Perplexing: The Professional Working Today

Great-grandmother and Great-grandfather on
the far left.

Today, we are all looking for the perfect job.  This following rant might be better absorbed by those with college degrees.  As my life has changed over time, my priorities have shifted but nonetheless, I feel employers and society have forgotten about the dignity of the person.  Let me go back in time a bit.  People used to work long hours at the mills, in the mines, at the factories, etc. and had little time for family and food preparation.  Appliances began to be invented in the last century for one purpose, which is to save time.  Technology had a similar noble task of helping people do tasks easier and quicker.  From this we can assume that we now have tons of time for our family.

So, what happened to all of this saved time?! Where did it all go?  Why is there STILL not enough time for family??  Perplexing.  It seems as though companies took ownership of that saved time that was meant to be reserved for our families.  I resent that.  I want to reclaim that time.  My family deserves it.  One of my last employers, like many do nowadays, would ask the employees to "sacrifice some time."  They would remind us that sacrifices are necessary.  This usually meant having to come in early, stay late, and come in on the weekend.  When a person is married and/or has children, the employee is no longer sacrificing his/her own time, but rather his/her family's time.  The ugly part is that we don't give our families a voice in the decision to sacrifice THEIR time with us.  I also remember when people used to get paid for their time.  Professionals are typically paid salaries.  Any extra time at work beyond the normal 40 hours in a week is not necessarily paid.  Personally, no company I have ever worked with has ever paid me overtime.  From the employee perspective, we're not any richer for our sacrifice.

Don't let the smile deceive you.
This job was not fun.

I almost wonder what went wrong.  I went to college and I got a degree.  I wear a tie.  Where's my pay off?  Instead, I have student loan debt that won't go away soon, it is harder to find a job, the jobs leave you with less time for family, and I am still living paycheck to paycheck.  I look at others that did not go to college and they come home during daylight.  They're outside mowing the lawn, washing their trucks, getting their boat ready for the lake (they have a BOAT!!), and have money left over for cook outs and road trips.

So I can only conclude that the time that technology and appliances gave us were hijacked by companies.  And as I ponder the last of my days in a future far, far away, I can only think that I will not be quoted to say "I wish I would have spent more time at work."  Companies, give us our dignity back to live as breadwinners of our family and be able to spend time with them.  Pay me for what I know and not how many weekends I can put off my family.  Treat me like the man of my house and not as your slave boy at your company.  And the next time new technology arises, keep your grubby greedy hands off of my family's free time.