Once again, it appears we work more than anyone else on the planet. Not me, of course. The asinine suggestion that working more shows character doesn't work with me. I'm not going to work more hours to dilute my salary down to what becomes a retail wage in hourly terms. No thanks.
Every time this story comes out, I scratch my head and wonder what drives people to do this. The Man still doesn't give a shit about you, and all that extra work only makes The Man richer. Take a fucking vacation. Knit a sweater. Ride a roller coaster. Watch a season of TV shows on DVD all in one day. For God's sake, let go of this sense of obligation to The Man.
What's really hard to get my head around is the fact that we as a nation are excelling in so few areas of the global marketplace. Some companies with "dot com" in the name are leading the world, but everyone else is behind Asia. If all that work was leading to innovation and market dominance, that'd be one thing, but it's clearly not.
The other ironic thing is all the bitching and moaning about how Gen-X, Gen-Y, "millennials" or whatever stupid term the media comes up with, are lazy whiny slackers who rely on their mommies to get ahead in the world. My ass. Not only is it a stupid generalization, it's obviously not true since they're working stupid hours too.
Some suggest that it's greed that drives the long hours, but I'm not sure I buy that. At least, I don't see that in people I know. There are a lot of people of all ages wrapped up in the due-paying myth that will help them rise to some great title, and that's annoying (see: The Man not caring about you).
I just wonder when work became a lifestyle. I'm OK with the fact that some professions and businesses require it to be a lifestyle, and if you're enjoying yourself, that's cool. But why John Q. Workerbee wants to bust his ass for the best years of his life with no real return on investment for that time is beyond me.