Best of the Blogs
Golden Handcuffs
Credit: H. Michael Karshis
I work for a very large firm. I was one of those who worked hard and was compensated accordingly. A real company man. And I really believed in my firm’s mission statement.
I work for a drug company. Quite important stuff.
Yet, I’ve now outgrown it. There is no challenge left, no new invigorating work. The old stuff bores me and the new stuff is just a pretty picture and gift wrapping of the old stuff. The company parties, the rah rah rah, the focus groups, the PR, all that holds nothing for me now.
The work hasn’t changed, it is I who has changed. The reason behind my transformation is that I found out that my firm is a sham. Yes, a big fraud. The next Enron. For obvious reasons I won’t state the firm’s name but I recently found out that my much vaunted company deals in placebos. It’s a big secret and even most of the employees don’t know. If the public or even the medical community gets wind of it, that will cause big problems. Placebos work even though there’s no substance behind them. They work just as well as the real thing. But they only work if the patient is unaware. Once the cat’s out of the bag, it all falls apart. And I don’t want to be the one to tell my staff and other co-workers. Besides, they wouldn’t believe me.
Where was I? Oh yes. But that’s not all. I have it on good information that the firm’s pension plan is a fraud. I can’t prove it, but there are other old timers who agree with me. I still work hard and the pay is not bad, quite good as a matter of fact. But when I retire, I’m getting nothing, nadda, bubkes. They throw a little party for you, ship you off to a country that has no legal hold on this one. And then no one ever hears from you. But they don’t pay up on the pension. And there’s no recourse.
And that is very depressing.
So while I still work for the company, I don’t contribute much to the pension plan. Just enough not to arouse suspicions. If word got out that I’ve lost the mission, I’d probably get the boot.
I also found out that I’m not the only one in on this little dirty secret. And like me there’s lots of us who just stick it out.
Some do leave, especially if they find out early in their career.
There are always plenty of new young eager employees who are absolute whizzes at their jobs and they’re all gung-ho. These are the ones that don’t have a very varied background. They’re more like the way I was, when I entered the firm, sole minded on the product – no distractions at all. These new young ones do a great job and the stock price just keeps climbing.
I stand aside, nostalgically, and watch them all get excited, just the way I used to. Come the weekend, they collect their paycheck, (which is clearly better than the competition) and they gloat over their 401k accounts, never even imagining the possibility they’ll never collect.
Me? What can I say? I sure miss the good old days. But – the pay is still decent, even though the free placebos don’t do anything for me anymore. I just float along waiting for something to happen.
The people I work with are still a big part of my life. I know them for so long, we’re like family.
The reasons I don’t leave are pretty clear. It’s just not worth it. After so many years, my current firm is the place to be for me.
Yep, Golden Handcuffs.
Am I making myself clear?
(This post in honor of the Dubner Maggid whose yahrtzeit is never more than six months away.)
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Originally published on Baal Habos on 10/7/07, and reprinted here with permission. Authors have asked us to note that as the essays featured in “Best of the Blogs” document journeys of transformation, the author’s views may have changed since initial publication.
Nominate your own Best of the Blogs posts with an email to unpious.submissions@gmail.com.
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It appears that the Wiki page has slightly changed. Perhaps you meant this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggid#The_Dubner_Maggid
While we’re at it, it’s “whose” not “who’s”
(feel free to delete this comment after seeing it)
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baal habos, that was awesome.
loved this: “Come the weekend, they collect their paycheck, (which is clearly better than the competition) and they gloat over their 401k accounts, never even imagining the possibility they’ll never collect.”
so true! and in the beginning, it’s all packaged so perfectly that the possibility of not collecting never enters into it. it’s only when they start cutting the “advertising budget” do people start questioning and finding a newer and better company. but they never seem to cut that budget….
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I get it. I think.
Im geussing this analogy is supposed to refer to being religious and although you were once excited and young and enthusiastic about religion – thinking its all abt the future and the big picture – you are now realizing that the religion is a sham and youre sorta losing the excitement you had. A very simple yet confusing feeling.
A bit dragged out, and the comparison doesnt add up. I could point out the many differences between religion and JOBSWORK- but you were trying to make a point so I guess its uneccesary to refute your actual point.
This metaphor is too extended.
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I read it as a clever metaphor for really anyone who makes a livelihood from preaching religious fervor. The drug company being the specific religious organization, the narrator one of its preachers, The 401k struck me as a very humorous way to portray some of the common concepts of messiah going around….
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This is an amazing piece. Thank you for it!
Lissa; no, I think you actually don’t get it. Not at all…
But I won’t refute you, because I get your point. Totally. I think others did too, because it’s quite obvious.
So now that we all “got it,” it would be unnecessary for you to point it out yet again in the future…
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part of the problem is that there’s no one to sue for fraudulent misrepresentation
Great article btw, excellent writing
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Sheesh! What’s with the sensitivity ? You should see non- Jewish blogs and online news|Opinion sites- people write nasty snarky comments. I merely shared my opinion. I even put the disclaimer : I THINK.
Yes- I THINK the analogy was mismatched. Mostly, Careers are a choice. Religion, often, is NOT. A change in career is common enough, a change in religion ( especially orthdoxy ..) not that common. Careers \ Jobs are one aspect of a person’s life- while religion ( orthodoxy) dictates almost every aspect of our life…I could go on- but out of respect for the writer- I didnt because he had a point to make and I didnt wanna kill it for him.
Ever had those rabbis \teachers that told you some far-fetched “mashal” that made no sense just to drive their stupid point home? This kinda reminds me of that- except that the imagery of teh piece is beautiful- and the piece is well- constructed.
I think.
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Alas, there is no Spirtual Essence Commission to oversee these frauds.
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osm, Parents
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Drivel. The analogy is inaccurate (could you have been bothered to read up on the pharmaceutical industry before launching into extended metaphor?) and is merely a cheap ploy that barely papers over the author’s intentions. No one would get through more than a paragraph of this without figuring out the punchline. And the punchline is the same juvenile resentment that sites like this one barter in.
These articles are good for one thing — they strengthen my emunah. I know what I have is better than what you represent. You merely remind me of this.
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mamesh gevaldig
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Jake, is it juvenile? Maybe. But that’s light years ahead of being an eternal child terrified that Sky Daddy will kill him if he has a Bad Thought or a craven slave who puts on his own chains every day and slowly murders his capacity for thought and freedom.
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Doth Jake actually agree with me? Aside from the literary weakness the analogy holds- I myself believe the underlying tone is the same ole’ – wah wah wah im bitter about religion and its choke over me …
( which isnt to undermine the religious opression some feel- yet I wish it would have driven hoem somethig fresh and new ,,,instead of …dare I say it? same ole?
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And on a side note: This was a great read. Thank you Baal Habos
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Thanks all for your feedback (even Lissa). just a little clarification for Justin – the 401K/Pension is an analogous to Olam Haboh (the afterlife); you put away all your life for it, but you may never enjoy the fruits of it. The placebo is of course the fact that OJ provides a great sense of purpose to life but only as long as you believe in it.
I find this post resonates most with people who are living the double life, with those who have made the cost-benefit analysis and decided it’s worthwhile to not rock the boat.
Jake, I find your comment most disturbing. For a post that took me thirty minutes to write, and most people just put it behind them after a 60 second read, you expect me to do research into the pharmaceutical industry? For your 401K, your nitzchius, just how much research did you do into the historicity of yiddishkeit? Just how much research have you done before you needlessly subject your family to a lifetime of toiling with their own placebos. Sorry, learning Mishne Brura, Gemara, Rashi, Toisfois and even a ktzois doesn’t count. And please explain just how this post increases your Emuna. Rather, from your visceral reaction, I’d say I struck a raw nerve.
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Oh man.
Haha! That was good. I just read it today, and I got it immediately. I am not up on my Dubner Maggid trivia (I intend to look up that wiki page when I have more time), but the post definitely resonated with me. Yes, OJ is only as inspiring and beneficial as you believe it is. And no, I don’t think rocking the boat is worth it for me- yet…
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WOW- I have true respect for thehwriter that could accept critisim and respond in a classy way
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