I’m back in the pastel shade environment of an office again. 2 weeks temping over Easter to bolster the waning bank account funds.

Each time I return to work for the ‘soul eaters’ it strikes me what a false environment the modern office is. They are like a pillar of capitalism, a well designed machine that breeds conformity. In one respect, the office is kind of like a modern day church.

Everything about them is designed to promote conformity to the organisational goals, from the lay out of the office floor to the job titles to the corporate philosophy…everything is about one thing, making money.

But something doesn’t work in the modern office…the staff. Literally, they don’t work. From my experience people probably do actual work for half of the day (if that). The rest of the time is spent staring into space, browsing the internet, emailing, having fag breaks or whatever else people do.

So why would this be the case? Frustration? Boredom? Lack of interest in the work? Feeling undervalued? Feeling out of control? Probably a combination of all of these things, but mainly, I think people have no interests in their jobs.

Now as we all know, most office jobs are really boring and most office workers say it’s the people they work with who save them* but what a reason to stay and how can that be compensation enough? The routine seems to be that many people end up living a lot of their social life through people in the office too. Again I cannot relate to this, whether there are people I like or not, if I spend all day at work with them, I don’t want to go straight to the pub with them on a Friday and be drunk before dinner time. Working 9-5 in an office means you spend more time with your colleagues than with your family, friends or partner.

It seems to me that people are loosing hope. They get a job, get used to the salary, get in debt and before you know it they are dependent on their income to pay off their debts and ties. So there is a trap that stops them leaving, the fear lingers that they cannot take a pay cut or work less. A few years pass and whatever degree they have or previous experience becomes obsolete due to the time lapsed and then they panic that they are getting older and need a stable career to avoid earning less than 20k their whole lives.

The office is the key stone to capitalism. Without it the system would fail as most office workers pump so much into the system that collapse is imminent without them. What is more so many of the jobs are not really required? People’s lack of productivity (due to no motivation or enjoyment from their jobs) means more people are hired than would be needed if everyone actually worked. Then bring in the latest fad of project managers and bring in more directors to invent projects for them to do. Before you know it, a network of people exists to do jobs that have been created simply to justify other jobs. The whole system is futile and archaic in structure and what is more, who pays for all this? The consumer that’s who. And who is probably the most prolific consumers…the office workers and alike. Is it just me or is there an immense irony in here somewhere?

Perhaps I am over analysing it too much, but I don’t think so. This ‘modern’ age where data is the most valuable commodity is destroying us as so many workers seem to have no idea why they do their job. Nobody seems to see the link between working and survival anymore. Its more like an endless barrage of work which is broken up by a rather pathetic pay cheque each month which is then spent on consuming to cover over the fact people are depressed and see no connection between working and surviving. Consumption consumes the consumer and depression is momentarily lifted by acquiring more goods, but these are short lived and the process must be repeated. So another month is worked and more debt is built and the trap gets deeper and deeper.

And of course, the real problem is that if everyone wised up to it they would consume less which would mean business made less profit and more people would be out of a job. As a society we are stuck in this trap where we need all the futile jobs to keep society going and to keep people employed. But at the same time, the dissolution with having to do so is tearing society apart from the inside.

Perhaps I am just paranoid!


* Regrettably, this is rarely compensation for me. I have met some lovely people in offices, but generally, they are frustrated people who I have nothing in common with.