The Modern Age of Work: The Corporate World

When I walked into work this morning, it was to the same issues I have known since I started this job. I see the building and I think, ‘Here we go!’ I stroll in, to be greeted by the security man, who is a ray of sunshine to the place, and he’ll crack a joke forcing a momentary smile upon my face. I’ll then walk into the office. This is where the day takes its turn. I’ll glance at the clock and be grateful that I made it in on time given I can feel the eyes of the manager upon me, and passing through the office I can’t help but note how every individual is either entirely consumed by their computer screen, or doing anything and everything to avoid it. This is the disparity of the modern-age monsters of the workplace: the workaholics and the faithless.


What am I talking about? I am referring to those people that are so driven by the seeming importance of work that it is as though they have forgotten the importance of people. These are the people that are given a pat on the back by seniority for depriving themselves of sleep, food and human contact for working all the hours we are blessed with in order to hit ever-growing targets and deadlines. The workaholics have their sights on the end goal for career success whilst they work beside and in sharp contrast with ‘the faithless.’ ‘The faithless’ spend their days feeling trapped, swiftly losing hope and desire for progression, and instead find themselves increasingly caught up in company politics and coffee break gossip- who slept with who, who got reprimanded, who’s pregnant…and really, who cares?! Here exists the lost individuals that as children dreamed of being pop stars, doctors, astronauts, policemen and high-flying lawyers, had a beautiful naïve faith that in this world anything is possible, but one day woke up to a 9 to 5 desk job, a mortgage and a life of responsibility.


How did they get so far from their dreams? Well, I can take a guess. From the day I finished my degree, there were hints about jobs. Two weeks after my graduation ceremony, following more interviews than I care to remember, I was inundated and consumed with the pressure attached to bold statements directed at me bearing our preceding generation’s view: take a job, any job…and start financing yourself.


What happened to that inspiring view that I could be anything I wanted to be? Reality check! The cost of living means you have to constantly work harder just to meet inflation on essentials – let alone those shoes I’ve been eyeing up! Who can afford to wait for that ideal opportunity or take out the time to research, apply and interview to succeed?


In an age that prides itself on diversity, equal rights and liberty to be anything that you dream of if you work for it, I have to question whether the lack of coherency between people in employment and people happy at work is because we are a lazy generation of excuse-makers, or simply a generation that is victimised by a slave-driving capitalist society? Should people be actively seeking to better themselves, asking for greater responsibilities, further opportunities and other training? Undoubtedly. But, looking down the rat-race train home, I see face after sun-starved, sleep-deprived and overly-stressed face. I would suggest that this generation is taught one thing about achieving success in commerce: self-sacrifice.


Encapsulated by the very nature of the Blackberry, my concerns are realised. Today is an age of enslavement to the inability of letting go. I believe in family time; I believe that you should work to live, and after a hard honest days work; I believe you have earned the right to switch off your work phone, stop checking your e-mails, and just enjoy some quality time with your family and friends. I fear that our society is dictated by an economy which values competition and profit over everything.


Competition forces the need for cost-efficiency; so, where do we cut costs? People. Cutting back on staff, reducing holiday leave and increasing working hours is the shortcut to reducing the product or service price or increase profit margins. Worse still, the competitiveness of the candidate pool caused by the recession’s employment contraction, means that refusal to comply portends replacement. In effect, our nation is driven by the greed and demands of shareholders who continue to want more. There is no end to this human vice, but why has the whole nation bowed down to the monetary rat-race at the expense of the very things we work to support: family, friends and life?


Is it not a contributing factor to the breakdown of families, the growth of depression and stress? There is a need for a work/life balance; urgency for the repairing of our social values. How do we reinstate faith in those that have lost all sense of it in their potential? How do we motivate those that have lost it? How do we stop the workaholics from feeling obligated to work? It is time to confront what society expects of its people; from the pressure on children in schools as young as four meeting educational targets, to those in the workplace confronted with ever-tightening deadlines and ever-distant targets. Our nation needs to see the value in taking a step-back to appreciate and enjoy the life and career-path chosen, or work on changing it.


There is not a day that goes by where I ask someone how their day was to be met with a story about frustrating management or the lack of organisation, communication and enjoyment in their company. I constantly question, why? You will spend the largest part of your living day at work and it is the single largest factor that defines your lifestyle, this should be a point of pride for you, something that leaves you feeling satisfied and rewarded, whether that be monetarily or in satisfaction of your day’s achievement. Refocus on what you want out of your career. Plan how you are going to achieve it. Speak up and move forward. Don’t let your voice be drowned out in the crowd. The security blanket of a job will not fly anyone to touch the stars and make dreams a reality. That comes with exertion, optimism and faith that you are in control, bettering yourself, and moving on to great things. There is untapped star quality in every individual, the ultimate challenge is not to simply get through the day’s politics, or to hit that looming deadline, but to unleash those qualities and be all that you can. Conducted with pride and without obsession, work becomes a personal accomplishment, a part of who you are and a part of the legacy you leave behind in this world for generations to come.

The F* Word

Sitting in the hairdressers, mid-dye, I was mortified to find a tall, dark, handsome type plonk himself in the seat next to me and steal the attention of my favourite hair stylist...his phones rang off the hook whilst he was charming every woman in sight, well, everyone except me. In fact, despite a stunning introduction, he didn't even seem to notice me. Facebook caused our paths to cross again (when he recognised me in a friend's photos), and before I knew it, I was finally whisked away from a seven-month Bridget Jones-esque singleton spell. I had no intentions of being bored to death over yet another unimaginative date, but, like Hitch stated: 'Basic Principles - no woman wakes up saying "God, I hope I don't get swept off my feet today!" So, when he asked, I agreed to meet him.


They say when you aren’t looking for it, that’s when it finds you, and it was amidst my preaching that chivalry was clearly dead, here appeared this charming and attentive gentleman, who by some twist of fate, had wound up at a dinner table...with me. You see, we grow up with Cinderella like a bible, believing that we are all fated to find true love and happiness with the arrival of our prince charming, who will obviously whisk us away to live happily ever after. I reasoned that if mine just so happens to be this hairdresser-stealing stranger, then so be it. He was “different”: interesting, funny, charismatic, considerate, enticing...open with his experiences and closed with his thoughts, he was literally a walking contradiction.


And that was the start of the trouble: intrigue. He seemed too perfect...My question? Was this going to be my Romeo, or a Casanova? You all know about Romeo. He is the archetypal romantic that fought everyone and everything to be with his true love; without her he would cease to exist. But he, like Cinderella's Prince Charming, is a fiction. The other historical romantic? Casanova: the world's most infamous womaniser. He was an intellectual law graduate with an outstanding ability for evading the police, escaping imprisonment and stealing the hearts of women as he got expelled from country to country for sexual scandal: an adrenaline junkie that lived for the moment, searching for fortune, and his next enticing challenge.

Casanova is exactly what you expect your Romeo or Prince Charming to be...they save the damsel in distress, seduce her and then embark on a lustful affair, but Casanova, our real life character, gets bored, and then makes for a getaway. It is this man that I encounter today. Men that will be the gentleman you desire, a man who showers you with words of affection, presents gestures of adoration, and inevitably wiggles his way into your life...and then? Well, then there is the revelation that he has a problem with the F* word: fidelity. As you discover he has not been exclusive to you, your world comes crashing down and you are left with a decision, leave wounded, or stick around for a little more heartache. Sound familiar? Well, it rings true to my prince charming look-alike.


The symptoms were there: reasons why 'we' had to be a secret, phone locks, rumours of others, and he was always 'seeing a man about a dog'...which I guess is code for, what I do when I'm not with you is none of your business. Despite declarations of care, love and thought, there was a huge flaw: he was caught out, hand-in-hand with another girl. It brought me tumbling down from cloud nine, and while I was sitting there trying to work out how I let this happen, I couldn't help but question; where have this generation of Casanovas arisen from? Where did all the Romeos go? Is there a prince charming? A happily ever after? Or is my beloved Cinderella story an outdated tale I shouldn't tell my baby sister?


I consulted a good friend, who told me bluntly, 'Romance is dead.' Sharp and to the point, his words were like glass shattering. 'The problem starts with how a relationship starts....The general foundation for a relationship is now when two people who are sleeping together decide to be formal and exclusive. Where's the romance?' I was mortified. The romance surely was in the dating, the getting to know each other? But it’s true, there is a pressure to rush everything, and the chase is almost over before it's begun. Are our lifestyles responsible? The media presents a world of infidelity. Hugh Hefner has a made an empire out of the Casanovian playboy lifestyle, has he not? Temptation is the most attractive thing on the planet and indulgence is what mass marketing tells us to do. The word 'affair' suggests scandal, desire and sensuality that is far more seductive than the word 'commitment'.

In a world where careers are priorities, divorce is as common as toast, and sex is as taboo as cupcakes, there can surely be no surprise that monogamy seems foreign? Our world is fast paced and disposable. We meet fast, and leave fast too. If things become hard work, it's ready to be dropped...at least to a part time position. The common logic is that we are only guilty if caught. Whatsmore, there is mass confusion about what men and women want. “Treat 'em mean, and keep 'em keen?” Really? Well, yes, if you want to keep someone keen to stay single! My Casanova was convinced that I, and every other woman he'd met, wanted a 'bad boy'. He couldn't have been further from the truth. It was ironically his gentlemanly ways, the way he humoured kids, the way he treated those less able than him, and the way he put things in perspective for me that made him attractive. Hold a door...what does it cost you? Pay a compliment...didn't your mother tell you it's polite? And when you have all that covered, don't screw around...it's just common sense. Make a lady feel like she's seen as a lady, and she will respond like one.


Let’s take Pretty Woman, our modern day Cinderella story, is a story that shows this fairytale is as possible in this day and age as it ever was. Two people from worlds apart who, in the face of everything find themselves colliding on one path: the slightly less obvious damsel, who is more of a fallen angel than the face of one and in this day and age, walks, talks and dresses with attitude, and of course there is our hero who, eventually, after a lot of 'umming' and 'erring' realised that this was the woman of his dreams, a woman worth fighting for, and would compromise his lifestyle to keep her.


Fact or fiction? Well, I only have to look to my own home to see it. Two people from polar worlds that fatefully collided. Two people that now couldn't operate without each other. Two people that have become each other's air. Two people that live for no other but each other. They moved to a land far, far away and have just had the most handsome son, and the fairest little lady that eyes have ever seen. Now, I can't imagine ever settling for anything less, and given that even Bridget Jones got hers, I trust that there is a 'happily-ever-after' possible for everyone...even our legendary playboy Casanova ended up with (no woman, but) the thing he loved the most: the story of himself.


The playin' Casanovas are a growing breed; the true Romeos are a dying number. If we live a fast life, we take on a fast love life: it comes with the territory. I'll tell my baby sister the magical tale of Cinderella and I'll tell her the story of the controversial Casanova in the hope that, as she grows up, the Casanovas won't ruin her belief that someday her Prince Charming will find her. I'll tell her to take it easy. I'll tell her to trust herself and her judgement, but most importantly to only give her heart to the one that earns it...not to Mr. Right Now, but to Mr. Right! I guess it’s just a case of kissing a few frogs before the real deal appears!