Is society treating people like numbers on a spreadsheet? Spoiler alert: Yes!
My mom lost her job yesterday with Coldwell Banker. After 23 years they just walked in and said that her position was “eliminated” and that it was her last day, wouldn’t give her a reason why, wouldn’t let her touch the computer, packed her things for her, and escorted her out of the office. Turns out that she was the highest-paid employee and they just gave her job and title to her assistant.
I’m sure there’s more to the story than that, but I think this mentality of treating people as a statistic in a spreadsheet is part of the problem.
Isn’t this reminiscent of the “logic” of sending all the manufacturing abroad thinking this was a great business plan to cut costs? That may have worked for a few years, but it seems that there is an obvious flaw with this equation, meaning in a few years there won’t be anyone left with a job to earn money to buy the very thing these companies are selling.
Why isn’t there a spreadsheet for the passion a human brings to the project? Why not ask for volunteers to retire? Why not ask everyone to take a pay cut? Why not implement a 4-day work week? Why not consider one of the products of your business as the welfare of the whole community?
Well, I think the good news is that we are all in the same boat. Essentially the whole world. There is nowhere left to go. So, finally, society as a whole is considering becoming an adult.
I think we are all going to need to re-learn a sense of community. Because we are all going to have to lend each other a helping hand to build a strong foundation on which we can all stand and live our dreams. And this in part, is why I’m going on my Falling Uphill book tour.
From one point of view, I am broke and will be homeless soon. From another point of view, I’m ahead of schedule. I think society is going through a similar financial and moral bankruptcy. I’ve expended every last penny trying to live my own life. To write my own rules. Create my own job position. I haven’t been entirely successful yet, but maybe my life needed to get painful to give me leverage on myself and really change. And if I can change, anyone can change.
At the risk of sounding melodramatic, maybe I should consider changing (read: become an adult) because my family may need me now, and not the other way around anymore.
