Up the Keister

You know, the nerve of employers in a capitalist society is a real kick in the stones. I could, and do, go on and on about the ways in which our economy and culture is set up parasitically and predatorially, but for today's post, I will highlight the current drubbing handed out to my household, because it's a doozy. My wife has worked from home for several years now, something for which she is uniquely skilled in her field and attuned to on a personal level. In other words, it suits her. She was working steadily for quite some time for one company, paid relatively well (for us, anyway), and was stable in her position. Since she is well-qualified to do what she does, she will often be approached by recruiters with potential offers. Most of these offers are not good enough to warrant her making a big change, and some turn out to be scams. Actually, far too many of them are scams, something that the big employment websites seem either completely incapable or unwilling to address in a serious manner. Recently she was approached with a possible position which appeared solid, but which ended up falling through as she began the process of applying. We have learned that this is a common issue with working from home. Jobs vanish at the drop of a pin, often in the middle of working them. It's just part of the shitty game. But, they told her that they would keep her in mind for future positions, and sure enough, after a short time, something came up and they were eager to hire her. The offer was solid, a considerable increase, and she went for it, ultimately being hired. Subscribe now Here's where it gets ugly. Like most tech job for large firms, there is an extensive background check that is part of the onboarding process. As we have learned, the big firms really only look to 2 or 3 big names to perform these checks. Apparently, all of the companies performing these roto-rooter plunges into new hires' lives are shit at their job. All of them have become notorious for taking their sweet time vetting people. My wife, who dutifully put in her two week notice at her old position, has been stuck in the background check purgatory for two weeks beyond the notice she gave. Two weeks without pay, and two weeks without solid word on when to expect this process to be completed, if at all, as if she's so wealthy that she can go weeks on end without income without notice. Unless she contacts them to see where the process stands, the only time they contact her is when they request more documents, including ones she's already sent to them, in order to continue the Kafkaesque process. It's infuriating. So she was lured from a steady job to take a position that has her in employment limbo, and they clearly couldn't give a modicum of a shit about it. When people tell you to not get discouraged in life, this is the shit that we deal with day in and day out that affects our stability, our mental health, and our wellbeing, consistently. People who have wealth have no fucking clue what it's like to live hand to mouth. How either completely incompetent or morally bankrupt do you have to be to fuck with someone's livelihood like that? The salary she'd be making is great for us, but shit for most people I know. So it's not as if going without pay is something one would assume she could handle with no warning. If you are going to put all new hires through a weeks-long vetting processafterbeing officially, hired, you are a bullshit company. I mean, almost all American companies are bullshit. The pay is shit, the benefits are shit, there is little to no room for improvement, and it gets worse as time passes, because capitalism only is about increasing profit while fucking everyone doing the actual work as hard as you possibly can. They get better and better at making profit off of your labor, and better and better at fucking you over while they do it. It never goes in the other direction. And then you die. Fuck work. buy me a coffee everything & nothing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.