With one in two college kids not able to find work (along with a whole Ark's worth of other people) any sort of complaint about a job that one DOES have is now punishable by barbecuing, feathering, death and dismemberment. In that order. People have to eat, after all.
The depressing implications for the stressed-out, overworked and underpaid minority trying to hold down the fort are going unnoticed. In other countries, in other cultures, that would make sense. Fair and just, absolutely not, but understandable, yes.
America, though, has always been the gold standard. Doors, windows and skyscrapers of opportunity have been promised to us since birth. But as the oasis of American employment dries up and the sweltering heat and thirst for opportunity make us desperate for something, anything, the standard is slipping. Organizations with Stalinist inclinations are reveling with their upper hand held aloft. After all, what person in their right mind would quit in an economy like this? Raise, schmaise. You're lucky if you don't get laid off.
The answer isn't to form a union and take every productive industry for every penny it's worth. Just as the answer isn't to sit back, take relentless schedules, hours and puny salaries as a given. If we let the standard fall too low, the unemployed are going to remain so, with the badly employed soon joining them. Until we get really hungry. And then it's going to get ugly.
Take good care of your good people. They are crucial to keep the oars in the water until relief comes aboard.
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