The “face to face” line in that job description means you will not be allowed to wear a mask. Just like when a recruiter sent me one that said “the ability to smile at customers at all times”. Ick
I have to admit the subsidized egg freezing is a smart way to trap women.
It’s the new COBRA for people who can’t afford to lose health insurance if they leave their job.
“Sure this job got really abusive but if you quit can you afford to keep your future children frozen or are you killing them??”
It’s a trap. My grandma was born in 1909 and she became a doctor of public health. She married an attorney for HUD who ended up dying from leukemia when my grandma’s youngest child was 16. Even back in the 40s my grandma didn’t have her 1st baby until her 30s, her last one at age 41.
And because of this, because they could afford to hire nannies so she could go back to work, she was able to build enough wealth that when she lost her husband she was OK. And when my mom got divorced in the late 70s my grandma could sign for apartments and provide my mom with financial assistance that helped us all survive.
This is why women need to be able to make the choice to work if they want to work, and to have babies if they want to have babies, and to do both if they can and want to.
I’m anti-capitalism, I’m really pro choice, and I have a hard time being so anti-capitalism that I think women shouldn’t be encouraged to work. It would be great if we didn’t have to but that’s not the world we live in. And I would much rather see women be a slave to capitalism than end up a slave to an abusive man.
This is one of the most relatable and insightful things that I've read on Substack. It really is hell out there. However, this late-stage capitalism will pave the way for fascism. We have some scary times coming up ahead.
Great post, very astute and sobering. It is very depressing out there right now. I am lucky I have work but my one of my jobs is very physical and some current health problems are making it challenging. Also I think women over 50 are invisible in the job market.
The overall picture in the USA and the world is very bleak for many of these reasons you have described. And yet we have to be there for one another as best we can.
You are NOT alone. I am suddenly at a quite advanced age assailed by "recruiters", loving my resumé, which they obtained I know not where, and offering me work I cannot possibly place in any context that draws on any expertise or even baseline skill exhibited by said resumé. And moreover, which would surely lead to my placing an explosive object nearby my cranium should I accept the gig. They're out there looking for temporary idiot-drones to do the work of instantiating the AI economy for the oligarchs who want the rest of us dead anyway is my guess.
I’ve seen a lot of memes that say American’s love socialism until you call it socialism. But the flipside is that most Americans hate capitalism so long as you don’t call it capitalism. My favorite example is watching House Hunters International where people talk about leaving the U.S. because they want to have a good “work life balance”. What they’re really saying is that capitalism is working them to death and that they have to leave the country in order to have a life. But I bet if asked them if them if liked capitalism they would say they do.
I don't think it started with covid, I think it started with our determination to ignore climate change. From the forward-thinking environmental movement -- stopping DDT, cleaning up the water, caring about "smog" -- we switched during the Reagan years to prioritizing the economy. And when the fossil fuel companies learned about their effects, and scientists reported on it, no one wanted to hear it. We became a society actively involved in promoting our own cancers. Stopping now would mean acknowledging that we've allowed the empire to distract us with bread and circuses and Rome is fully engulfed in flames.
I've been applying for content jobs and the first 20 or 30 results of my Indeed search are all AI training roles with the same company. They are hiring desperate people to train AI that puts them out of work - then they will never be able to make money again. I wish people wouldn't play the game. Turkeys voting for Christmas.
Having said that, I am less concerned about AI than I was a year ago. The content it churns out seems shitter, needs more editing. Is this because the training models are cannibalizing AI-generated content now? Is that why they're hiring humans to do it? Obviously a lot of advertisers will be happy with shit content and a lot of people are going to lose their work, but I wonder if there's likely to be a market for higher-quality human-written content for the next decade or so? I could be totally off the mark, what do folks reckon?
I’m “liking” this post not because its message pleases me, but because I appreciate its tragic but accurate insights. I suspect—or perhaps hope--that your authoring of it indicates you haven’t totally given up, which in turn gives me a glimmer of hope.
Even though I have been comfortably retired for eight years, the “just kill me now” sentiment deeply resonated. The other day I was trying to come up with a new word to describe how I sometimes feel on those days when “neurodivergent” just seems inadequate and incomplete. I briefly thought that “anthrodivergent” might be it…until discovering that Anthropologie sells a little black mini dress they call “Anthro Divergent.” I wanted to know what my 21 year-old granddaughter’s opinion might be and she was thoroughly appalled. It’s so nice when disgust and despair bring people together. You seem to have a real talent for it too.
Yes. I’ve stepped out three years ago and with no ability to hone my cv for any vacancy and offer all my time to regen early stage Bioregional work . Poverty is real bounce back and unable to pay notifications from my bus card and my apps are very real. and so is the absence of universal basic income for
I'd wonder whether it was AI churning out these job / skill set descriptions but that would mean they've been doing it since the 80s.
Can only wish you luck - but how's about promoting yourself as an Executive Canine Happiness Engineer (dog walker) or even an Environment and Microclimate Nurturer (gardener). Sadly, automatic drink machines took the jobs of Executive Beverage Coordinators years back.
One of, if not your best piece yet. I made these realizations, saw the endless, institutionalized lies and intrinsic corruptions and abuses early. As well as the lock-step narratives and acceptance of such by the vast majority. It made for a strange existence, in a strange world. The part I am glad about, was realizing creating more sentient life, was not going to change it for them. And that despite getting by in that world, if I was distressed by its intrinsic deceits, why would I sentence anyone else to it?
Thanks, Nate, for another great piece. You are on my short list of writers I need to read. Grateful for your talent, your insight & willingness to connect uncomfortable dots--and your sardonic sense of humor.
One of the most relatable and insightful things I’ve read on here. The connection between feeling directionless and nationalism is real.
Thanks for that
The “face to face” line in that job description means you will not be allowed to wear a mask. Just like when a recruiter sent me one that said “the ability to smile at customers at all times”. Ick
I have to admit the subsidized egg freezing is a smart way to trap women.
It’s the new COBRA for people who can’t afford to lose health insurance if they leave their job.
“Sure this job got really abusive but if you quit can you afford to keep your future children frozen or are you killing them??”
It’s a trap. My grandma was born in 1909 and she became a doctor of public health. She married an attorney for HUD who ended up dying from leukemia when my grandma’s youngest child was 16. Even back in the 40s my grandma didn’t have her 1st baby until her 30s, her last one at age 41.
And because of this, because they could afford to hire nannies so she could go back to work, she was able to build enough wealth that when she lost her husband she was OK. And when my mom got divorced in the late 70s my grandma could sign for apartments and provide my mom with financial assistance that helped us all survive.
This is why women need to be able to make the choice to work if they want to work, and to have babies if they want to have babies, and to do both if they can and want to.
I’m anti-capitalism, I’m really pro choice, and I have a hard time being so anti-capitalism that I think women shouldn’t be encouraged to work. It would be great if we didn’t have to but that’s not the world we live in. And I would much rather see women be a slave to capitalism than end up a slave to an abusive man.
This is one of the most relatable and insightful things that I've read on Substack. It really is hell out there. However, this late-stage capitalism will pave the way for fascism. We have some scary times coming up ahead.
Great post, very astute and sobering. It is very depressing out there right now. I am lucky I have work but my one of my jobs is very physical and some current health problems are making it challenging. Also I think women over 50 are invisible in the job market.
The overall picture in the USA and the world is very bleak for many of these reasons you have described. And yet we have to be there for one another as best we can.
You are NOT alone. I am suddenly at a quite advanced age assailed by "recruiters", loving my resumé, which they obtained I know not where, and offering me work I cannot possibly place in any context that draws on any expertise or even baseline skill exhibited by said resumé. And moreover, which would surely lead to my placing an explosive object nearby my cranium should I accept the gig. They're out there looking for temporary idiot-drones to do the work of instantiating the AI economy for the oligarchs who want the rest of us dead anyway is my guess.
I’ve seen a lot of memes that say American’s love socialism until you call it socialism. But the flipside is that most Americans hate capitalism so long as you don’t call it capitalism. My favorite example is watching House Hunters International where people talk about leaving the U.S. because they want to have a good “work life balance”. What they’re really saying is that capitalism is working them to death and that they have to leave the country in order to have a life. But I bet if asked them if them if liked capitalism they would say they do.
I don't think it started with covid, I think it started with our determination to ignore climate change. From the forward-thinking environmental movement -- stopping DDT, cleaning up the water, caring about "smog" -- we switched during the Reagan years to prioritizing the economy. And when the fossil fuel companies learned about their effects, and scientists reported on it, no one wanted to hear it. We became a society actively involved in promoting our own cancers. Stopping now would mean acknowledging that we've allowed the empire to distract us with bread and circuses and Rome is fully engulfed in flames.
I've been applying for content jobs and the first 20 or 30 results of my Indeed search are all AI training roles with the same company. They are hiring desperate people to train AI that puts them out of work - then they will never be able to make money again. I wish people wouldn't play the game. Turkeys voting for Christmas.
Having said that, I am less concerned about AI than I was a year ago. The content it churns out seems shitter, needs more editing. Is this because the training models are cannibalizing AI-generated content now? Is that why they're hiring humans to do it? Obviously a lot of advertisers will be happy with shit content and a lot of people are going to lose their work, but I wonder if there's likely to be a market for higher-quality human-written content for the next decade or so? I could be totally off the mark, what do folks reckon?
I’m “liking” this post not because its message pleases me, but because I appreciate its tragic but accurate insights. I suspect—or perhaps hope--that your authoring of it indicates you haven’t totally given up, which in turn gives me a glimmer of hope.
Even though I have been comfortably retired for eight years, the “just kill me now” sentiment deeply resonated. The other day I was trying to come up with a new word to describe how I sometimes feel on those days when “neurodivergent” just seems inadequate and incomplete. I briefly thought that “anthrodivergent” might be it…until discovering that Anthropologie sells a little black mini dress they call “Anthro Divergent.” I wanted to know what my 21 year-old granddaughter’s opinion might be and she was thoroughly appalled. It’s so nice when disgust and despair bring people together. You seem to have a real talent for it too.
Yes. I’ve stepped out three years ago and with no ability to hone my cv for any vacancy and offer all my time to regen early stage Bioregional work . Poverty is real bounce back and unable to pay notifications from my bus card and my apps are very real. and so is the absence of universal basic income for
I'd wonder whether it was AI churning out these job / skill set descriptions but that would mean they've been doing it since the 80s.
Can only wish you luck - but how's about promoting yourself as an Executive Canine Happiness Engineer (dog walker) or even an Environment and Microclimate Nurturer (gardener). Sadly, automatic drink machines took the jobs of Executive Beverage Coordinators years back.
One of, if not your best piece yet. I made these realizations, saw the endless, institutionalized lies and intrinsic corruptions and abuses early. As well as the lock-step narratives and acceptance of such by the vast majority. It made for a strange existence, in a strange world. The part I am glad about, was realizing creating more sentient life, was not going to change it for them. And that despite getting by in that world, if I was distressed by its intrinsic deceits, why would I sentence anyone else to it?
Thanks, Nate, for another great piece. You are on my short list of writers I need to read. Grateful for your talent, your insight & willingness to connect uncomfortable dots--and your sardonic sense of humor.
Thank you Les
Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.
Side note: Love your Substack handle.
Thank you for this essay. So many people are navigating a job search with these feelings right now.