Ever wonder how people end up in dead end jobs at 40?

[Vigilante]

I stopped by a UPS store this morning, and interrupted a sales guy that was in there shooting the shit with the UPS retail clerk.

The sales guy was probably 57 years old. Shirt and tie. He was running around town doing cold call sales calls for the printing company he worked for. As the clerk rang me up, the sales guy continued talking with him. The end of the month is next week, and the sales guy assumes he is going to be "waxed" from his job. I put that in quotes, because he used the word four times while I was in there for four minutes.

He has a quota of new business he must prospect and close every month. Residual business and reorders don't count. If he doesn't bring in a certain amount of new business, he doesn't hit his quota, which is tied to a draw against commissions. A few months of your draw exceeding your new sales means you are on the chopping block. He knows where he is at for the month, and knows he is not going to hit the number.

The F*cking guy is 57. What ever choices he made in life (and we all make shitty ones at times) brought him to this point.

The guy has a shitty, terrible job where he is barely making ends meet. And even that is about to come to an end. No idea if he has told his wife yet that he's a week away (6 days away) from losing the pittance they rely on.

The guy was sweating this. Talking with strangers or in front of strangers about it. About getting "waxed" next week. The consternation. The sweat. The fear palpable.

And he's just a number on someone else's white board.

And he's just... a number.

 

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[andviv]

Tee shirt, flip flops, and board shorts.

No white socks?

Totally disappointed!

 

[andviv]

Great read. The truth is that you might have a great paying job but you could still end up in the same trap. If your expenditures match or exceed your income, it doesn't matter how much you earn.

Or, in case of a nasty, contended divorce, how much your ex-spouse and lawyers take.

 

[hellolin]

You know how to program? Good. Let me introduce you to the other 18.2 million people that can program*. You'd like to make your mark using your programming skills? Good. Knowing how to program makes you valuable. Learning how to market makes you dangerous. There's a trend here to teach you to learn copywriting. Don't bother, you know programming; but you do need to learn to market because before you launch your next great idea, you want to know for sure people will buy it. There are resources aplenty for this. This site is a great one. Coursera has a free course on marketing that first year MBAs take. I recommend it.

However, you are competing with 18.2 other people in this world. That's good for you because 99.9% of them are dark matter developers. They come into their grey cubicles, write some shitty Java code, push it some bloated application server, and watch as some exec's stock options go up 0.001%. But not you. You're on this forum, you need to own this shit. You need to get good at this shit. How well do you know core computer science topics? People spew out you don't need to learn computer science to be a good programmer, and they're right. But you, you don't want to be a good programmer, you want to be a great programmer, because as you start your trek on the fastlane, you're going to work with other programmers, and the more solid your technical understanding is, the more you can drive towards the result you want. Learning to program without know computer is like learning to write copy without understanding how to market or the psychology of persuasion. You'll get good at it, but you won't master it. Sure, you can hire someone to program, but if you read these forums, people have mixed results with that and most fall back to learning to code themselves, because writing and managing software is a complex beast.

Don't stick with whatever language your company uses. Go beyond. Learn languages like LISP, Elixir, Clojure. Languages that challenge your understanding of computation. Branch out in other areas. Systems thinking, philosophy, mathematics. The more you look at other fields, the more crucial connections your brain will make, the more you'll see opportunities where others see nothing.

Learn iOS programming and launch something. Not because people want your shitty app, they don't. Do it because you'll learn how to build and release something without the hand holding of mega corp.

The reason people end up in dead jobs is because they don't own their lives. They are like passengers on a train, watching the world go by and expecing to be taken care of. The concept of working at the same job for 40 years and retiring is a tired old like shoved down our throats. The concept of working your way up the ladder is the same shit with different wrappings. You need to own your life.

In a few years, you had better not understand how I feel, because you better have a successful launch or a job that fits in with your life's purpose. Now back to writing shit forms apps that talk to databases.

* Of course, there is a shortage.

Absolutely man! I actually went to school for a half business degree, half IT, so I know what you talking about in terms of marketing, I watch Bloomberg TV while eating my breakfast every morning, it is always in my mind that I need to follow what the free market is doing out there, as I understand what deems my job or skill valuable is what the market desires. My company uses java but the application they code and the process they use is truly shitty, but the big government is paying us and the company is paying me to learn this shit, so I won't complaint here, especially compare to rest of the world here.

My free time after work during week days usually tend to go like this: I go home and cook, open tv up while I am eating, most of the time I put on a 45-60 min youtube talk by some guy knowledgeable talking or interviewing people about stuff that I don't know. (check out Insidequest on youtube, another MJ figure is out there). Then I shut off the tv and go upstairs and start reading. I usually read a hour about programming language, since my level is really still the absolute beginner, then another hour I will read about a tool that supports my development, such as a book about Git. By this time it's usually around 1030 at night and from here now on I read something other than my job related stuff. So for the past a couple of weeks I finished 2 book, one is Elon Musk's autobiography, another book titled "The fourth industrial revolution" written by the head of the world economic forum in Davos. I am reading Robert Greene's 48 laws of power now, but planning to read Alec Ross's "The industries of the future" soon.

"because writing and managing software is a complex beast", I completely agree, been at this job for only 2 month and I have seen how complex a software shop can be, don't think it's something that anyone can crank out without good communication,especially if you want quality.

Do you have an email? If you don't mind, I want to chat up with you privately, and learn from you on many topics of computer science.

 

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[JT388]

This is a long, rambling story I wanted to share with you after I was troubled by something I saw the other night. It's almost written as a short story. If you don't like a little introspection, or are reading for a business plan, skip this thread. Someone out there needed to hear this message, and I hope it gets in the hands of the people that needed to read this. Many of us might see ourselves through the eyes of the main character below. - Vigilante

I stopped in with my kid a few nights ago to a local sub sandwich shop, and the sad story written there is etched in my mind. In a combination of thankfulness and helpfulness, I pour out the story here like retelling of a dream. Only, this wasn’t a dream, but a glimpse into the desperate eyes of thousands of people across the United States. The forgotten ones, the failures of capitalism. The working class.

You can find my perception judgmental, until you realize that the story also marks the beginning of my story. I was this guy. Dropping out of school, I was working in retail. Young and not wise enough to realize the deck was stacked against me, I bucked the odds. Through a combination of tenacity and reinvention, I broke the mold. However, I can give you a glimpse into the life I saw a few nights ago, and give you eyes to see through the hands and into the heart and mind of the clerk, the salesperson, the forgotten ones.

I pulled into the sandwich shop, needing to get my kid a sandwich. Having spent the afternoon at an amusement park and her private swimming lessons, if I brought her fuel tank back on “empty” I would be answering to her mother. A ham and cheese better than nothing, we pulled my paid-for vehicle into the lot and went into the store. We ordered some food, and settled into a booth that she would spend the next fifteen minutes using as a jungle gym. She’s the kid that you hate sitting at the table next to.

It was then that I saw him, the 21 year old mirror image of me. Only, he was probably 48. Dressed in a cheap suit and tie, name tag slung around his neck like a noose, he was on a 29 minute escape from his evening shift at the mens clothing store a few doors down the mall. His suit was a little rumpled, which was probably OK as a quick scan of the parking lot indicated there probably were no customers to notice that night anyway. His eyes showed that he was a million miles away.

He was on about minute 10 of his 29 minute escape, an unpaid half hour that extended his required scheduled time by the same 29 minutes. You get a half hour break plus two fifteen minute breaks for every eight hours you work in the United States. A half hour isn’t really enough time to do anything, and most nights the time is spent sitting in the break room, watching the clock and wishing you were anywhere else. It's just enough time for you to settle in to your resentment of your job, and then the bell rings or the whistle blows and you are right back where you started from.

This wasn’t his first job, and likely wouldn’t be his last. A series of choices and setbacks had led him to this sandwich shop that night. He turned it over in his head, over and over and over again. When he left the clothing shop for his "break" his 24 year old boss told him to make sure he was back on time this time. As if there were another time that he hadn’t been. F*cker.

He looked at the clock on his 4th generation iPhone, and with 19 minutes left, his mind slipped away into another mindless game of Tetris. He set his personal high score last week, in what was probably his millionth game. High score. The occasion passed with nothing more than a quick flash on the screen, and then he was back folding shirts again.

His dinner that night cost him more than he made for the last hour. He had a base pay of $12 plus commission, but with no customers in the shop, there was no commission. Add to that he was required to take a half hour unpaid, and his sandwich cost him more than he made after taxes for nearly two hours.

The Tetris helped him forget. It helped him forget that his son's tuition was due tomorrow. He felt dead. He felt trapped. When he allowed himself to think about it, he couldn’t breathe. His ability to pretend it wasn’t happening ended when the credit card was declined, and then they started calling. Not sure what he was supposed to tell them. He put their number on ignore, but knew that was only going to make it all worse.

He looked at the clock as he drifted away into another game. 9 minutes left.

They told him tonight they were cutting his hours back to one hour less than full time. He’d have even less. He didn’t have anything to say. Where else would he go? When he took this job, he told himself it was just temporary. But last week turned into yesterday, which turned into today. And now he had to go home, and tell his wife he just got a pay cut.

6 minutes.

It was easier to just not think about it. Three more hours of standing around a store with no customers. It made no sense to him. He got mad. He thought about the fact that his time was worth so little to them that they would just have him stand around, folding shirts and paying him less than a sandwich. Last month, they changed the commission plan so that even the sales he did were subtracted from his “salary” before he got any commission. Tonight, though, that wouldn’t matter.

4 minutes.

He would almost rather be there than at home.

3 minutes. He slumped down in his chair. He didn’t want to be there. The sandwich made him sick, as the stress turned into a knot in his stomach. He started another game, and then realized he had to get back. Back to what? Back to nothing. Back to his time clock. He had to rush back to be on time to stand around.

He crumpled up his salary in the form of a sandwich wrapper, and headed towards the door. Making a left, he was the only one headed to the clothing store from the parking lot. He’d watch the clock roll towards 9PM, knowing his wife was likely to be asleep when he got home.

And tomorrow, it would start all over again.

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This forum gets dozens of thousands of hits per week. Many of them are people just like this guy, looking for something that can help them. Something that can encourage them. Something that can teach them. Maybe… maybe that guy is you.

These people are all around us. Capitalism requires it. There are more of them than there are of us. Most of them will never break out. Most of them will never find a way. Some won’t do it because they can’t, some won’t do it because they won’t. Some won’t do it because they think it is game over.

The guy in the sandwich shop reminded me of me. I was him. I fought like hell and found a way, but absent that I once wore his suit. Many of us did.

It’s not enough for you to take everything from this forum and use it for your own gain. It’s not enough for you to read the Millionaire Fast Lane, the Four Hour Work Week, start your business, and live happily ever after. Your life will still be devoid of meaning until you figure out how to reach people with scale and bring them with you.

Look deeply into the eyes of the clothing store clerk in the sandwich shop. At a minimum, lets realize that he deserves compassion. He may never make it. He may never find it. He may always live from day to day eating those shitty sandwiches. Showing you shirts. Folding shirts. And you and I? We look past him. We wonder why he's such an a**hole at the clothing store.

KAK left the forum. He then came back to reach more people in scale. MJ DeMarco could have just walked away, and never written the Millionaire Fast Lane.

I taught some classes last fall. Most of the people sitting in the class were in various stages of being that guy in the sandwich shop. I haven’t reached enough of them yet. We’re not all called to be teachers. Some can give back through philanthropy. Some can give back through teaching. Others through works or other ways of effecting people, either individually or in scale.

Not sure why I spent the time telling you all this, other than the realization that had my life taken some different turns, I could have been that guy in the sandwich shop. That guy is here. Reading this post. Rather than step around them when they find us, maybe we should do a better job here at the forum of helping them find a way.

What will your legacy look like?

The thing about life is that it truly is unfair.

We as entrepreneurs have to find the holes in this unfairness of life, the holes we can jump through, so we aren't wrapped in this wool of unfairness life naturally throws at us. But those holes are far and few between, and covered in electric wire. Some of us try and walk through it, and get zapped. That's when 50% just give up. Perhaps you try and get up again, ZAP. ZAP. ZAP. ZAP. Suddenly your depressed. But then DEBT DEBT DEBT, or whatever it is, now you probably with off from life here.

Why do so many fall in this position? I ask.

I've began my entrepreneur dedicated road 3 months ago and I've just turned 18, I am thankful that I am starting at an early age, I am debt free, and I have established two business" online (digital products/delivery entirely) that generate me money per week (only in the hundreds right now, but I haven't scaled it yet). I have more friends who finished their UNI degree and are unhappy. All of my friends are either in Uni or in their post Uni Job. I wonder, "why are they always complaining / unhappy". It's clear to me, I made the right choice.

But I still feel, like that guy. That guy feels lonely, you can sense it in your writing, he's alone, he wants out, but his brain is starting to see things unfocused, life becomes blurry gradually over time.

We as people need to help each other, stop being selfish. Forget the Ferrari, forget the penthouse. Teach people that there are many roads in life that can be taken. Those of us in Western countries (I am pointing at you Australia, France etc) there is no excuses. The thing with all of us on this forum, is that we have all succeeded in accepting that their is 'another way'.

It's just, so hard to find out how to gain success.

All I can recommend is you find your niche, find what works for you, and once one thing works, keep at it. If you haven't noticed, most successful entrepreneurs have success in areas they were passionate about well before they even thought about exploring the entrepreneurial mindset. For example MJ, amazing writer - the book was his success correct? Had he been a shit writer, would the book had been as good?

One of my friends, who is into gaming, wrote a gaming blog. And through Amazon he makes 400USD in commissions average per day. Had he not been into gaming, he's not know how to write about it in his blog to the level that attracts people.

For me, I've always been into photography, and after many failed business', my first hints of great potential come from the photograph niche.

And that's just because I had a past in it.

So that guy in the shop, perhaps his experience in the shop will turn him into a clothing brand, that he'll soon be delivering boxes to the store to be sold, just an example.

That's why I feel the reason why so many fail is because they jump into niches they have never had any experience with, they throw money at it, telling themselves you "need to spend money to make money" , they then fail, and what do you know, their in debt.

I have a family friend who has spent 800K on building a juice brand, only hoping to get his brand stocked in a few independent stores nearby.

 

[amp0193]

There's only going to be one third grade Christmas concert, one age 10 first soccer practice, and one first dance you get to take pre-pictures for. You don't get any do overs when you voluntarily let other things take priority over moments you can't get back.

I skipped work a couple of Friday's ago for an "appointment".

That appointment was my daughter's first easter egg hunt at her day care. It lasted 5 minutes, and she was more interested in the playground equipment than hunting any eggs, but I have those moments recorded.

The rest of the day I spent packing a couple of large wholesale orders.

put a big red circle on a date in the future, and count down the days to that day.

My original red circle came and went last year... I tried and failed to get to where I needed to be.

This year, it's real.

 

[luniac]

I will add a few stories to fuel the fire, because they represent most workplaces in America. These stories are not unique to me.

Story #1
@ryanbleau's story IS my story. When I worked at Wal-Mart, the typical work day at their corporate offices was 6AM to 6PM. If you rolled in at 7:30am some morning, your boss was looking at his watch. The first few days, he might not say much, but make it a pattern and you're going to be called out. So the typical work day is roughly 12 hours a day. Need to leave some day at 4:40PM for a kids softball game? Once in a great while, you can get a "get out of jail card" but twice in one week? Forget about it. They consider it dedication. The other employees, or "associates" as they are called to help you numb the pain of being an employee, are the worst rats about it. Envy if you leave "early" creates angst on their part. If you routinely show up at 7:30am for your 9-5 job, your co-worker associates will take you down. The fact that a newbie called out Ryan comes as no surprise to me, when people try and climb over other people in a false perception of job security. The person who commented that to you Ryan is poison. Watch for it. This was only the first comment.

I quit Wal-Mart Corporate one Saturday morning, forced to attend Saturday "management" meetings which usually amounted to public floggings. Sam Walton preached that if the stores had to work weekends, so did the corporate employees. It was a holdover from the Henry Ford production days, when everyone worked six days a week.

So I was @ryanbleau. I sat in your chair. I dealt with the same assholes. Been there. I drank the same poison you are sipping on. I would like to tell you that my escape was easy. It wasn't. But I can tell you that when you claw your way out of the prison and slam the door shut behind you, you will never look back. I would and could never been an employee again. And I crawled out of the hole, starting from below $0. So, you can make it out. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be fast. But... almost all of the tools you need to do it are contained within MJ's book, and buried deep within the pages of this forum.

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Story #2
I was at a Best Buy vendor meeting. Leading the vendor meeting was a giggly new "director" who was introduced as the "team lead" for this particular division of Best Buy. It was painfully apparent that she new nothing. This was accentuated by the fact that she said, to this group of vendors Best Buy had assembled, that she "knew nothing."

"It's a good thing" she said, "that her employee <<reference to red faced guy standing behind her>> knew everything because he was training her in." Giggle, giggle, giggle from her. Stark stares back from the vendors she was speaking to. They all liked the guy that worked for her that was tasked with teaching this monkey how to press the buttons. He got totally screwed, and she laughed about it in front of a room of his business peers.

Did you catch that? He was the guy that had worked for the company for a dozen years. He was the guy that sacrificed his weekends, hoping for the promotion. He was the guy that got passed over for the promotion, only for them to hire him a new boss who knew nothing. She laughed about it, alluded to that fact, in front of vendors who knew the whole story, and further emasculated the guy. Two years later, he quit. I wish I could tell you that his story had a happy ending, but he ended up in a similar situation to the guy in the OP.
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Eventually, this corporate bullshit grind just wears you out to the point where you find yourself at age 40 or what ever, working in a mens clothing store while know nothing directors laugh with vendors at your expense. It was really sad to watch that vendor meeting, and his professional embarrassment played out on a very public stage.

To those of you in the fight, keep fighting. To those of you with a job (today), you need to psychologically take the edge back by looking at it as a game, and YOU decide when the checkmate is going to occur. While you are being the best employee your company ever had, you need to have a freedom date in mind. That will change your mindset. Every day when you walk in the door to train in your know nothing director, recognize she or her protege she is training to take your job will still be there when you are long gone. You having an END GAME in sight will make the days pass more tolerably, when you look at your current paycheck as a means to an end. The company doesn't own you. One day, you will emancipate yourself. This is the beginning of your story, not the end of it. The change for you can start with your own resolve.

Those of you have made your way to the forum have an above average chance of escaping the gerbil wheel than those who stay in the cocoon. Knowledge is the beginning of transformation. Draw energy from the people that have gone before you. The struggle is worth it. The planning is worth it. Burning the midnight oil with a wife or husband and two kids at home? Worth it. Freedom is worth it. Set some things in motion now that will create your path to escape down the road, and use that chess match and eventual victory as the thing that allows you to tolerate the seemingly intolerable existence of a worker who toils day after day to make somebody else money. They don't own you. That isn't your end game. You may need it today to pay your mortgage, but freedom is in front of you.

There are thousands of people just like you. They just don't happen to sit in the cubicle next to you, singing happy birthday to the office secretary as another piece of crisco-laden birthday cake breaks up the monotony of another Tuesday in the office. Your tribe is here at the Fast Lane Forum, and we're waiting for you to join us on the climb.

I don't understand something though, isn't it bad business to hire an unqualified boss?
Won't that lose money in the long term, or maybe something even worse due to bad decisions made by a clueless boss?

How is this allowed to occur? I can only imagine that the original founders of the business are not around anymore because they would certainly not allow such a travesty to happen.

Someday I might have my own employees, and after living through the rat race myself I'd do everything in my power to make my employees work lives as fair and pleasant as i can.
There will not be any promotion corruption in my business, after all the shit I'm going through now building my own I wouldn't be caught dead promoting an unqualified person to a higher position in my company

Am i missing something here?

 

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[Vigilante]

I don't understand something though, isn't it bad business to hire an unqualified boss?
Won't that lose money in the long term, or maybe something even worse due to bad decisions made by a clueless boss?

How is this allowed to occur? I can only imagine that the original founders of the business are not around anymore because they would certainly not allow such a travesty to happen.

Someday I might have my own employees, and after living through the rat race myself I'd do everything in my power to make my employees work lives as fair and pleasant as i can.
There will not be any promotion corruption in my business, after all the shit I'm going through now building my own I wouldn't be caught dead promoting an unqualified person to a higher position in my company

Am i missing something here?

There was a news story out yesterday about a Dominos pizza employee who wrote a nasty note to a customer because the customer had the audacity to grant business to the pizza shop a few minutes before they "closed."

The owner never intended to leave an unqualified a**hole in charge of their customer retention. However, I learned that there is simply nobody that will ever run your business the way you would. They don't make decisions the way that you would, because at the end of the day your money is monopoly money to them.

Employees are employees for a reason. If they were entrepreneurs, they wouldn't be working there, or they would and they would have their escape planned. Either way, they're not going to make decisions based solely on your financial best interests.

We're hiring employees again now only out of necessity. But... I recognize it for what it is. 80% of American workers hate their jobs. I can't pay them enough to change that, because at some point they always start counting your money. You can spend time investing in people, training them, equipping them, incentivising them, and buying them donuts on Fridays. Doesn't matter.

If they're happy to be employees, by definition that means they don't think like an owner.

If they're not happy to be employees, by definition that means they don't act like you would. They likely have a red date circled on a calendar.

This is the reason why companies hire the best people they can, for the least amount they can, and drive the business forward as hard as they can with the team that they have. Every employee is dispensable, so much so that most states codify that into law.

 

[luniac]

There was a news story out yesterday about a Dominos pizza employee who wrote a nasty note to a customer because the customer had the audacity to grant business to the pizza shop a few minutes before they "closed."

The owner never intended to leave an unqualified a**hole in charge of their customer retention. However, I learned that there is simply nobody that will ever run your business the way you would. They don't make decisions the way that you would, because at the end of the day your money is monopoly money to them.

Employees are employees for a reason. If they were entrepreneurs, they wouldn't be working there, or they would and they would have their escape planned. Either way, they're not going to make decisions based solely on your financial best interests.

We're hiring employees again now only out of necessity. But... I recognize it for what it is. 80% of American workers hate their jobs. I can't pay them enough to change that, because at some point they always start counting your money. You can spend time investing in people, training them, equipping them, incentivising them, and buying them donuts on Fridays. Doesn't matter.

If they're happy to be employees, by definition that means they don't think like an owner.

If they're not happy to be employees, by definition that means they don't act like you would. They likely have a red date circled on a calendar.

This is the reason why companies hire the best people they can, for the least amount they can, and drive the business forward as hard as they can with the team that they have. Every employee is dispensable, so much so that most states codify that into law.

That's true that's true, sounds like employee management is as much an art as a science.

The anxiety the owner must feel not knowing every one of his employees personally, any one of them could hurt his reputation without a moments notice!

 

[Vigilante]

Consider people who use the Amazon platform for part of their sales strategy.

One bad move by an employee could trigger a permanent Amazon suspension.

The business could be ruined, and the employee would just be like "um... sorry about that."

Hiring employees is a high stakes gamble.

If you agree with my premise that employees don't think like owners because it is not their money at stake, are you prepared to hand an employee the keys to :

• your dominos pizza franchise (an employee yesterday made the NATIONAL NEWS for being an a**hole)
• your Amazon account, where one bad decision can lead to a life time ban

For years, I have been preaching about automating and outsourcing. You can control most of the variables better when fewer decisions are left in the hands of people who would rather be skateboarding than taking a customer service call.

To tie it back into the OP, that's where a 40'something guy finds himself working at a clothing retailer. Do you think he really gives a shit about the outcome of the business? He's just there hanging on to the remnants of a paycheck. He's sitting in a sub sandwich shop, trying to forget about his existence, and not wanting to walk back down the sidewalk to finish out his shift. He's an average employee, in an average town, working at an average job for your average employer.

 

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[Dwight Schrute]

it is not their money at stake

Do you think he really gives a shit about the outcome of the business?

You might wanna check out "The Great Game of Business" by Jack Stack.

The Great Game of Business - Teaching employees to think and act like owners, using open-book management techniques

My uncle swears by it, and he has almost 40 employees.

 

[Delmania]

Hiring employees is a high stakes gamble.

It doesn't have to be, however. My grandfather, for example, spent years working as a clothes washer repairmen. When the time came when his services were no longer needed, he wasn't escorted out the door like some thief in the night, the company moved and trained him. He was one of the people who spent 40 years at the same company and retired on a pension. The golden years that is the narrative we grow up with. He was proud to work at the company, and he did his best not to let his actions tarnish the company's name.

This isn't an "us vs. them" situation, meaning employees vs employers. It's, like so many things, a reflection on our society as a whole. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur (although if you're reading this, I hope you are working towards it), some people do need to be employees. Who's going to build the automation systems and artificial intelligence?

However, at some point, during the 70s (I think), companies changed from giving CEOs a regular salary to tying their compensation to stock performance. As such, companies started focusing on short-term results more than building out long-term, sustainable models. That's probably why companies no longer invest much or simply pay lip service to training employees because it takes time to train and no one has that (although they do).

Then you have the me-generation of the 80s, and rise of materialism and consumerism, with people focusing on keeping up with the Jones and a level of narcissism to boot. I recall hearing an article onNPR about how teenagers in the past didn't have the sense of specialness and uniqueness we do today. Most answers indicated that they were well grounded and had a good sense of self. Compare this to today's rampant egoism and belief that everyone is special and destined for greateness...


Bottom line, line so many things, we have seen the enemy, and it is us.

 

[Vigilante]

You might wanna check out "The Great Game of Business" by Jack Stack.

My uncle swears by it, and he has almost 40 employees.

Been there. Had a team nearly that big at one point. I was familiar with this book but just ordered a copy now (thanks for the reminder!)

His concepts were well suited when he was an employee (30 years ago) and when he wrote the book (now over 20 years ago). The market changed, employers changed, the law changed, and employees and work ethic changed since then. Almost none of the conditions still exist that existed when he wrote his epic manifesto.

I can tell you from first hand experience you can't superimpose, train, or motivate people to teach employees to think and act like owners in the current economy. Everything has changed. I actually believe the 180 degree opposite of The Great Game of Business. But, I can learn from it anyway. It feeds an essential need of both employers.

Employees, on the other hand, don't want to assume responsibility of ownership. Most want to punch a clock, earn a paycheck, and go home. They don't believe in the narrative of "family company," they don't want the financial responsibility without the financial reward, and they're not invested in the outcome beyond their paycheck. You can't use language to try and convince them otherwise. It's not a "game."

However, I think it is BRILLIANT that someone encapsulated the desire of every business owner into a for-profit seminar series, products, and books. That is fastlane as heck. There is a tremendous need business owners feel to empower their employees to try and think and act like they do. I can only imagine the dozens of millions of dollars that are spent trying to capture and train this ideal. I will check out "The Great Game of Business" by Jack Stack because I am fascinated by their stepping in to fill a need.

The original book was published 20 years ago, and they've been adding to their empire every year. Demonstrates that business owners all share a fundamental ideal to equip people.

I was once like Jack Stack, and have disproven via personal experience the thought process. Cost me tens of thousands of dollars to disprove my longheld belief that you could bring people along for the ride. I did just pick up the book though, as the business model of selling information to fill a market void intrigues me, even though the net conclusion has already been deemed a fallacy by my own direct, personal experiences.

There's an insatiable need for this information, and just like an average human resource department... the nice part about failure of the business concept is you can attribute it to personal failure vs. method failure, ensuring a continuing and sustainable demand for "management training" regardless of the aggregate outcome of the training method being taught and implemented.

 

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[Vigilante]

It doesn't have to be, however. My grandfather, for example, spent years working as a clothes washer repairmen. When the time came when his services were no longer needed, he wasn't escorted out the door like some thief in the night, the company moved and trained him. He was one of the people who spent 40 years at the same company and retired on a pension. The golden years that is the narrative we grow up with. He was proud to work at the company, and he did his best not to let his actions tarnish the company's name.

This isn't an "us vs. them" situation, meaning employees vs employers. It's, like so many things, a reflection on our society as a whole. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur (although if you're reading this, I hope you are working towards it), some people do need to be employees. Who's going to build the automation systems and artificial intelligence?

However, at some point, during the 70s (I think), companies changed from giving CEOs a regular salary to tying their compensation to stock performance. As such, companies started focusing on short-term results more than building out long-term, sustainable models. That's probably why companies no longer invest much or simply pay lip service to training employees because it takes time to train and no one has that (although they do).

Then you have the me-generation of the 80s, and rise of materialism and consumerism, with people focusing on keeping up with the Jones and a level of narcissism to boot. I recall hearing an article onNPR about how teenagers in the past didn't have the sense of specialness and uniqueness we do today. Most answers indicated that they were well grounded and had a good sense of self. Compare this to today's rampant egoism and belief that everyone is special and destined for greateness...


Bottom line, line so many things, we have seen the enemy, and it is us.

My wife's grandfather spent 40 years with Proctor and Gamble, and retired with a full pension and a gift basket every Christmas.

However, that doesn't exist in any sector of the U.S. economy any more exclusive of government workers. There's no more company pensions, and no more Christmas baskets. It was replaced with at will employment and free agency.

There's no such thing as job security any more, and nobody is going to start now and retire after 40 years with the same company.

Every company refers to their employees as "family" until such a time as you have to let your "family" member go for cost cutting reasons. Employees are just a number on a white board.

Spouses that encourage their other half to stay employed for the perceived "security" W2 employment offers are living in delusion. Companies demand your loyalty, but offer none in return. Nobody is untouchable.

 

[Delmania]

Every company refers to their employees as "family" until such a time as you have to let your "family" member go for cost cutting reasons. Employees are just a number on a white board.

I can attest to this.

Where I currently work they have this whole initiative of "culture shaping"* and #*Proud nonsense they spam on the company's intranet homepage. Many people consider it a "safe company" to work for. The reality is they cut small percentages of various departments at different times to prevent from having to notify stockholders. Case in point, just last year, they reduced the IT department's staff by 1%, and in that round, they nailed a woman who has spent 15 years of her life at the company. She was a hard worker, but by all accounts, no one even bothered to say a simple "thanks" to her. It's not uncommon for me to try to email someone, only to find that person's email is no longer valid. It's only going to get worse from here.

 

[Longinus]

A colleague of mine works 20 years in the company. He was hired by the two owners (brothers) and for years they promised him he would one day be the CEO. So he worked very long hours, never asked a raise, he's obese ("because his stressy job and no time to do sports") and never sees his kids during the week.

Long story short, the owners sold the company and retired. The new company owner has other plans and is looking for a new CEO.

He now realizes he believed a lie for 20 years. He never went looking for another job or career, he never even evolved, because he was gonna be the CEO in a few years. Now he feels F*cked. Especially when the management asked me (working there 5 years) to become head of security for a part of the group (I'm gonna decline).

Another colleague hates her job and wants to quit. Her husband is an engineer who has a very well paid job with very good conditions. He hates it too and wants to quit. But he never finds another job with the same or better conditions. And he doesn't want to drive too far. And he doesn't want to start on his own because he doesn't want to work with computers. Etcetera.

They do have a plan though. They want to start a cinema, because the huge cinema-chains are way overpriced! So, a small cinema with cafeteria, that would be a great plan! Just one problem: this plan needs a lot of money.

The solution?

Winning the lottery!

So every week they look forward to the moment when their life is about to change (or so they think), only to come back to their job the next morning. Frustrated. Feeling trapped.

And so, all my 40-something colleagues are looking forward to their pension and ranting about this or that rich a**hole or wondering what went wrong with all their dreams and plans they once made in their lifes. Meanwhile passing their grudge to their children.

I can't count to how many people I've lent TMF . Only one read it til the end (my brother), understands it and he still doesn't want to change his choices. Even if you would make a Hollywood blockbuster where you can fully understand TMF , most people won't change!
(Luckily for us) Some people are just afraid to grow/change.

 

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[Delmania]

(Luckily for us) Some people are just afraid to grow/change.

Always remember that not everyone can, or ever should, be an entrepreneur. Even with massive improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, there will always be a need for employers and employees. Think of the pyramids. To build those, Egypt needed a large scale coordinated work-force. For a more modern example, I'd recommend looking into how the Empire State Building was constructed.

My personal theory is that being an employee is not a bad thing, however, not having meaningful work is.

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

The fact that 70% of people are dissatisfied and disengaged from their work is a topic of interest and research for me, mainly because I fall into that 70%. I do firmly believe that people need work they are interested and engaged with, because entrepreneur or employee, we all spend a lot of time working. In fact, there's a great book call Shop class as Soulcraft that argues that we find meaning in work that is genuinely useful to another person. I'd argue that our work does form our identity. (we do need to be cautious to let that be the sole focus).

Think of your average corporate job, even at an institute as prestigious as Google. I've interviewed there 3 times, so I know first hand the technical skill they want. However, time and time again, you read the stories by Googlers about how they undergo these challenging interviews only to spend their time fiddling with spreadsheets. Most engineers like to engineer. (I know personally, writing software is something I thoroughly enjoy doing.) So, to get a job at a company that is known for its engineering, only to be relegated to spreadsheet finagling is definitely a massive let down. It's not just Google, most jobs in corporate America are like this, ridiculous jobs that serve no purpose that only exist for their own sakes, and could easily be eliminated with no discernable impact on the company's bottom line.

It's not just at work, though, but also our leisure time. We get the concept of leisure from the ancient Greeks, and they firmly believed that a person's life should be spent mostly in leisure time. However, by leisure, they meant activities that strengthen that person's mind, body, emotions, faith, and relationships with his family, friends, and community. In other words, spend time on production and improvement. That's not to say that they didn't have forms of consumption, they did have a strong tradition of theatre.

In essence, most people spend lives of quiet misery work at meaningless jobs, spending time and money on empty, unfulfilling activities, praying to a God that may or may not exist that when they die, there's something better than this.

 

[luniac]

I have a theory out of the blue regarding why 70% of people are dissatisfied.

Blame the school system for LYING and EMBELLISHING how GREAT and SECURE life is after college as an employee.
By the time all that brainwashing wears off, you're 50.

We're not taught the harsh realities of life when we're growing up, I personally can honestly tell you that I never really seriously thought about wtf my life is gonna look like after college when i was first applying to college. I had a hazy sense that i will graduate, become an engineer and life will be good, ill have a great job, settle down one day etc etc etc. Basically i figured that since i was doing everything RIGHT, going to school, not doing drugs, getting decent grades, going for a useful degree, that everything was gonna work out.

I lived most of my life in the school system bubble and I naively ignored that after college i might not get that great job. Also about 3.5 years into college it suddenly became apparent to me that im not gonna be an engineer, i didn't have the passion to be one. That's when i finally started learning how to make games. It's funny because when applying to college I had trouble choosing between 2 majors, game development or computer engineering. I chose engineering because it was more "professional" and i really did like computers since childhood and was very very curious as to how they worked at an advanced level.

So i literally went to college because i was curious about computers, not because of any job interests. Sadly in college you're forced to take so many bullshit classes, electives and shit... such a damn waste of time looking back.
I got what i always wanted though, i now know a metric shit-ton about computers, but at the cost of a cubicle job. NOT WORTH IT!

If i had to do it all over again, i'd focus on financial freedom FIRST, everything else can come later. But i just didn't know any better... nobody told me... I didn't know about the fastlane forum.

I am very very angry at the system, and anytime i talk to kids nowadays I always try to impart some wisdom onto them, that college is not the only path in life, that jobs are F*ckin brutal 40 hour week prisons, that it will chip away at your sanity piece by piece. Most listen but do not learn, and i can't blame them.

Anyways, the problem is the lack of proper education, that's why 70% are dissatisfied.

 

[daivey]

I have a theory out of the blue regarding why 70% of people are dissatisfied.

Blame the school system for LYING and EMBELLISHING how GREAT and SECURE life is after college as an employee.
By the time all that brainwashing wears off, you're 50.

We're not taught the harsh realities of life when we're growing up, I personally can honestly tell you that I never really seriously thought about wtf my life is gonna look like after college when i was first applying to college. I had a hazy sense that i will graduate, become an engineer and life will be good, ill have a great job, settle down one day etc etc etc. Basically i figured that since i was doing everything RIGHT, going to school, not doing drugs, getting decent grades, going for a useful degree, that everything was gonna work out.

I lived most of my life in the school system bubble and I naively ignored that after college i might not get that great job. Also about 3.5 years into college it suddenly became apparent to me that im not gonna be an engineer, i didn't have the passion to be one. That's when i finally started learning how to make games. It's funny because when applying to college I had trouble choosing between 2 majors, game development or computer engineering. I chose engineering because it was more "professional" and i really did like computers since childhood and was very very curious as to how they worked at an advanced level.

So i literally went to college because i was curious about computers, not because of any job interests. Sadly in college you're forced to take so many bullshit classes, electives and shit... such a damn waste of time looking back.
I got what i always wanted though, i now know a metric shit-ton about computers, but at the cost of a cubicle job. NOT WORTH IT!

If i had to do it all over again, i'd focus on financial freedom FIRST, everything else can come later. But i just didn't know any better... nobody told me... I didn't know about the fastlane forum.

I am very very angry at the system, and anytime i talk to kids nowadays I always try to impart some wisdom onto them, that college is not the only path in life, that jobs are F*ckin brutal 40 hour week prisons, that it will chip away at your sanity piece by piece. Most listen but do not learn, and i can't blame them.

Anyways, the problem is the lack of proper education, that's why 70% are dissatisfied.

I agree. Academia is the greatest lie of our time. Go to university or be NOTHING.

You know who is to blame? The teachers. You see the teachers go to school, go to university, go to teachers college. They ONLY KNOW SCHOOL. Then they go back to school to teach our young about the IMPORTANCE OF GOING TO SCHOOL.

I am from Canada. Do you know what every one wants to do right now?? Everyone that I grew up with and went to high school with wants to become teachers.

Why??? Because it's a GREAT JOB, and because it's all they know.

All of them are in the queue. The Toronto district school board has so many applicants to become teachers that they had to change the way the system works. Can you believe that??? There are so many people that want to become teachers right now that the universities had to change how teachers college works and how it accepts applicants, and also how long the program actually lasts.

LOL can you believe that!!!!

All so that you can go back to school, and be a teacher. After 10 years of hard work, the union will let you make $95,000 a year. Summers off - kind of.

This is what the generation in Canada aspires to be. We will have so many teachers teaching, and no one freaking doing anything.

I'm not saying being a teacher is bad. I think it's a great job and a great thing to dedicate your life to. It's just interesting how society works.

 

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[Mike Kavanagh]

I was recently a free agent after the auto shop I worked at stopped paying me. (Another story, I won't be that grand ever [HASHTAG]#jobsecurity[/HASHTAG])
A family member of mine recent got a job with a fairly big company.
He told me the job is great. The company is great. They have great benefits.
I should get a job there.

When I got a job elsewhere (per part of my rent agreement with this family member) he kept trying to sell me.
He slipped up and said he gets a bonus if I say I used him as a referral.
I told him no. I'm not working on cars anymore.

Well a few weeks later I ask him how the job is. Guess what?
He hates it. He can't stand the politics and the name calling.
Backstabbing.

He's going to stay there and hope they'll let him move in a year.
Or hope that the housing market goes up and he can sell his chain for a newer chain elsewhere (in a different state with a better job).


Me?
I might be at the company I'm with for two months? Depends on how things go.
I did see a job Scottsdale that looked like it could support me in getting out on my own...

 

[Evil_Jester]

I'm the youngest guy in a small manufacturing/engineering company. A lot of people there are getting sick and old, but there are also a lot of talented people there. I think the reason these "old" guys/gals have been there forever is because they weren't given the same technological advantages when they were younger. They didn't have the internet when they were young. In those days you would have to start a chain restaurant or invent a physical product. By the time the internet came into their life, they had a family & kids, and were too far set in their ways.
Now, you can build a business with close to nothing in your bank account. All you need is effort.

 

[amp0193]

They ONLY KNOW SCHOOL. Then they go back to school to teach our young about the IMPORTANCE OF GOING TO SCHOOL.

Teacher here. I've literally never thought of this... but you're absolutely right. No one is there to teach the kids that there is an alternative, because none of the teachers had an alternative. Maybe it's just my school, but teachers are insufferable. It's a total groupthink, drone atmosphere, where free-thinking and contrary opinions are non-existent, and they are all slaves to the big standardized test.

Thankfully, I'm just the music guy, and no one gives a shit what I do.

 

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[daivey]

Teacher here. I've literally never thought of this... but you're absolutely right. No one is there to teach the kids that there is an alternative, because none of the teachers had an alternative. Maybe it's just my school, but teachers are insufferable. It's a total groupthink, drone atmosphere, where free-thinking and contrary opinions are non-existent, and they are all slaves to the big standardized test.

Thankfully, I'm just the music guy, and no one gives a shit what I do.

Yeah, in Canada the standardized test isn't as big. it's important, but not as big as it's in the USA from what I understand.

im not hating on teachers. but all i am saying is that there is a disconnect when everyone you know and everyone in university wants to become a teacher.

 

[luniac]

I agree. Academia is the greatest lie of our time. Go to university or be NOTHING.

You know who is to blame? The teachers. You see the teachers go to school, go to university, go to teachers college. They ONLY KNOW SCHOOL. Then they go back to school to teach our young about the IMPORTANCE OF GOING TO SCHOOL.

I am from Canada. Do you know what every one wants to do right now?? Everyone that I grew up with and went to high school with wants to become teachers.

Why??? Because it's a GREAT JOB, and because it's all they know.

All of them are in the queue. The Toronto district school board has so many applicants to become teachers that they had to change the way the system works. Can you believe that??? There are so many people that want to become teachers right now that the universities had to change how teachers college works and how it accepts applicants, and also how long the program actually lasts.

LOL can you believe that!!!!

All so that you can go back to school, and be a teacher. After 10 years of hard work, the union will let you make $95,000 a year. Summers off - kind of.

This is what the generation in Canada aspires to be. We will have so many teachers teaching, and no one freaking doing anything.

I'm not saying being a teacher is bad. I think it's a great job and a great thing to dedicate your life to. It's just interesting how society works.

True.
My best professor was this no F*cks given older rich dude who had government software contract experience(at least that's what i remember lol)
He was the one that let me make a game for our 1 year long senior design course.
let me repeat -> A GAME, for a computer engineering major!!!
I literally asked him on a whim, half jokingly because i never thought he or any other professor would allow that.
Most people worked on something the professors were researching, like robotics or computer vision or something.
He let me make a damn game! that gave me a great start on my game development journey, and is a big reason why im trying to break into the app fastlane now.
It's funny cause when i mentioned i wanted to make a game he got pretty excited and started telling me a story of how he was contracted to make a flight simulator for the government or something back in the 90's. I even got an A for both semesters! But i really did bust my a$$ on making the game.

Actually it's still here, i totally forgot! this is my senior design project.
http://www.indiedb.com/games/crazy-ball

The guy was awesome, he took the best students to a nice restaurant at the end of the semester, and he didn't give 2 shits that most of us cheated our asses of on the tests, im convinced he knew, the dude was very smart.

Funny cause although i cheated a ton for the tests, i ended up learning a ton as well. We were a small group with the hookup for older tests, which didn't change much so we all hudled together 1 hour before the real test and crammed it all into our minds LOL!!! and we also had a copy under our real test in class, it was crazy half the class got 100's on the test, and the professor had the nerve to write 100 on the board every time someone got one, it was hilarious!!

He also embarrassed 99% of the class day 1 by giving us a pop quiz on programming FUNDAMENTALS, and we all f*cked up badly. most people including me couldn't properly define things like "scope" and "lifetime" and variable types... horrible lol but very useful wake up call for all of us.

 

[Trevor Chaumont]

I like to read this post once a day to fuel my motivation. The time being, I am nearly this guy. Struggling to get through school and working in a fast food restaurant, every time I take a break I think of this story. I think of how much I do not want to be this man, how I will not allow myself to be this man. One way or another, I will not lead an ordinary life.

 

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[amp0193]

When you are a cog in the wheel, you don't matter. You are of no real significance, because other cogs of the same shape are ready to be inserted in your place at any time. As an employee, you are completely replaceable, and only exist to perform a set of functions or tasks.

Here are some lyrics from one of my favorite Ben Folds songs, Fred Jones Pt. 2, about an older guy getting let go from a job he'd had for 20 years.

There was no party, there were no songs
'Cause today's just a day like the day that he started
No one is left here that knows his first name
And life barrels on like a runaway train
Where the passengers change
They don't change anything
You get off, someone else can get on

 

[ryanbleau]

end of this month is my circled date. been working 16 hours a day 7 days a week between my "job" and my business. Today the wife told me to pick one. Not the choice she thought I was going to make.

 

[Shades]

Teacher here. I've literally never thought of this... but you're absolutely right. No one is there to teach the kids that there is an alternative, because none of the teachers had an alternative. Maybe it's just my school, but teachers are insufferable. It's a total groupthink, drone atmosphere, where free-thinking and contrary opinions are non-existent, and they are all slaves to the big standardized test.

Thankfully, I'm just the music guy, and no one gives a shit what I do.

99% of teachers aren't going to change anyones life for the better. But sometimes there are great ones. Well.... maybe that is probably something that will die out too as youth takes over. But I had a "Business Math" teacher in HS that is the one who started to change my world view. For like 15 min each class he would share different articles with us about like young real estate investors etc..... Basically trying to open our minds to the idea that there are many ways to tackle life, going to college isnt the only way to succeed. That is all it can take at that age. Its like it starts to make the gears working in a part of the brain that never got turned on before.

 

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[Rigged]

Thank you Vigilante, caught some goosebumbs here and there.

 

[welshmin]

99% of teachers aren't going to change anyones life for the better. But sometimes there are great ones. Well.... maybe that is probably something that will die out too as youth takes over. But I had a "Business Math" teacher in HS that is the one who started to change my world view. For like 15 min each class he would share different articles with us about like young real estate investors etc..... Basically trying to open our minds to the idea that there are many ways to tackle life, going to college isnt the only way to succeed. That is all it can take at that age. Its like it starts to make the gears working in a part of the brain that never got turned on before.

Agreed, you don't know what there is til someone tells you. Sometimes awareness is all it takes to fuel the hunger. That's when things start to really click.

That trigger is different in everyone's mind. Maybe not everyone has one, but I think for anyone with the capability for ambition, there's an event or an idea or an observation that will start the snowball rolling.

For me, it was the millionaire fastlane . Really lit a fire under my a$$.