Doing extra just gets you immunity to being fired for not doing extra. I have worked maybe 8 different careers at this point. Admin (clerking and administration) early on, programming and support, programming and support consultant, data management and IT support, IT support management, personal support, administrative coordinator, gatekeeper. They all blended into a continuum of data, support and interpersonal management. The backdrop for the various careers has changed a lot over the years. In the 80's if you were in IT you were functionally a high priest. Most people had no clue how things worked in the IT realm and when you made it rain they reveled in having a rainmaker. I got loaned out by every outfit I worked for because they wanted somebody to owe them bigtime and by the time I was finished they had what they wanted. By the 90's that was starting to change because the first generation of IT mavens who had actually gone to school for IT was arriving on the scene. Things became highly commoditized and just understanding how things worked was no longer enough - you also had to have certifications. I wound up going into data management and support of the processes because there were a bunch of research outfits that were moving over on the fly and the transitions were very ugly for them, leaving openings for people who understood more than just one thing to come in and fix the disasters. The DBA's would setup a new system and then they'd need somebody who understood all the systems data was being ported from to come in and do the ports for them. I had one year where I was simultaneously managing federal, state and institutional projects and pulling them all together into one coherent data set. I wound up managing the end result for 5 years after the successful conclusion of the integration. I'd still be there if Newt Gingrich hadn't shut down the government twice in a row. These days there is a lot less respect for knowledge in the workplace. I couldn't possibly have done the progression that I did from 1980 to the mid 00's in this environment. It's easier to hire an outsource to do the things that I used to do and then sue them if something goes wrong. In 1989 if somebody had a problem it took me a few days to sort it for them, maybe a week at the outside. Now it takes the outsource 6 months to agree the problem is actually what the client thinks it is and god knows how long to actually fix it after that.
The five years I worked in boxing was one of the toughest jobs I ever had... also the lowest paid if I counted the hours. It was also the most thrilling and memorable.
Ugh, I'd hate to work for any company that fires people for not doing more than what they pay their employees to do. Sounds like a miserable company to work for.
I worked with the HBO Boxing After Dark team in the late 90's. Very hard-working seat of their pants type operatives who pulled together pay-per-view events on a monthly basis. If you had HBO you probably remember them for their iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer whose introductions became legendary. I used to go out drinking with a couple of them after an event and it was like all the stress of a long month came off at once for them.
Yeah... we used Buffer often. I worked for a fight promoter. We had to handle everything leading up to a fight and the fights as well. Setting up the card...travel & hotels... medicals & drug testing... promotion & sponsors... VIP tickets... interfacing with state athletic commissions supplying proper gloves & equipment... distributing pay checks... setting up the locker room... the list goes on. The weigh-ins were an event by itself. We had to keep fighters separated as much as possible. Handling the fighters corner team and the hangers-on was a chore itself. On fight night we had to keep the bouts on schedule and secure access to the ring. If it was a televised event the stress level intensified... you had to be an asshole one second and exceedingly nice the next. We did internationally televised championship fights and local smokers. We had our own gym and dozens of fighters under contract. I got to fuck around with a lot of fighters and celebs. Got to get in the ring and do some light sparring with pro boxers. Even with pads on... getting punched by a pro boxer is next level hurt. All in all I had a blast... but five years was enough. It's a tough gritty business... I should write a screenplay about it.
It's all(or mostly) about shareholder value for many companies these days. Investing in workers is too much of a burden.
Yes, shareholders are the Kings of the modern economy and their rank depends on the size of their holdings. Capitalism is a failed economic doctrine at this point. What comes next is unclear but Capitalism has slowly but surely worked it's way through most of the worlds resources and it has done so in a way that has left untold unaccountable messes in it's wake. The moment that we decided that shareholders were unaccountable for the actions of their companies we set this all in motion and the advance of human technology has been inexorably towards ruin since then.
