Why We Work

With any job, the most common driving force for doing any sort of labor is money. Sure there are people who don’t know how to deal a life that doesn’t involve working. They still work for the money, otherwise they’d just volunteer. Money aside, what keeps someone at any place in particular and not just jumping from one ship to another like Frogger trying to get across the river is the little extras. The caliber of a places benefits, the amount of vacation, tuition reimbursement, and a host of others. The place I work is pretty generous. They pay well for the job we do, we get plenty of vacation days, and the insurance is top notch. Sometimes taking advantage of those perks can be difficult.

Take today for example. I’m off today trying to move from one apartment to another. I’ve got more vacation hours than I’ll probably use this year, so it’s not an issue of being able to take a day off. It’s not even really a matter of getting someone to fill my shift. It’s a matter of getting them to remember. I’ve had three bosses over the last 3 years and while they each have had unique management styles, it seems built in to the system that they all need constant reminders. Just about every time I’ve gone on vacation, for a day or a week, I have to not only request the time off and get it approved, but also have to make sure they find someone to fill in or turn in favors. If it’s something planned in advance I have to remind them two weeks before, the week before, and then usually a day or two before in case they’ve forgotten again. They usually have. On top of that, more times than night I get a phone call the first day of the vacation with someone asking me if I’m planning on showing up. I tell them no and hang up.

Another perk where I work is a tuition reimbursement program where they pay a certain percentage/flat rate of your tuition if you’re going to school for something related to the industry we work in. This is nice, however it becomes difficult when The Shill gets involved and actively tries to sabotage your attempt to put in the paper work. According to The Shill there is only one form you have to fill out for reimbursement. However when you only send in the one form he tells you to send, you later get a phone call from corporate office telling you they didn’t receive all the paper work. What follows is a 12 round boxing match where The Shill will argue with not only you but also with corporate office that there is only one form. Eventually you will get all the forms filled out and sent to The Shill for his signature. Which he won’t give. Not for any particular reason, he just doesn’t seem terribly interested in doing it. After an informal poll of Cubers in the office who have taken advantage of this service shows that less than half have gotten there money after going the full 12 rounds with The Shill.

I’ve found that while the little extras do make working in the Cube Jungle a little easier, it still boils down to the fact that they pay me too much for what I do. Otherwise I doubt I’d put up with people like Shitpants McPooperton, Stonehenge Mouth, or Serialkiller. One die I’ll break out, but until then the chronicles of The Cubers continues.