Change the Paradigm, Muthatruckas!

The other day, I was gently reminded that "that's just the way it is" in retail.

Fuck that.

"That's just the way it is" is the bullshittiest way of saying, "I'm too lazy [scared, content, etc, ad nauseum] to stand up for what is  right". Don't EVER tell me "that's just the way it is" unless you are going to follow that up with "and this is how we can change it". Just because a thing is accepted does not make it acceptable.

Today is "Maker Day", a day of creative crunchiness and physical manifestations of craft. Can "Maker Day" not also be a day of creating excellence in our workplaces? A day where we buck against the norm and create valid, efficient (maybe even profitable?) ways to expedite commerce while continuing to validate the people on the ground who sell you this widget?

"That's just the way it is" creates stagnant, compliant, fucking TIRED widget sellers and fielders of complaints about widgets. From the top of middle management down to the lowliest widget loader-upper, "that's just the way it is" makes more work for less money in the pockets of the widget serf. The Widget Overlords, let it be known, are making record profits. The numbers are (no joke) written on the wall.

So. Solutions. Keep doing more with less? Keep increasing demands on workers with made-up metrics, while removing or impeding access to resources that increase productivity? There is clearly an issue here, but I don't know how to address it without crying out, "Free the Oppressed! The Revolution Begins Now!"

This is the thing, suckas: I've never in my adult life lived anywhere for more than 3 years. As part of a military family, I know that I can deal with anything, as long as it doesn't last more than 3 years. I know that I will move, and start a new job or school; and whatever bothered me in Arizona, or New York, or Alaska, will not exist in the new place. Neighbors who beat their wives, jobs that require pantyhose, the lack of pastrami, all these things fall away on the long drive to the New Place.

I'm stuck here, now. This is our home, and outside forces are not going to change my paradigm. *I* have to change my paradigm. And here's the kicker: I love my job. I looooooove it. I love the people I work with, and I love my customers, and I love the work that I do.

Goddammit.