It's A Recession When Your Neighbor Loses His Job; It's a Depression When You Lose Your Own (950 hits)
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Submitted by NerfHerder <NerfHerder.at.comic.com> (View user info) at 2009-03-31 22:14:36 EDT
I'm unemployed.
And what's more, I'm completely unmotivated to get another job. I don't want another job. I don't want any job.
I've had good jobs and shitty jobs in the past. In high school I worked at a movie theater, which meant all the movies I could watch for free. In college I wrote for my school newspaper. I've even done tier 1 tech support, and if that kind of a job doesn't make you fear the future of humanity you are much more optimistic than I.
Work itself has always bothered me; folks have just chalked that up to me being lazy. And they're right - if they mean I don't like the idea of quietly toiling away my life while nobody notices.
And that's the humor of this modern life we humans have created. A typical day consists of getting up early, staying at work 'til early evening, at which point our working stiff is too tired from his workday to do anything else but plop in front of the television and dread the next work day. Tomorrow he'll get up and do the exact same thing.
"Working for the weekend" right? What kind of a tradeoff is that? You give me five days and I'll let you have two! Sounds like a shitty deal to me.
It's my whole outlook on life that's got me despising work. I could go through the many excuses of other people getting rich off my work, stealing my ideas and presenting them as their own, answering to a boss who doesn't know his left from his right but it all just seems so trivial.
I mean our species is millions of years old. But the planet has been here much longer, 4 billion years old last I checked. And we know life has been evolving for 2 billion years or so. From the miracle of life starting up randomly, to the incredible complexity and rapid mutations we saw in the sea, to an improbable move to land and the evolution of the greatest intelligence we know.
And now, after the endless mutations and random chances, we spend all our time in some stupid cubicle or under someone else's thumb.
What's great about my anti-work attitude is it works for Christians and Atheists alike. If you're an Atheist like me you can look at the millennia of evolution and know what a waste it is to pursue money, something that doesn't even tangibly exist. Or if you're a God person, do you really think you were created by an all-knowing and all-powerful God to watch the seconds tick by?
There's so much more to be done! Is there no better use of sunlight than being indoors?
What really crushes my soul is there is no way around it. I have to get a new job eventually. My money reserves will only last so long paying the essentials. In this crazy human existence we need some kind of income. Because of that pesky electricity that is being used to power my computer while I write this and the fiber optic cable in the ground that transmits my data at up to 6 Megabytes per second.
I wish I could be unemployed forever. I ultimately know that my life will have little or no purpose so why waste my time making somebody else rich?
It's a depressing thought but it has been creeping into my consciousness more often lately. Even if you're a great man by conventional standards, you have a great job that you're good at, hot wife and kids, the whole package, you're forgotten pretty quick.
How long do you think it would take for that man's existence to be completely forgotten?
Well at his job, if the position is still essential by the time our example retires, the company will have to hire a new person for the job. Considering turnover rates, retirement and time ticking on, I'd say they may be remembered 10, MAYBE 20 years down the line.
Luckily the family is a more cheery story. 'Cause you know at least your kids will remember you for a long time. You shaped them, molded them, after all. Most likely your grandkids will remember you for a good long while as well. But at least with most families, grandparents are somebody you'll see once or twice a month, at most. The grandkids will know your name, but will they know "you"? Maybe.
But the generation after them, your grand grandkids, they sure won't even know your name. Case in point, I can't name any of my great grandparents. So even for minimal recognition, we're talking to the end of your grandchildren's lives.
So that's what, 150 after your death? So there you go. You've got ~80 years to live and a legacy of about twice that long.
And then nothing.
Nobody will remember you ever existed. You'll be lumped in with the uncivilized masses who murder or rape or download music illegally.
You won't matter.
And since I won't matter in the future, how could I possibly matter in the present? Taking things one step further you may even begun to ponder if anything matters.
It would be nice to end on a happy note. No doubt there's at least one person out there on Uber who has never really thought about what I've said in this post and may think about it and perhaps even change his life because of it. But it's unlikely. After all Ubersite is no longer the playground it once was.
So there is no happy note, no moral of the story. After all this is real life and not some story you read in a book or on some fancy Web site.
I'll find a job soon. And maybe it won't suck.
I'll be able to buy videogames and booze and drugs and pay my bills again. But, to end on a cliche, at what cost?
User Reviews
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2009-04-03 12:26:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well if you are in the northern hemisphere the warm weather is coming. just beach it!
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2009-04-03 12:19:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by cheerios (user info) at 2009-04-02 20:19:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
internet poker....give it a try. you might make some money. www.pokerstars.com
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2009-04-02 06:01:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The alternative to working is to either be a freeloader, burdening your friends and family with your uselessness, or to live in nature.
Living in nature is awful. It is the most awful thing imaginable and I am not even joking. You hate working "without anybody noticing", well it is like that only colder, lonlier and full of horrifying insects.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2009-04-02 02:47:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 23:32:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Caul - Can't agree with you on a car being non-essential. The reasons should be obvious, but if not, then just imagine your boss just told you that you had to visit a supplier that worked out of a house in the center of a 10,000 sq km field in the middle of Alberta.
I'm with you 100% on the non-essential nature of TV, though.
Submitted by PerkMan (user info) at 2009-04-01 20:41:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I went through the phase that you are in right now in your life.
I recall vividly where I was. I was driving a 2001 BMW, I was high as fuck, and I had money and nice clothes and then I realized that none of it mattered.
Not anything I thought of.
Not the people that I knew from my past I could care less about their thoughts about me and this point in my life.
I just had to find a way to have my own feeling of life within myself. I had to go on a search.
So I moved.
I moved 2-3 states away from anyone I ever had known and started from scratch. I'm not going to lie, it sucked balls. But I don't regret it.
I know I'm living a cliché that has been lived before me and was molded by the socialization of Television, school, and media. But I have to find my own shade of grey in this cliché.
So I decided the best way for me to live that is to try and make great friends, have the wife, have the kid and still create after all is said and done.
I'm going to keep writing, and hopefully make something good one of these days.
I'm not going to bitch or ponder my existence because I can never comprehend why I am here or was fortunate enough to be born or made. It was all chance. Think for a second...
For you to be here you had to have a microscopic organism mate from over 4 million years ago just for you to exist. The chance of that is insane.
So I may not be here for a purpose but I make my own purpose. Mine is good friends, hugs, and living a good life at all times.
All the trivial shit in my life is just for experience to make my cliché life better and less fucking stressful.
I work now so I can sit on my ass later. I would rather be the rich old guy then the poor old guy. But the end result is that I'm still going to be the old guy. So live what I can and make it where when the glass is almost empty I'm not fucking thirsty anymore.
My two cents- perkman
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2009-04-01 15:09:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2009-04-01 15:05:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah, I've been thinking about all that too much the past few days.
If I'll be forgotten in 2 more generations, and there is no optimistic reason to believe that I'll achieve some memorable accomplishment, then there is the other way to be remembered.......do something so horrible that the act and actor live on if only to frighten little children.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 13:41:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
winter can be great if you dress properly.
cold > working in retails
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2009-04-01 13:32:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 12:28:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:49:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
My commute is horrible and the thought of doing this for the rest of my life is unbearable.
===
you lived in QC city, right?
just come back. there are tons of jobs available with the growing labor shortage.
------------------------
I would love to go back to Ste Foy, but only in the summer. There's no way in hippie hell I could do a Canadian winter.
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2009-04-01 13:19:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
An explanation about my internet speed: I have AT&T UVerse, so technically it's not fiber all the way to my home. It goes to a node, which is supposed to be less than a mile from my place. It's copper the final mile to the house. I get actual down speeds between 650-700 kb/s.
CBG...soulmates 4eva.
And if you were serious I'd probably go with you Phallic.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 12:28:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:49:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
My commute is horrible and the thought of doing this for the rest of my life is unbearable.
===
you lived in QC city, right?
just come back. there are tons of jobs available with the growing labor shortage.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 12:20:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:38:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Most people aren't like you describe, mindlessly consuming because they're told to by their TVs
===
you're kidding, right?
have you seen the stampedes when there are special sales? what about the insane amounts of money we collectively owe in credit card debt alone. what about all the publicity se wee in every form...marketing is expensive and it's done for a reason, it works.
i think 70% of the american economy is based on consumer spending (this isn't about the US, just more readily available stats). now consider your huge fucking GDP. that's a lot of $$$ spent in consumption if you ask me.
and keep in mind that people who say they don't spend that much usually do. just because you don't buy some retarded gadget at only "6 payments of 29.95 if you call now" you're not over consuming.
there's a lot of things you can get rid of that take a little while before you realize how useless they are. TV and cars are the first examples that come to mind.
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2009-04-01 12:00:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Have points since I ranted just now.
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:59:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
People are NOT generally good; they're not to be trusted.
Look at the fucking bailout. What did the corporations do whenever they got the fucking govt funds? They ran off and spent it in Vegas and distributed ridiculous bonuses. It proved the point that people are greedy motherfuckers. I'm GLAD the government stepped in and is undoing all the deregulation in the financial sector that has taken place over the past few years (basically since the Regan administration). FUCK people being greedy and saying "oh, free enterprise, wooooo!!" FUCK that. Free enterprise my fucking ass. Free enterprise doesn't fuck over the shareholder in the long OR short run.
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:49:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hey, budday.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:49:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I hate working too. I'm in inside sales, and let me tell you, dealing with the customers I have to deal with on a daily basis is ruining my whole "people are basically good" outlook. People are willfully ignorant, greedy, dishonest, and just plain nasty. My commute is horrible and the thought of doing this for the rest of my life is unbearable. I'm now in the process of actively trying to get myself fired so I can go find a part-time job in a head shop, or something else requiring little to no responsibility. Fuck it, I already live in a hippie commune (minus the farm), so my rent is cheap. I have no desire to own anything beyond what I already have.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:38:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 10:14:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 07:39:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You'd have to work the farm, though, so that'd be kind of like a job. I guess there's no escaping it.
===
ah, but you see, i don't consider chores for our basic needs as 'jobs'. those are just normal things.
sitting in a cubicle or working in some shitty factory so you can buy some more shit that you don't need just to fit in is what i have a problem with.
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There difference between [working in a factory, getting paid, and buying food] and [planting seeds, tending the plants, harvesting the crops, and trading some of the excess for other's crops] is nil when it comes to having dinner on the table. Most people aren't like you describe, mindlessly consuming because they're told to by their TVs (exception: every person between 10 and 17 years old). It's good for you that you're not into competitve buying or owning loads of possessions, but having a job and a few creature comforts is not the same as being a brain-dead consumerbot.
On the other hand: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of
Submitted by YourNameHere (user info) at 2009-04-01 11:11:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2009-04-01 10:47:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2009-04-01 08:33:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2009-04-01 04:46:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
HTBD: 6 megabytes makes 48 Mbps and that's definitely no copper or coax( which is copper too)
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I'm aware of this. I'm also aware that no ISP anywhere in the civilized world expresses bandwidth in MBps, it is ALWAYS in Mbps.
I work with ISP's and when they're testing with us they'll get MBps results and most of them can't get their minds around that.
In Germany most ISP's use Kbps so that they get BIG impressive numbers...(16.000 kbps) Ahh, Germans.
The poster claimed 6 Megabytes per second.
I know my stuff.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 10:14:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 07:39:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You'd have to work the farm, though, so that'd be kind of like a job. I guess there's no escaping it.
===
ah, but you see, i don't consider chores for our basic needs as 'jobs'. those are just normal things.
sitting in a cubicle or working in some shitty factory so you can buy some more shit that you don't need just to fit in is what i have a problem with.
Submitted by The_Drake (user info) at 2009-04-01 09:00:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
THANKS FOR MAKING ME DEPRESSED, DICKWAD!
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2009-04-01 08:33:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2009-04-01 04:46:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
HTBD: 6 megabytes makes 48 Mbps and that's definitely no copper or coax( which is copper too)
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I'm aware of this. I'm also aware that no ISP anywhere in the civilized world expresses bandwidth in MBps, it is ALWAYS in Mbps.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-04-01 07:39:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You can always drop off the grid and go live on Caul's hippie commune. You'd have to work the farm, though, so that'd be kind of like a job. I guess there's no escaping it.
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2009-04-01 04:46:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Very well written.
If you don't hunt with the tribe you won't get any spoils.
Worrying about if 'one matters' reeks of drug induced ramblings to me.
HTBD: 6 megabytes makes 48 Mbps and that's definitely no copper or coax( which is copper too)
Submitted by haikumikoo (user info) at 2009-04-01 03:55:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Also I love how Determinism more or less spits in the face of human arrogance.
Submitted by haikumikoo (user info) at 2009-04-01 03:52:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Now I have that stupid song stuck in my head.
And parts of the symposium.
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2009-04-01 03:32:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I've been back to work now for about 3 weeks and I couldn't be happier. I dont know, maybe its because I'm not french-canadian, but I flt lower than low not working and collecting unemployment. By the second week I was going stir crazty...
I guess I just need that structure of having something to do and someplace to go every day.
But thats just me, Im old fashioned.
Submitted by Fey (user info) at 2009-04-01 03:22:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Gah.
Submitted by CrapWeed (user info) at 2009-04-01 03:18:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"You'll be lumped in with the uncivilized masses who murder or rape or download music illegally."
What a great line.
Note to self: steal line.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2009-04-01 02:38:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well said. i just had that conversation. if you think your next job will erase that feeling, think again!
i've been unemployed for five months. it was fun. a little boring at times, but way better than working. when you don't work for that long, you start realizing how futile it all is. how seeing everyone buzz to work as if their unimportant job is indispensable is really just a bad joke.
i got back to work this monday. it's been two days now and i'm already fed up! my job is not passionating but it pays pretty well. so don't go believe it's about money.
my gf told me that it will pass. that it's just been too long since i've worked. but i don't agree with her. so she said i should do something else. problem is, i don't feel like doing anything else.
i'm a person that is happy with very little. my parents didn't spend on anything and we even had a small farm to help us. i don't have anything and i fucking hate owning stuff anyway. so why am i working again?
oh yeah, cuz we need money to buy all that prepackaged food and utility bills that allow us to survive. too bad our oldest ancestors already had that part covered walking around naked and living off the land.
i think i'm gonna start a hippie commune. just like charles manson did and he won't be forgotten in 80 years. :)
Submitted by Unabonger (user info) at 2009-04-01 01:57:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2009-04-01 01:23:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I feel like I wrote this
Welcome to the unemployed club
Submitted by RoadSong (user info) at 2009-04-01 00:04:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Some are leaving their bases in Megatropolis and melting quietly into a life of bone numbing hard labor building cabins and raising most of their own food and meds.
Their toil benefits their families directly. Some feel this is a worthy and worthwhile lifestyle.
{how worthy can it be if they have to haunt hot spots to get online?} woo
"We'll never know the difference in 100 years." Was a favorite saying of my grandmother.
This post is tasty and thought provoking.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:50:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You won't matter. Fuck dat, you don't matter now, and you never will. You, me, and all the other asswipes here. NO ONE MATTERS!!!!
Well, Robbie Berg thinks he does, so maybe. . . . . .
Submitted by Toddler (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:47:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
*hugs Teddy*
Submitted by RyuFu (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:42:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You sound like fresh unemployment. Your writing is reminiscent of my thoughts early on in my non-working adult life. Over time the negativity feeds on these thoughts like yeast on grain, creating this distilled alcohol of the soul. Or whatever analogy you choose to use.
I don't feel much like getting a job either. I'm unfortunately past the halfway point of my savings/severance, so I have to do something soon.
One thing I've tried is bartending. I'm not saying you should necessarily do the same, but maybe shaking things up a bit isn't so bad. For me at least, I've met a diverse group of interesting people and had fun with it. Regardless of how much money I make from that, I'll at least know I'm guaranteed to meet someone with a story. Mind you, I've never been a personable person and never bartended before recently either. In other words, it's outside my comfort zone. Stepping out of it yourself might mitigate the hopelessness you see in life, which, as I mentioned before sounds all too familiar.
Forgive me if this all sounds like rambling rubbish, I'm like 45 seconds from hittin the hay.
Submitted by pen_name (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:38:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:58:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
High-powered rifle. Clock tower. Do it right, and you'll be remembered for a long time.
-------------
I wonder why there hasn't been a serial killer who goes after celebrities. How would the world react to a serial killer who only targets cast members from the Breakfast Club?
Submitted by Phallic_Cymbals (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:26:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
If unemployment means you're gonna post more often then I need to give those amoral Jew bankers a pat on the back!
Also, would you like to help me open a little (<20 people) hostel on the beach in remote northern Australia with an attached beach hut that sells fresh, spicy seafood for little above cost price and a range of Asian beers on ice?
Cos I think I'd enjoy that.
Submitted by Ducky (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:16:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Soul crushing indeed.
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2009-03-31 23:14:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Because of that pesky electricity that is being used to power my computer while I write this and the fiber optic cable in the ground that transmits my data at up to 6 Megabytes per second.
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If you have fiber to your home, you should be getting much faster than 6 Mbps. 25 should be about the minimum, with a theoretical maximum if 1 Gbps (not that any of us can afford that sort of goodness). 6 sounds much more like coaxial or copper.
</nerdgasm>
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:58:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
High-powered rifle. Clock tower. Do it right, and you'll be remembered for a long time.
Submitted by comicbookguy (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:57:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HAHAHAHAHA
oh wait
I come back after a month and see a post from nerf...soulmates?
Submitted by SgtHartman (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:56:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
*sniffle*
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:50:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wondering if people will remember 'you' as you post anonymously on an obscure degenerate website in the middle of cyber buttfuck nowhere is it's own special kind of irony.
Good luck with the whole employment thing.
Oh, and my grandpa gave me the best advice when I was a small chap. He said "Robbie, when you grow up - find a job you love to do and you will never have to work again."
So I did... and I still work like a motherfucker.
Still, the sentiment was nice.
Submitted by Desz (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:46:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well this ruined my mood.....
Somebody write something happy?
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:35:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm actually crying now.
Submitted by HateMudkips (user info) at 2009-03-31 22:30:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No comment, but the Simpsons quote was eerily appropriate:
Alone! I'm alone! I'm a lonely, insignificant speck on a has-been
planet orbited by a cold, indifferent sun!
-- Homer Simpson
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer