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Do you think to tell these people who aparently for no reason make such accusations?
ETA: And I didn't mean about over-drafts an' all that, but working with 'unethical' companies.
Fair enough. It was all getting slightly surreal there for a moment!
Nah, I just meant if you're a cog, however small a cog then you're still helping to run the machine.
Some people have to be a cog in whatever machine they can get... Others go to university, apply for jobs and go "ooh look! Big pay packet " and hand in a CV... Of course, there are people who are cogs who love the machine too and will happily grind around all day.
Still, it shouldn't provoke the responses it does from certain parties simply down to the job somebody has.
People choose different routes. Unless somebody is perhaps a nasty third world dictator (genocide is hardly pretty etc) or something equally 'evil', who are we to judge somebody just because they make a lot of money from effectively doing nothing wrong. At all. Unless you class working hard wrong?
I just don't find anything wrong in being part of the 'machine'.
I'm not talking about 'right' and 'wrong'.
And if you work for some companies, they're probably supplying arms to that 'third world dictator', or maybe they're investing in the arms company that supplies arms to said regime. It doesn't really matter... It's fucked up and we're all connected somehow.
But a step up the ladder is usually a step closer to the incredibly fucked up things these companies do (sorry... GROSS oversimplification). If people want to work for them, then they can go ahead... But it will piss some people off because it goes against their morals.
Say you're working for Nestle, well people may look at you and wonder how you can sleep at night, some will get nasty. At the end of the day though, whilst people should live and let live... You chose to work for the company and with some professions you'll attract negative attention.
People have to deal with that.
Damn.. We all get shit for doing something.
But the reactions... say more about the people than the original poster.
Poster has clearly stated that their skills match those needed in the job, so they're judged cause they choose a job which suits them?
If you can get good money from what you do, why not?
If your only aim is to get that money no matter what you do, that's when I'd personally step off the train.
And as said, almost everyone start conversation with what do you do. Namaste, you're a student too, right? Have you never been asked as an initial question "what do you study?", it the exact same as being asked what do you do for a living in my eyes.
We do. I also see the other points you're making, and it's the way of the world. Nobody is ever going to be 100% happy with everybody, and some people just get their noses bent out of shape far too easily.
Some cop it unfairly though, IMO, and this is the point we're discussing.
The discussion, at least for you and I seems to have reached a conclusion, (before we start dancing, hand in hand, in lovely circles ) so I'm going to bed
Not that often and I'm really social...
Perhaps because I come from a working class place t'up north that I've never heard it in a pub.
Oh - for the record, I'm from Bradford originally
Some jobs you go in to knowing you're shitting on people. A lot of the public know that and I don't think it's unfair to tell somebody that you think what they're doing is disgusting.
Of course there's being aggressive about it, but let's be fair... Being called a wanker for doing PR for Coca Cola is nothing compared to the pain of the family of somebody who was bumped off by paramilitaries for joining a trade union... Or the villagers who g without water because Coca Cola drained their sources (actually, the latter may be Pepsico, can't remember that one).
Don't get me wrong, they provide jobs but they also do a lot of bad shit.
Yeah, some people do get a bit too much shit though, especially if you don't know what your company's up to.
*Shrug*
But to be fair, I'm a cold bitch.
Maybe you go to different places than me... But I really haven't got it that much and when I have, people normally don't care.
I just find it hard to believe that people will have a go at somebody for being an investment banker.
Asking someone what they do is an ice breaker. It's an easy way to find something out about the person, possibly find a common ground to progress the conversation on with etc. I tend to say I work in IT/software development and then get the typical geek/nerd/no social skills/boring square eyes etc stereotype responses. I can well believe with the negative feelings towards investment bankers that half the country has that the OP will get some sort of stick as a response to his job.
Often it in my case, whether rightly or wrongly, I take it with a pinch of salt how people respond and generally decide it's all light hearted fun, or if they are being serious that it won't take me long to change their mind. But it can be annoying having people make such a judgement on you within a minute of meeting just because of the job you do.
My point isn't that the corporate side of banking is directly responsible for overdraft charges and the like, more than the whole banking industry is geared up to exploit people wildly with little concern to ethics or morals. The overdraft charging and the exploitative lending in the personal banking market illustrates this wonderfully.
The whole banking system is geared up to exploitation. Whether your bank is Barclays or Namura isn't really the point. If you are a cog in an exploitative and unethical machine then you're going to cop some deserved flack.
At a personal level I couldn't care less how much you earn because I'm happy with what I earn. But if you're going to come and brag about how great your work is I'm going to argue back, because you are responsible for some very dubious and unethical investment practices. If you're getting that sort of wedge then you're high enough in the bank to be responsible for policy.
Is it? I'm sure I've never asked anyone that. And I'm sure some people have volunteered the information without me asking. I think the only person I'be ever asked was a friend of mine and that was because he mentioned something about work.
Yes it is. It is, as has been said before, an ice-breaker - although oft used in some circles to ascertain 'social standing', which is a shame.
And I'm sorry about the thread title, surprised so many people are offended with it. I'm maybe a bit ignorant as to what constitutes 'socialism' - I just get pissed off with hypocrites spouting about how people live beyond their needs, when they're wearing expensive designer clothes, have an iPod, go on nice holidays etc - practice what you preach?!
I know - this is something that occurs in the City, in my experience. Out of that environment, it is not a factor.
It's not something I like, and so avoid it and I luckily don't often work in the City.
You came across as very ignorant and very self pitying, two things I cannot stand.
I also stand by what I said about the banking industry as a whole. I work in the legal field so I do know what I'm talking about, just for your information.
The easiest thing is to not give a stuff, or make a joke about it. I get loads of stick for working in the legal field, and I get even more when I tell people what I do (I'm a debt and benefits specialist for a charity).
I'm being serious, though, I don't know how you can sleep at night knowing where your earnings come from. Directly or indirectly it's through exploitation of the disadvantaged. That said, my wage is paid by taxation
If someone admits to being ignorant about a subject, then there's really no need for that kind of response. Let's quit the insults and stick to the topic.
No insult there. It was ignorant as in intolerant, not ignorant as in unknowing.
Some shops sell guns.
1p of my wages come from selling guns.
Happens to me when people ask what degree I'm doing:
'I study Management Studies'
'Oh so you're not doing a real degree'.
I normally laugh about it though (though yes, it does knock your self esteem inside I'm not sure I believe people when they say people demeaning what they do is rubbish - I mean we're practically defined by what we do. I am - a student. I am what I do. So if someone knocks what you do they're having a go at what you stand for too. That's possibly too deep though) and of course physics students get it just as bad except about the lack of social life.
All prejudgements based on what course someone is doing / what job they do are of course bullshit. Doesn't matter if you work for a bank. I mean if you work for mcdonalds are you evil cos they used to (maybe still do) exploit the world's resources??
You'll be hard pressed to find any kind of organisation that has absolutely no negative impact on someone. Except maybe hospitals *shrug*.
It could be who I choose to spend my time with.
I had it a couple of times in a bar I worked with, some people were quite nasty (because I do human rights, it apparently means I think black people should have more rights... Another one I had was "oh whatever... So what has human rights ever done for me???" Like... Duh :rolleyes: ).
Mostly I get asked where I'm from.
Since when do these people have to live up to your standards? :rolleyes:
Just because somebody finds your choice of job unethical does not mean they have to become self-flagellating flugalists.
I find it silly that some people get paid six figure salaries. I don't care what work they've done to get it or how much they point out to me that they give to charity (it doesn't make you a better person for giving more than them to charity, at the end of the day you have the money)... That's nothing against the individual, but the system. It makes me angry how some people get paid so little compared to investment bankers, footballers and celebrities... For example, nurses, firefighters and post(wo)men.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to treat yourself now and again and you shouldn't judge them on it.
At the end of the day, they could be struggling to live, but have saved up for that iPod and really really value it.