When allergies attack!
Here is why I love literature:
"In the help-wanteds there were thousands of boring jobs and no interesting jobs. Until you opened the help-wanteds it was possible to forget that the essence of the average person's job, which was: you perform this soul-killing "data entry" or "telemarketing" or "word-processing" function and we will reluctantly give ou money.
"The help-wanteds were even sadder than the personals. "Very attractive benefits package," some promised. (STUNNING BLUE-EYED SWF, fortyish but looks 25, seeks . . . ) Was there anyone in the world who was independent, highly motivated, creative, and possessed of a minimum five yrs exp w/T-1s, SDLC, HDLC and 3270 BISYNC? And if such a dream candidate did exist, would it not be suspicious in the extreme if he or she were looking for a job? Ads like these seemed to have been placed as bitter ceremonial reminders, lest anybody think that corporations did not, like everyone else, have needs and desires that could not be satisfied.
"At the other end of the scale were the laconic one-liners seeking watchmen or receptionists and mentioning no benefits or wages; ads like ugly prostitutes who, on the plus side, didn't ask much.
"Running a business was clearly nothing but unpleasant trouble. Companies wanted good employees and did not want bad emplyees. But the bad employees were eager to stay and take the companies' money, while the good employees were eager to leave and work for competitors. To Louis all the thousands of jobs listed in the paper seemed like noxious effluents that the companies were trying to pay people to take off their hands. How they hated to have to pay so much and offer such juicy "benefits" to be rid of these noxious duties! How they wished it weren't so! He could feel their anger at the expense of disposing of all this garbage. The top executives dumped the problem on the personnel department, and the people in personnel wore plastic suits easily mistaken for faces and personalities. Their job was to handle the poisonous but inevitable employment by-products without letting them come in contact with their skin. Their cordiality was guaranteed non-stick. It was 100 percent impermeable."
--Jonathan Franzen, Strong Motion, p. 145-146
Here is why I love literature:
"In the help-wanteds there were thousands of boring jobs and no interesting jobs. Until you opened the help-wanteds it was possible to forget that the essence of the average person's job, which was: you perform this soul-killing "data entry" or "telemarketing" or "word-processing" function and we will reluctantly give ou money.
"The help-wanteds were even sadder than the personals. "Very attractive benefits package," some promised. (STUNNING BLUE-EYED SWF, fortyish but looks 25, seeks . . . ) Was there anyone in the world who was independent, highly motivated, creative, and possessed of a minimum five yrs exp w/T-1s, SDLC, HDLC and 3270 BISYNC? And if such a dream candidate did exist, would it not be suspicious in the extreme if he or she were looking for a job? Ads like these seemed to have been placed as bitter ceremonial reminders, lest anybody think that corporations did not, like everyone else, have needs and desires that could not be satisfied.
"At the other end of the scale were the laconic one-liners seeking watchmen or receptionists and mentioning no benefits or wages; ads like ugly prostitutes who, on the plus side, didn't ask much.
"Running a business was clearly nothing but unpleasant trouble. Companies wanted good employees and did not want bad emplyees. But the bad employees were eager to stay and take the companies' money, while the good employees were eager to leave and work for competitors. To Louis all the thousands of jobs listed in the paper seemed like noxious effluents that the companies were trying to pay people to take off their hands. How they hated to have to pay so much and offer such juicy "benefits" to be rid of these noxious duties! How they wished it weren't so! He could feel their anger at the expense of disposing of all this garbage. The top executives dumped the problem on the personnel department, and the people in personnel wore plastic suits easily mistaken for faces and personalities. Their job was to handle the poisonous but inevitable employment by-products without letting them come in contact with their skin. Their cordiality was guaranteed non-stick. It was 100 percent impermeable."
--Jonathan Franzen, Strong Motion, p. 145-146
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