French Employee's Work Celebrates the Sloth Ethic

The New York Times ^ | 8/14/04 | Craig S. Smith

[ppaul]

In many ways, Ms. Maier is typical of France's intelligentsia, overeducated and underemployed...Workers remain at their jobs until retirement, stymieing the promotion of those below them, she argues, yet a system of patronage and stiff legal protections make it difficult for employers to fire anyone.

Sounds like the U.S. federal and state gubbamint employees.

[AmericanCheeseFood]

If you look at John Kerrys lack of voting records and read this, you'd fiugre John Kerrys running for the wrong country.

VOTE JOHN KERRY! LABOR LEADER TO THE FRENCH 2004!

Bush/Cheney '04- antisocialism canidates!

[Zeppo]

The book is a counterpoint to efforts by the country's center-right government to repair the damage done to French work habits by decades of Socialist administration, which enacted a 35-hour workweek.

Wow, how did that tidbit of truth sneak past the Socialist cadre at the Times? Some hapless editor is going to get their butt kicked for allowing that sentence into print...

[edweena]

Might help explain why that airport terminal collapsed. "Gangrene from within."

[randog]

She has some good points about the corporate structure, especially her nod to the Dilbert Principle (the incompetent will thrive and rise to the top in a corporate environment), but I think this factoid about the woman is telling:

In many ways, Ms. Maier is typical of France's intelligentsia, overeducated and underemployed. She studied economics and international relations at the country's elite National Foundation of Political Sciences, or Sciences-Po, before earning a doctorate in psychoanalysis.

Underemployed? I would think unemployable with credentials like that. What does she expect out of life? She's basically studied herself into a life of extreme uselessness. No wonder she got bored and rebelled.

[Welsh Rabbit]

"Everything depends on what school you went to and what diploma you have," she said, arguing that advancement is slow and comes less from ambition than from endurance. "French corporations," she says, "are not meritocracies." Workers remain at their jobs until retirement, stymieing the promotion of those below them, she argues, yet a system of patronage and stiff legal protections make it difficult for employers to fire anyone. Years of such stagnation in France's hierarchy-obsessed society have produced elaborate rituals to keep people busy.

I guess it is hard to be motivated under those circumstances.

Her employer of 12 years was not amused. Irritated that she identified herself as an Électricité de France employee on the back cover of her book, company officials wrote her a stern letter accusing her of inattention at meetings, leaving work early and "spreading gangrene from within," just as her book advocates. They demanded that she appear for a disciplinary hearing, though the original Aug. 17 date has been pushed back to September. That's because Ms. Maier is going on vacation.

LOL! They proved her point; doesn't sound like she's going to get fired.

Her solution? Rather than keep up what she sees as an exhausting charade, people who dislike what they do should, as she puts it, discreetly disengage. If done correctly - and her book gives a few tips, such as looking busy by always carrying a stack of files - few co-workers will notice, and those who do will be too worried about rocking the boat to complain. Given the difficulty of firing employees, she says, frustrated superiors are more likely to move such subversive workers up than out.

Reminds me of my brief employment at the IRS...

[Imaverygooddriver]

My brother goes to France a few times a year for his job and he told me everytime he meets someone new either at a party or a club they always say they have a job that people here would consider hobbies. "I`m a painter - I collect coins - I`m a gardener - I play guitar - I`m a sculptor - I breed cats" Don`t know if it`s true like that for everyone in France, but if it is, I don`t know how the hell that country functions.

[Wonderama]

This is one of the reasons why France will probably be an Islamic state in about 20 years. The immigrants from Muslim countries probably are working a lot harder and they won't have to worry about any resistance.

[jordan8]

for which she is paid about $2,000 a month.

2 gees can't go far in France. She must have a poorer lifestyle than most working class families in the U.S. Ah well, to each their own.

[Unam Sanctam]

It doesn't seem like they need much encouragement.

[ridesthemiles]

Underemployed? I would think unemployable with credentials like that. What does she expect out of life? She's basically studied herself into a life of extreme uselessness. No wonder she got bored and rebelled.

She wouldn't work for me. Professional students is what we called them when I was a kid. They kept changing their majors in college and never seems to graduate or have enough credits in any one course to be employable and knowledgeable in anything. Most of them had parents that were just well off enough to carry this on for years. I have one friend who is very smart, but I cannot feature him ever working for anyone. He whips out his superior "education" at every opportunity and leaves you feeling totally inadequate. Meanwhile, I often wonder how he would have survived so nicely if it weren't for his parents investments.

[texson66]

f you look at John Kerrys lack of voting records and read this, you'd fiugre John Kerrys running for the wrong country.

VOTE JOHN KERRY! LABOR LEADER TO THE FRENCH 2004!



Ok! Who's got the French John Kerry Photo? Please repost!!

[OldCorps]

Ok! Who's got the French John Kerry Photo? Please repost!!

Ok, here ya go.

[OldCorps]

BTW, you might also enjoy this thread I started here on FreeRepublic:

Post Your Girlie Man Kerry Photos Here

Its full of some reallllllly great photos.

[austingirl]

How I hate socialism. My ex-sister-in-law, a Belgian, told me: "Why should I work? The government pays me and, if I work, I would get very little more than I do now."

This capitalist was appalled. Socialism goes against human nature- it's unfair and it eventually collapses.

[Cacique]

bttfl

[gcruse]

New York Times channels Wonkette

[nwrep]

In fact, this article makes me happy. Someone, afterall, is performing the logical next step of fully dismantling all vestiges of the free-market, capitalist environment in France after decades of pretensions. I cannot wait for France to be a thoroughly backward turd world nation, like its former colony Algeria, with its few remaining competitive and profitable multinationals finding it impossible to sustain operations in al-France.

[Ciexyz]

John French Kerry

Oh, ze moustache, zo sex-ee! (/sarcasm)

[nwrep]

The author is fugly: