Working For A Living - Blog Posts

There is a distinct technique used by capitalists to bypass the legal and contractual rights of workers which to my knowledge has no name currently - so I’m giving it one - Lunch Grinding.

Lunch Grinding is a manipulative erosion of worker rights both in and out of the workplace. It bypasses legal and contractual standards through informal social pressures which the bosses cannot be held directly accountable for.

Lunch Grinding is named after one of the most common examples. It begins by asking a few employees to skip lunch in order to finish a project. Workers who are already insecure about their position due to economic anxiety will see this as an opportunity to prove they are a good employee. Those who refuse to do so may receive blame for failing to finish the project on time.

The issue becomes compounded when the bosses begin to purposefully schedule less time to complete the same projects. A distinct class begins to appear ignoring their contractual right to a lunch break - who become hostile to those who refuse to work during lunch for being “lazy” or “the reason we didn’t finish on time.”

At this point the management no longer needs to influence anyone directly to work through lunch break, simply by keeping up the sense of constantly being a little late for the project they have ensured the lunch-grinders will apply pressure to their peers who aren’t working through breaks.

As workplace hostility increases towards the “unproductive” members who are expressing their formal right to a break - they will be replaced with new individuals who may not even realize they have the right to a lunch break because working through the hour has become normalized by their peers.

Thus formal written standards from contracts and legal code become functionally non-existent. After which a new standard will be identified by management for erosion some examples include:

+Accepting uncertain hours. +Working off-the-clock. +Staying “On-Call” at all times. +Finishing projects / responding to emails at home. +Never using time off or sick leave.

All of which are socially conditioned in the same format - starting with “The Good Worker” who does a little favor for their boss - and ending as a peer enforced pressure and a perpetual hostility from management claiming productivity isn’t as high as expected. 

4-December 2023: Working Man Blues

It's Monday! Sometimes in order to break the stress and monotony, I have to be risqué and take an underwear selfie. Can anyone relate? I always feel better afterwards. Here is a plain white trunk from Todd Sanfield.

Show me your undies!

Have any of your patients checked out your package while you were giving them an exam? Even just a glance?

The most I can say is about the older women in my practice. who are somewhat inappropriate. For example, I have one patient who is uncomfortably effusive with her praise of me every time I see her. She hugs me and kisses me on the cheek (as I turn to maneuver myself that way). The last time I saw her, she grabbed my hand and held it tightly for 5 minutes (no exaggeration) before I hand to yank it away to begin the visit. She also proceeded to tell me how wonderful her sex life was with her now deceased husband. She is in her 80s.

If anyone has checked out my package, I am none the wiser.

15-September 2023: Todd Sanfield Adrenaline Sport Brief

It's Friday! Here's a quick work place selfie. If you haven't checked out Todd Sanfield's line of swimwear or underwear, I encourage you to do so! Enjoy your weekend ;-)

And always show off your undies!