BONJOUR PARESSE, DILBERT?
The weekend FT reviewed a book that is sweeping France called Bonjour
Paresse, or Hello Laziness! It is supposed to be a French "Dilbert"
for these times of seemingly endless Global Worker Disaffection.
Here are "the rules" according to the book:
1. You are a modern-day slave. There is now scope for personal
fulfilment. You work for a pay-check at the end of the month.
2. It's pointless to try to change the system. Opposing it simply
makes it stronger.
3. You're not judged on merit, but on whether you look and sound the
part. Use lots of jargon: people will suspect you have an inside
track.
4. Never accept a position of resonsibility for any reason. You'll
only have to work harder for what amounts to peanuts.
5. Make a beeline for useless positions where it is impossible to
assess your "contribution to the wealth of the company." Avoid
operational roles like the plague.
6. Once you've found a plum job, never move. It is only the most
exposed who get fired.
7. Identify kindred spirits who also believe the system is absurd,
though discrete signs like quirky clothing, pecurliar jokes, and warm
smiles.
8. Be nice to people on short-term contracts. They are the only
people who do any real work.
9. What you do is pointless. You can be replaced by any cretin
sitting next to you. So work as little as possible and spend time
cultivating you personal network, so that you're untouchable when the
next restructuring comes.
10. Tell yourself that the absurd idealolgy underpinning this
coporate B.S. cannot last forever. It will go the same way as the
dialectical materialism of Communism. The problem is knowing
when.....
THE AMAZING THING IS THAT WITH ALL OF THE SO-CALLED PRODUCTIVITY AND
PROSPERITY OF RECENT YEARS, WORKERS ARE WORKING HARDER THAN EVER, FOR
LESS!
AND WITH LESS AND LESS SECURITY.....
SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE. WHOSE "SKIMMING THE CREAM?"
ASK YOUR FAVORITE POLITICO: IF THINGS ARE SO GOOD, WHY ARE WORKERS
SO UNIFORMLY MISERABLE?
