The Panda Bear on Her Work Red Line, Declaration of Independence from Paid Empyment, and Office Plant Update

The Panda Bear will have to do a short post today.    Mr. Panda has had some time off which always gives the Panda Bear less free time.

Readers of Panda Bear know that this summer the Panda Bear's employer crossed the Panda Bear' red line in terms of her employment when they banned plants in the office(the reason give was that the plants led to spiders; many workers of the office dispute the plants as a source of bugs).   Many other offices of the same employer have plants.   

The workers of the Panda Bear's office all loved the plants.   They brought their own plants and took care of them.      The Panda Bear recently read that plants actually improved  productivity of offices by improving air quality and reducing stress.    The Panda Bear finds it hard to believe that there is any rationality to the decision to ban plants.

Anyway recently, the heads of the Panda Bear's organization came to visit.   One manager asked the heads of the organization about the plant ban saying that it terribly upset the workers not having plants.   The upper management initially left the decision to the managers of the Panda Bear's office who let the plant ban remain.   However, the next day the decision was made that each worker could have a tiny plant at his/her desk.

The Panda Bear dreams of working in an office full of plants.   The Panda Bear firmly believes that in a good economy that she would have left her job several years ago.   The Panda Bear predicts that in the near future employers are going to have to deal with more and more workers becoming stale in their jobs.

In the Panda Bear's field of work, in the good economy most workers stayed about five years and then left for another job.(The Panda Bear has been in her job for nearly nine years).   If one was unhappy in one's job, one could relatively easily switch positions.   The Panda Bear believes that the feeling that one could get another job if things were bad really improved the morale of the work force.    Now with the bad economy this escape hatch is gone.

Earlier tonight the Panda Bear was procrastinating in writing her post.   Then she remembered feeling somewhat sorry for someone who said she needed a boss to give her deadlines to get her work done.   The Panda Bear feels that in the modern workforce bosses are not benevolent people and one should not have to rely on them for anything.   The Panda Bear has read on she agrees with the theory that nowadays even if one works for an organization one has to view oneself as an entrepreneur working within an organization.

She thinks organizations are going to find more and more people are working for them strictly for the money-any psychological benefits of paid employment are virtually none.   The Panda Bear knows of people who have inherited money and quit the workforce.   She is beginning to think these people are right.   Who would put up with half hour lunches and heavy workloads but for the money?    The Panda Bear is finding offices becoming more and more unpleasant.

The Panda Bear has her internal Declaration of Independence from Paid Employment.   She does not need her job to feel useful, have friends, structure her time, be productive or use her mind.   She needs solely it for the money.   The Panda Bear has no problem subtly letting her employer know that the moment she goes off the clock she has other worthwhile activities to do.