We're either trying to get laid or trying to get paid. Story of our lives…
Are we not just filling the days between the weekends, anyway?
A bizarre idea popped into my head last night while I was in
bed listening to Ja Rule with a steady draft of cold air blowing over my face. Seeing
how my Tinder endeavours have compromised my prospects of ever running for political
office, I'm in search of a Plan B. I pondered my job qualifications – adequate at mono tasking, knows how
to open Photoshop application on a MacBook Pro, motivated by fear,
unconventionally bold and beautiful. “What if I really applied myself…” I
thought, “nahh.” But I remain open to your suggestions.
My career path only extends as far as half an arm’s length to
date; yet it has already deviated from those of my parents. Theirs was a
generation raised to believe practical and secure employment was born out of
years of hard work, which – lucky for them – more than paid off when they
graduated from being insufferable hippies and fell into the sweet embrace of
unprecedented economic prosperity.
Although they managed to milk the most out of Keynesian economics
and may now be looking forward to spending their retirement luxuriating in the
pension system’s last hurrah, most of them did a horrendous job of juggling
work and life. Drawing back to the point about opportunity cost, everything
comes at a price.
Young people today are acutely aware that it’s nearly
impossible to have it all, unless you’re one of those rare breed of Type A lunatics who actually does. (Eg: Maz) This has consequently led to a paradigm shift in our
values and a review of the definition of success. Just FYI: Recently added to the venerable Oxford English Dictionary in their March
2014 update, were the words cunted, cunting, cuntish and cunty.
Time and attention have overtaken money and status as our most precious resource. And there's a growing emphasis on fulfilment, self-expression and
social responsibility. We want integrated and holistic lives where we don’t have to
behave like corporate psychopaths in one context, and benevolent, conscientious
countrymen in the other. It’s through an intricate and highly individual
dance of enlightenment, otherwise known as the Harlem Shake, that we are able to discover what our strengths are and use them to belong to and in the service of
something bigger than us.
Even though it makes little financial sense, a significant
number of us are inclined to work unpaid internships (looking at you, Lucas Leclere, for providing free labour to Chanel for an entire year), do volunteer work, and
start ventures we believe in rather than settle into “safe” corporate jobs. And
get this – the most talented of us aren’t going to climb the ladders of others. No siree!
It’s no longer kosher to spend decades – let alone years –
paying our dues before a middle manager allows us to indulge in a slice of pie filled with slightly interesting projects. Pity. I was really looking forward to pouring 60-80 hours each week doing uninspiring work that lacks meaning. Maybe in another life. The end is mighty nigh for top-down management, as
we twist the arms of corporations to amend their rigid traditions and
adapt. Or else we simply up and leave for greener pastures.
We live for the moment; it’s easier to relate to Mr. Right Now than
Mr. Right. #Pitbull. Our world has proven that everything is transient, nothing is a
guarantee – from nationwide layoffs to war to soaring divorce rates to watching
our parents’ net worth get wiped out when the housing bubble burst to the
precipitous fall of Bill Cosby to the supermarket produce guy constantly moving
the nectarines – please stop, life is hard enough. There’s not a lot we can
count on. Life is uncertain. We aren't particularly motivated by promotion plans for
five years from now. Especially after we've Heard ‘Em Say, “nothing ever promised tomorrow
today.” (And nothing lasts forever but be honest babe, it hurts but it may be
the only way.)
We’re said to have "poor work ethics." Haters gonna have a semi-valid point sometimes. We definitely have a self-centered approach to our work,
but it’s not necessarily the bane that it may initially appear to be. We are
dedicated to accomplishing our tasks well, and we’re innovative in figuring out
the most efficient ways to go about it. Unfortunately, we haven’t been raised in
a manner that demands us to look around and see what should be done next. So we just do
what we have to do. And we do it well. Then consider ourselves done.
Are we not just filling the days between the weekends, anyway?
