Long but solid read, IMHO:
Feifei Wang
Lives in Seattle, WA (2021–present) Updated 6mo
What is the harsh truth about hard work?
"I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
First, I experienced discrimination in the workplace that forced me to reexamine my attitude towards work. Then the entire “quiet quitting” movement. And then the student loan forgiveness “controversy”. I realized something about American Puritan Work Ethics.
On the surface, it seems that a lot of Americans take pride in hard work. You see this all the time, from truck commercials featuring hardworking farmers to billionaire tech CEOs living on their factory floor 24/7, solving problems. And there’s no shortage of personal struggle stories, such as “I worked two jobs to support myself through college” or “I worked 12 hours in the mine to support my family”.
All of that is admirable on the surface. Americans glorify “hard work”.
However, what’s really sinister, is the implication of this glory of hard work. The implication is that “Real” work is supposed to be hard, excruciating, exhausting, and soul-crushing. “Real” work is supposed to leave you empty of energy or joy at the end of the day, dragging your broken body back home with nothing left for yourself and your family.
If it is not hard, it is not “work”.
Think about the rhetoric you heard (often from conservatives) about student loans. The rhetoric often centers around how hard they worked to pay off their student loan. The focus isn’t “I don’t have debts anymore”. The focus is “I work hard, I suffered”. “I’ve worked two jobs, living on instant noodles and chips for four years to pay off my student loan!” The suffering that they went through made their struggles valuable and meaningful.
I heard people telling me, “if I can come to work with a 103-degree fever and put on a smile for my customers, so can you.”
While I’m glad this person took pride in her not missing a single day of work, the truth is, you should not need to come to work with a 103-degree fever. You should have paid sick leave so you can rest. There should not be any pride in giving up your health for your work.
This mentality also allows capital to exploit its workers. Request for better working conditions, reasonable working hours, sufficient breaks, medical benefits with dental and mental care, parental leave, … all of these are reasonable requests. But in the US, somehow, it is being “spoiled” or “lazy”.
When workers work according to the responsibility defined by their positions, they’re “quiet quitting”.
The company expects you to put in extra work because, well, if ain’t soul-crushingly exhausting, it ain’t work.
After all, if your CEO is working 12 hour work day, literally eating and sleeping on the factory floor, how could you leave at 5 pm?
Many companies promote the idea that the company is your family, and your actual family, you know, your spouse and children, are your obligation.
This sentiment is prevalent and perpetuated by various media. Companies would create a more “open” environment, provide snacks, meals, nap rooms, entertainment, gym, and showers… everything for you literally live in the office. Work is still hard, but at least you have free snacks.
And plenty of TV shows, especially those featuring ensemble casts, would create a family-like structure. You have the leaders serve as parents, a bunch of squabbling siblings, and occasionally a weird or wise aunt/uncle. That’s nothing wrong with the found family trope. In fact, it is my favorite literary trope. But these types of TV shows often portray the “work family” as the real family, and character’s actual families often presented as an obstacle the protagonist must overcome so they can focus on work. You rarely see dedicated detectives spending quality time with their families and love it (other than the situation when their family is in danger as a plot device). What you see is their nagging wives, or good-for-nothing children pull them away from their meaningful work, where they save lives.
All of these, together, created an extremely toxic work ethic in the US.
First, the working condition is supposed to be bad. The actual work is supposed to be hard. The workload is supposed to be overwhelming. You’re supposed to go above and beyond. Overtime is the norm. You’re supposed to be exhausted after a day of work, leaving nothing for yourself or your family. Otherwise, it isn’t meaningful or valuable work.
Second, you're supposed to be proud of devoting your life to your work, regardless of the result. The payment or fame is not the point. The actual value of your contribution to society isn’t the point. The point is you work 12 hours a day doing hard work. The hardship and pain you experienced is the only thing that makes life meaningful.
If you’re having fun, you’re not working, therefore should not be paid. Sound familiar? Many artists heard this when negotiating commission fees. “Well, you’re doing what you love, right?”
And of course, there’s the “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life”. So if you’re actually doing what you love, minimum wage that covers your living expanses should be more than enough, right?
Third, your work is your real family. You are at your best, most happy, and most fulfilling when you’re at work.
Lastly, your work defines who you are. Your work is your identity. You’re a doctor, a programmer, a police officer, a bugerflipper, a cashier. You don’t have an identity independent of your work. You are your job. So, keep doing it until you drop dead.
I bought into that. I did. I work in the gaming industry. And as we all know, it is a “passion-driven” industry. People work in this industry because we love games. You have no idea how many panel talks I listened to in GDC talking about how developers crunched for six months, sleeping under their desks, sustained entirely by cold pizza and energy drinks to ship a game. And that’s supposed to be a good thing, a proud thing. And it is supposed to be the norm of the industry.
I had, on more than one occasion, talked about how I see my company as my family when interviewing candidates, or during staff meetings. Now looking back, I was probably the only sap who actually believed it. I know it’s a huge red flag when company leaders talk about such a thing. It’s just kind of sad and pathetic when their workers actually buy into it.
I’m glad I got rid of those blinders on my eyes.
The harsh truth of work?
You’re replaceable to you company, but not to yourself or your family. If you’re gone today, your company will start looking for your backfill tomorrow.
You ain’t the CEO. If you live on the factory floor and work 12 hours a day while ruining your health and ignoring your family, you’re killing yourself, so your CEO can buy Twitter."
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