity—that is, not in a community or family or tradition in which what is primary is cooperative subsistence, or righteousness, or compassion, or some combination of these.

If you are an artist, it helps to be satisfied to be well-paid & thought clever for exhibits of technical proficiency within prevailing styles, without making any kind of statement that disrupts cooperation with those in position to facilitate your money-making. If you wish to make such statements, it helps to hide them within a thicket of references & footnotes (so that few will bother to read what you have written), or within a complex plot or design or rhythm or melodic or harmonic structure (so that people will be inclined to dance to the beat, & have a good excuse for not getting what you are saying).

It is easy to get a job if you are qualified to perform a technical function—if, for instance, you can facilitate faster & faster communication of whatever—it's not your place to judge—is being communicated; if you have credentials & an aura such that people think you can manage their money-making operation, maximizing their return on investment, quarter by quarter; or if you are willing & able to start (& persist for some time) at the bottom—cleaning offices, equipment, or stables; or tending to a manufacturing machine; or driving a delivery truck; or flipping or serving hamburgers; or the equivalent. You must be capable of maintaining the demeaner of at least minimal respect for whomever it is—kind or mean, competent or incompetent, enlightened or unenlightened, honest or corrupt—you are accountable to.

There are a lot of jobs open, too, for people willing to sell this or that, over the phone, following a totally up-beat script. (The salesperson is like the infantry of an army.)

In all cases, tho, you must be interviewed, & those who are weeded out are those who, the interviewer feels, don't quite seem as tho they would be comfortable within the operation as it is now, which subordinates everything to making as much money as possible—& if someone is hurt, well, that is the concern of someone who is beyond the necessity of getting along, or of catching up with the conspicuous consumption of the neighbors, brothers or sisters, or some basketball- or football-player, movie-star, CEO, heir, or politician—as seen daily on TV.

There are always exceptions.

They are always rare, & always there, in the worst & best times, however you define worst & best.

The exceptions are jobs offered by extraordinary people, who have extraordinary characters & aims, & who discriminate in favor of others with extraordinary characters & aims when they hire, instead of against them.

The situation is extraordinary, tho, because such people usually have to struggle the hardest for survival, in the midst of the vast majority who are operating as a single, very complicated entity of economic development which benefits the richest most, & costs those least able to bear costs the most.

Such extraordinary people can rarely afford to hire anyone.

How will the extraordinary hirer find the extraordinary employee, in the midst of so much dishonest advertising & hiring, & the normal rush of daily business—while the best people hide their best qualities, for fear of being type-cast as unemployable martyrs? (If they DON'T hide their best qualities, they will frequently be unemployed & without money to spend, & the development of their skills with the latest equipment will lag behind those continuously employed. Also, they will have competing concerns—long-time studies & projects & complex struggles of heart & mind—that the others aren't aware of or bothered by.)

Government regulations & taxation, & the regulations & expectations of all major institutions—such as insurance companies, hospitals, & schools—assume the norm, rather than the extraordinary.

The normal person, inclined to cheat the government a little, for instance (after all, the government takes so much & delivers so little of what you need, & you have no choice but to give what is required), isn't offended at being treated as tho he or she is likely to cheat if not closely monitored. It is the person with integrity who is offended, again & again. And being offended is an obstacle to the progress of the whole person, that must be dealt with—which requires time & effort. The effort is frequently expended with little or no understanding, or effect—or with effects other than elimination of the obstacle.

Infrastructure is in support of the norm, rather than of the extraordinary.

Extraordinary people, under enormous pressure to conform, punished for what they should be rewarded for, & bitterly disappointed by the behavior of those they can't help over-estimating (while everyone else can't help under-estimating THEM), are frequently twisted up, in their minds & hearts & affairs, so not able to recognize & work well with one another, during those rare & usually brief intervals when they find or stumble upon one another.

They tend to encounter one another when they are manifesting their imperfections—because extraordinary doesn't mean perfect: when they are attempting to fit in with everyone else out of exhaustion, loneliness, impatience, insecurity; when they are indulging in laziness or gluttony or lust or self-pity; when—after some rare success, they are unrealistically exuberant, self-confident, full of their own wonderfulness; or when they are speaking out of a sense of defeat rather than out of the spirit of momentum & helpfulness.

It may be as simple as one being in a starting phase, the other in a finishing-up phase; or one being in analytical mode, while the other is in a necessary recreation mode; or some other, equivalent, lack of being in phase.

If they should happen to blame one another, they may—& most frequently do—create barriers between future cooperation that they then find impossible to surmount, for the rest of their time.

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I offer this in hopes of better results for the extraordinary people seeking to cooperate, not just for the benefit of their team at the expense of everyone else, but for the benefit of their team AND everyone else who is not occupied in grabbing & hoarding what they can, at the expense of whoever can't prevent them.

I am aware that, in places, the prose is not perfectly controlled—tho I have struggled to aim it as precisely as possible. I apologize. I hope you can unravel & comprehend my meaning, & forgive me. If I waited to be able to articulate my idea perfectly, I might never get it said.

Copyright © Eric Chaet 2004