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Curmudgeon Bastard: Uniquely American
According to a recent New York Times article, more and more people who take commuter trains into New York City are getting to work earlier and staying later so they can put in more hours at their jobs.
One married stockbroker noted how he gets up at 4:25 am so he can put in several hours worth of work, including checking the 200 e-mails that have accumulated overnight, before his colleagues stroll in at the leisurely time of 7:15.
What is it about the American psyche that compels so many people to bear abusively long work hours, and then brag about it as some sort of badge of honor? I don't know about you, but I actually like my wife and would prefer to spend a few more hours with her each morning instead of hunched over a Blackberry reading a message from Hideki in Tokyo advising me to dump all stock in the new hedge fund before the indictments are handed down.
Given that the United States is the home to more people who are rich and famous for no discernable reason (see Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Donald Trump, et al.) than any other, shouldn't we be over that whole Protestant work ethic thing by now?
Blue collar people know that corporations squeeze as much work out of their employees as humanly possible while paying them as little as they can until they can farm their jobs out to Bangalore for a tenth the salary. They sensibly adhere to a philosophy that's been passed down through the generations that says you try to do as little work as possible for the most pay you can get. How come stockbrokers with graduate degrees can't figure this out?
According to the Times article, the stockbroker loves "the feeling of being up before anybody else in town and getting into the city to exercise and trade. Makes me feel like a real go-getter." As President Bush once said to a supporter who told him she had to work three jobs just to pay her bills: "Uniquely American, isn't it?"
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