Years ago, I had a roommate struggling with debt and inability to hold down a job. She was talking with her boyfriend online about committing suicide. He lived about an hour away and couldn’t get ahold of me, so he ended up calling 911. Police came to our door and forced her to go to a mental evaluation by ambulance. They held her for 4 hours, told her she’s fine, and gave her a nice $4000 ambulance bill to add to her debt. Yay America!!
We have a program, Portland Street Response, that tries to be a substitute for police when dealing with mental crisis response, especially our large population of homeless people. It was making a difference, then the politician backing it was voted out of office. Her replacement has deprived it of funding. It’s very frustrating to see at the worst time.
We recently had a presentation covering burnout and strategies to overcome it.
It was sort of hilarious.
They correctly identified that burnout is rooted in excess responsibilities, but neglected to mention that feeling a lack of control plays an huge part. They also covered that people can feel unrecognized for their efforts but weirdly seemed to skip over any mention of how an insufficient reward for efforts plays a part, too.
Their suggestions to address it were all employee-focused: Stay away from negative people. (What, so you all can’t talk about how much the job sucks?) Mediate. Practice gratitude. Set boundaries in your home life, so you’re not so stretched thin. (But not your work life?)
They clumsily and quite obviously avoided the question of what role the employer plays in workplace burnout.
It was a bit sad to watch the poor trainer in action. I know they’re just trying to make sure the gleaming maw of capitalism remains unblemished by the flesh of those it consumes, but woof.
I actually walked away from the presentation with a less positive outlook on my employer than I had before I attended.
When up is down, and left is right, and black is white, and in is out, and rich is - well we don’t talk about that - it’s no wonder that people feel all twisted inside. It’s like everyone in a position of authority is trying to lie to them!? (probably b/c everyone in a position of authority is trying to lie to them)
Which causes people to turn towards religion. Which causes them to vote for Donald Trump. Which causes the downturn of society, which causes… dayum, can this ever end in anything but death?
Sadly, I think not. The golden era of 50s & 60s are gone, and they are NEVER coming back. Plan to have a roommate, I guess, for the rest of your life…
Absolutely, and I think it gets skewed even further by e.g. many TV shows and movies not even showing the presence of minorities at all. It’s a collective blanket that gets pulled over people’s heads.
But also, certain parts were legit better too (even as other parts were much worse), like there was an extremely brief period where the USA was not in one of the variety of forever wars, and supposedly a minimum wage really was a living wage somehow, at some point? (I’m not sure how many people got paid the *minimum" though, certainly fruit pickers would not be).
As I listen to people like the comedian George Carlin, who was talking about it before it happened and yet managed to lay it all out for us in advance, I realize that things were always going to head in this direction, and it was never going to be any different.
Therefore, for the sake of our own sanity, I think we need to let that go: it’s never going to happen. The USA might not even survive the decade (imagine Trump winning, but even if he doesn’t, is there any doubt that a GQP member will take the one after that? historically speaking, Dems never win successive elections), and if it does then the Dems will just cite how Congress blocked them at every turn, blaming the other side for why even with a majority they won’t pass any laws related to e.g. school shootings.
If any of those "freely provided resources" can identify you, they're gonna tell hr about it, who will then find a way to fire you before your problems become their problems. That's the "early intervention" corporations are paying those services to provide.
Sad but true. When I was struggling with anxiety and overwork, I complained to HR they said, "Well you should try to be happy. We want our employees to feel happy." The End.
Would be more true if they stabbed the hand, because after they suggest budgeting, that employee will be put on a list and be first in line to be terminated due to being incompatible with the work culture of pretending to be shiny and happy living in subsistence.
It really is. We have to do a yearly health incentive thing that requires going through PowerPoint about certain topics. This is exactly the kind of shit.
“Feeling sad? Try a salad! Some greens are sure to put you in a good mood?”
“Grief got you down? A funny movie is sure to cheer you up?”
“Want to retire by 65? Put 70% of each paycheck into a high interest high risk account!”
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