They’re calling it the Great Resignation. Millions of Americans simply have been quitting their jobs, whether professions/degree-required or blue-collar labor. Just in November 2021, four million workers flat out quit. Anyone else humming that ol’ country song Take This Job & Shove It? Come on, might as well be honest. Aren’t we just a little bit proud of those folks? Quitting a job is one of the most uplifting, life-affirming, positive steps we can take … sometimes.
Why the mass exodus? Where’s the fire? Reasons include: the unexpected pandemic when our government agreed to financially compensate practically everybody for mandatory business shut downs; mothers who have no choice but to stay home with their youngest children not yet vaccinated or in school or their elementary schools and daycare facilities closed; personal or family illness (cancer and other devastating long-term health crises); work too high stress with little income (minimum wage); moving in with parents or family to go to college and change careers; and, it is believed for the vast majority, an overwhelming realization that ‘Life is short’ and ‘Quality of life matters.’ I mean, what exactly are we working for anyway? The Man? A comfortable retirement that likely will never happen for most of us? Not anymore, say America’s purposefully unemployed.
Scranton’s everywhere
Although there are many reasons for the Great Resignation, one type of 20th century employment has taken a beating: The Office. Ironic since many binged on that very show while quarantined for months at home. But for all of us who have worked in office buildings, we understand the feeling. Working in an office is not unlike a prison sentence. We bide our time, do our work, and if unhappy seek a way out, another job.
Until then, office workers arrive faithfully Monday through Friday, most driving in traffic that extends the journey an hour or so longer than it should be both morning and night. We owe, we owe, so off to work we go. We arise in the dark morning, yawn repeatedly as we prepare for work. Many office workers must dress well, too. We answer to a boss or to several in upper management for they hold our livelihoods in their hands.
Office workers see themselves as cogs in a wheel. Their work has some sort of purpose, and they are given deadlines and know the importance of what they do for a living. The most industrious often eat lunch at their desks or in their cubicles, maybe take a brief walk in sunny weather. There are office parties for birthdays and Christmas and occasionally a co-worker’s new baby. There is the funeral sympathy bouquet from the office. Sometimes co-workers go out for lunch. If they’re really lucky, some people who meet at work build good friendships, see a movie together or catch a concert, occasionally or even weekly go for a drink, once or twice a year get the families together for a swim or dinner at each other’s homes. As if mystically pre-ordained, there are couples who meet at work, date and marry and start a family.
That’s the dream, the way office workers hope time under the long flat fluorescent ceiling will turn out. Maybe the work is bearable and rewarding and some well-liked folks stay to retirement. Retirement parties are fun, leaving a sprinkle of optimism about the future. But the Great Resignation, caused by colliding yet related situations, boils down to unhappiness.
Time alone, with children and the extra government money, may have driven some workers to think about whether or not their job’s really been worth it: the hassle, the traffic, the gas, the vehicle, the hours away from family, sitters, parental guilt, uncomfortable clothes and shoes. Millions upon millions of Americans who were inadvertently left alone for a good year say NO.
Then there’s the other aspect of work whether in an office or elsewhere: the assorted personalities. That’s the fun part when watching a TV show, seeing all the characters and what they’re up to when no one else is around. But when people of various ages and backgrounds are thrown together, especially for jobs and income that everyone must have to survive, it’s not so interesting. In fact, it rarely works out.
Been there, done that
I’ve worked many office jobs, at least four at newspapers. I’ve worked other office secretarial gigs, too. Maybe work contentment amounts to the job, the salary and the boss, but co-workers go a long way in determining happiness. That quality is not so elusive. Looking back at all the jobs I’ve had, I only had three great bosses. Let’s start there. What made those bosses so great was: TRUST. They were competent, mature, and made good hires. They hired me, didn’t they? They sat back and managed. Nothing to it really if you hire good people.
I guess we’ve all had crazy bosses. One boss was so critical of me on a weekly basis … that I just quit. I would never advise anyone to quit a job without having another one. For months I felt so foolish. Why didn’t I just put up with the situation until I was fired and at least have some income instead of zero? Life sometimes gives you an answer. I ran into a former co-worker who told me he’d quit after I did and several others followed my lead! To them, prisoners their work, my resignation was heroic. My instincts were right, but I remained unemployed, depressed, and miserable for a long time.
Back to my earlier premise about work sometimes being like a prison sentence, quitting a really bad job and impossible situation with an awful boss is like setting yourself free. Believe me, the giddy exhilaration of sticking up for yourself, ‘letting go and letting God,’ completely trusting in a Higher Good, a just force in the universe that will take care of you and support your decision to quit a job is … short lived. Turns out, I was the only one who believed in myself. Self-assurance doesn’t pay the bills. Lesson learned: Best to grin and bear an awful job till a better one comes along. I wonder if any of the tens of millions who’ve quit their jobs reached epiphany yet.