Comments on: Machismo at Work: False Consciousness or Self Defense? http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/machismo-at-work-false-consciousness-or-self-defense/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:00:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: paul http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/machismo-at-work-false-consciousness-or-self-defense/#comment-6672 paul Sun, 30 Sep 2007 07:22:32 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/machismo-at-work-false-consciousness-or-self-defense/#comment-6672 Good article. If I may add, since I have some personal experience of that condition, the feeling of not being valued compounds with a feeling of powerlessness that leads to a longing for death, "jokingly" expressed as for example "one has got to die from something, anyway". This is particularly striking among the males in the workplace. Life is a struggle and a fight, isn't it ? Good article. If I may add, since I have some personal experience of that condition, the feeling of not being valued compounds with a feeling of powerlessness that leads to a longing for death, “jokingly” expressed as for example “one has got to die from something, anyway”. This is particularly striking among the males in the workplace. Life is a struggle and a fight, isn’t it ?

]]> By: Fiona Bateson http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/machismo-at-work-false-consciousness-or-self-defense/#comment-6667 Fiona Bateson Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:09:41 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/machismo-at-work-false-consciousness-or-self-defense/#comment-6667 Thank-you. I'm female and I work for a retail chain, HBC (Zeller's) in Canada. In the past 3 months which I have worked there, 2 of my fellow employees have been put on anti-depressants, one has developed a bleeding ulcer and the rest just plod along like dairy cattle. The lifer's as I refer to them (10+ years) are the most miserable lot of women (and 3 men) I've ever met. We are forced to push instant credit applications for store credit cards or Master Cards down the throats of every customer who crosses our paths, and have a set number per day which we must sign up. If you fail to do so, you are called into the office to discuss the matter with your supervisor and manager, and as we are not so subtly reminded constantly, it could mean your job. We are paid barely above minimum wage. At one point, as I'm told, last year when an employee who's no longer with the company attempted to encourage unionization, she was basically shunned by the rest of the employees. Conditioned sheep, the lot of us, and too afraid to do anything about it, for fear of losing our lousy, thankless, horrible jobs. By the way, most of us are single mothers struggling to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck. Your article doesn't make me feel any better about my job, but it at least puts how I do feel into perspective. Thank-you. I’m female and I work for a retail chain, HBC (Zeller’s) in Canada. In the past 3 months which I have worked there, 2 of my fellow employees have been put on anti-depressants, one has developed a bleeding ulcer and the rest just plod along like dairy cattle. The lifer’s as I refer to them (10+ years) are the most miserable lot of women (and 3 men) I’ve ever met.

We are forced to push instant credit applications for store credit cards or Master Cards down the throats of every customer who crosses our paths, and have a set number per day which we must sign up. If you fail to do so, you are called into the office to discuss the matter with your supervisor and manager, and as we are not so subtly reminded constantly, it could mean your job. We are paid barely above minimum wage. At one point, as I’m told, last year when an employee who’s no longer with the company attempted to encourage unionization, she was basically shunned by the rest of the employees.

Conditioned sheep, the lot of us, and too afraid to do anything about it, for fear of losing our lousy, thankless, horrible jobs. By the way, most of us are single mothers struggling to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck. Your article doesn’t make me feel any better about my job, but it at least puts how I do feel into perspective.

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