A friend of mine recently got a really great promotion at work, the kind of promotion that is almost rare for people these days. Not only did her pay increase, but she also received a lot of benefits and perks. As we were talking about it today, she remarked that even though she should be happy about all of this, she wasn't. She was terrified. Every time she noticed a new and better aspect of the promotion, the fear inside her grew bigger. She is convinced there is a catch. At some moment, the rug is going to be pulled out from under her and she'll realize this job is even worse than the last one she had.
Mind you, this isn't a case of the Peter Principle where she has been promoted to her level of incompetence. She is bright and a hard worker. She'll do wonderful things with this promotion. However, the general outlook she has is that things just really can NOT get better for her. There will always be a catch. There will always be something that stings. Nothing can get better.
Before you assume my friend just needs to get some therapy, I would like to point out that I'm seeing this thought pattern in more and more people. I talk to people, sane, rational, usually not all that depressed people, who tell me that they really have very little hope of things getting better . . . even when things ARE getting better for them. We're just so used to things going wrong that we don't believe they can go right. We don't think we will win, or if we do win, it will only be at a cost that probably wasn't worth it.
And while some of this shows up in life outside of work, the majority of it seems to be happening with people at work. People don't trust their employers. They don't trust their bosses. They don't trust the contracts. They don't trust what they are being told. People have seen to many situations where workers were with a company for years and then got screwed out of pension funds or steady income or their lives.
A lot of statements have been made about why the economy is as bad as it is. Liberals blame conservative policies. Conservatives blame liberal policies. If you look through all of the data, you will see truth and lies in both. However, one of the main reasons why the economy is so bad is because the American Worker no longer feels safe. The American Worker no longer feels like they can work hard or educate themselves into a better place in life than what they have right now. A lot of people feel that their best efforts will bring them nothing. It scares the hell out of them.
I feel for my friend who just got the promotion. I wish she could be happy about it, but I understand why she isn't. In all of the years she has been working (and she's been working since she was 15), any rise in job status has always resulted in more stress and headaches for her. Even though she's worked very hard to get where she is, even though she has made a lot of practical decisions and actively done her best, she still feels, deep down, that none of it will matter. The worst part is, even if this job turns out to be really great and has no hidden evils, she still won't be able to relax.
After all, at any moment, it could be taken away.
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