In the current economic climate, misery takes many forms. Misery because of the loss of employment and income. Misery because of the sky-high cost of COBRA health insurance, or worse, no insurance at all. Misery because of the loss of a home, a car, a credit history. There must be a bazillion ways for people to lose faith, confidence, and self-respect in this country at the moment.
But I’m starting to see and hear about a new type of misery. It’s what the survivors of job loss are experiencing. My husband and I have both been in touch with a lot of our work peers (i.e. white collar, professional and technical, either lower management or individual contributors) who are being asked to take on impossible levels of work in climates that range from hopeless to hostile. For those people, going to work is becoming an exercise in self-denial.
They wake up at four or five in the morning, minds already abuzz with the hefty list of problems to resolve and politics to confront. They force themselves out of bed, even as physical revulsion nearly overwhelms them. They survive on coffee and energy drinks, powering themselves through each day’s monumental workloads as best they can. They work fifteen hour days, six and seven days a week, for months. Unlike during boom times where there was excitement and enthusiasm for what they did, life has become an endless treadmill of the grind at its worst. And unlike in happier times, these survivors are constantly warned, overtly and by inference, that there are two hundred people waiting in line for their jobs if they screw up or break.
The resulting refrain when asked, "How do you stand it?"
"It’s just a paycheck now."
For these people, the idea of going to work sickens them. They do it now because they have to, because there is no choice. These people used to be the creative forces behind our technology and the wizardry that makes things like the Intertubes and green energy possible. They used to find value in their contributions to the world. Now, there is no creative energy. There is only survival.
I’ve heard rumors that, among those who’ve been "fiscally responsible", they’re actually slacking off in an effort to get laid off so that they’ll be able to survive for a while on their savings and unemployment and severance and just take a break from it all. I haven’t met anyone who’s actually doing it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’ve also heard of people who know they’re getting laid off in a month or three months or tomorrow who have already given up. They know how bad the market is, and they’re not going to spend their days banging their heads against their computer monitors when the job board searches they undertake for positions that meet their skill set return no results. When they actually start collecting unemployment, they’ll have to prove they’re looking. But right now, they’re not even trying.
It’s sad times. The idealist in me hoped that President Obama’s plans would inspire us to such an extent as to create an upwelling of inspiration and excitement. But when you’re either unemployed or worked into misery, hope is hard to come by.