weyes' wisdom of the day - 12/19/08

[weyes]

one of the most annoying things to hear when making a legitimate complaint is someone trying to invalidate it by saying "it could be worse." although some people say this to try to make the dissatisfied person feel better, it generally just comes across as condescending, belittling, a put-down. everyone has a right to his/her feelings, and if those feelings are unhappy, so be it. those feelings need to be felt just as much as the happy ones.

just one recent case in point: at my work, no one got a cost-of-living raise this year (even though most people got rent increases). the january school session was cancelled, leaving all part-timers and teachers without a month's employment and students without classes to attend, about a third of the spring's offerings were cut even though enrollment is up by about 11%, leaving many students without the classes to finish their degrees. all staff is being required to work 4 10-hour days in the summer, which gets most people home by 8:15 p.m. at the earliest, leaving families unable to have dinner together and everyone exhausted. every department's supply budget has been eliminated, leaving the school without basics like pencils and dry-erase markers for the boards in the classrooms. employees and teachers now have to spend money on supplies if they need them - with the raises they didn't get.

but every time anyone (student, teacher, or staff member) expressed any degree of sadness or disappointment to my geographically closest co-worker, i had to hear him say, "people should be glad they still have jobs."

my early christmas gift to all my co-workers is to remind them all that they are entitled to feel shortchanged .

tune in tomorrow.