A note to well-remunerated suit wearing libertarians:
You know, I believe you. You work hard for the money. Harder than people know.
But the question is still: How hard?
Coal miner hard?
Construction worker hard?
Emergency room nurse hard?
Ditch digger hard? Migrant worker hard? Janitor hard? Grocery store clerk with a second job at McDonald’s hard?
Marine Corps grunt in Afghanistan hard?
Mother with three small children one of them autistic hard?
Farmer hard?
Professional football lineman hard?
Bill Gates hard? Steve Jobs hard? Steven Spielberg hard?
Brain surgeon hard? Heart surgeon hard? Or just family physician hard?
I’m kidding about the just.
As hard as your dentist? As hard as the mechanics rushing to fix your spouse’s SUV before the weekend with six other cars ahead of it? As hard as the manager at the convenience store where you bought your bagel on the way into work who’s been putting in ten, twelve hours a day and coming in on Saturdays and Sundays on top of that, with no hope of overtime, no hope of a raise, no hope of a bonus or promotion, because the corporation that owns the chain the store’s part of, a corporation very much like the one you work so hard for, maybe even the one you do work hard for, which is making money hand over fist, by the way, a nice chunk of that being shoveled your way, won’t let her hire the staff she needs to cover all the shifts her bosses are telling her she has to cover or let her give more hours to the staff she does have, who’d be glad for the extra in their paychecks, the little extra, they’re minimum wage, after all, because they might get too close to working full time and then they’d have to be given benefits? That hard?
As hard as your boss? As hard as your secretary? As hard as the IT person who just upgraded your computer while you were down the hall having a cup of coffee? As hard as the bike messenger you just sent across town with those contract papers that have to be there five minutes ago? As hard as the kid delivering the take-out you ordered for lunch from her father’s restaurant? As hard as her father?
As hard as you think you do? As hard as all that?
Yeah, you work hard. And maybe you work so hard you deserve every penny you pocket and more.
But lots of people work hard. And some of them make way more money than you ever will while really working a lot less. And some of them make way, way, way, way less money than you while working harder in an hour than would kill you to work in a week.
And it’s not like you’re out there fighting fires, curing cancer, building bridges and dams, teaching other people’s children how to read, keeping other people’s streets safe.
Nobody asked you to do what you’re doing. Nobody really needs you to do it. Maybe we need somebody to do it, but not you particularly. Lots of smart people out there with very similar resumes willing to work hard, harder, for less.
So take your money, spend it how you want, stop whining, stop bragging, and stop expecting the rest of us to be grateful.
Inspired by this classic post from 2012 by David Wong at Cracked, 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying.
Amen. And again, amen.
Posted by: JD | Wednesday, March 12, 2014 at 10:14 AM