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This sounds..not good. You know how I know how much of a cog some one is? How much they are being paid. Putting a bow on top of work that pays peanuts is worse

This sounds..not good. You know how I know how much of a cog some one is? How much they are being paid. Putting a bow on top of work that pays peanuts is worse in my opinion than being honest. Your tactics appear to try to manipulate underpaid or lowly paid cogs into not believing they are what the company and managers truly see them as - just that.

prepend 6y ago
My office took the DISC [0] personality profile and it revealed that there are some people who love compliments, just love them. Even if they aren’t genuine, they like hearing “You’re a rock star, I’m so grateful you’re here today” even if the person is completely unable to evaluate rockstar vs. non-rockstar. Even if they say it every day to everyone. And there are people who hate compliments. So it’s funny how within an org there are cogs (and non-cogs) who hate that they aren’t recognized and then there’s cogs who hate when they are recognized. Not sure the distribution in the population but it seems like the default mode is to shower complements that mean nothing other than the complimenter has some process for complimenting people. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  Haha this is a point I didn’t bring up but loosely in my opinion lends credence to why obfuscating cogs as cogs is morally wrong. The opposing view on here appears to be if you can compliment the cogs who enjoy that and keep them happy that way, things are better. This view is self serving and for the benefit of the higher ups. Not the cog. Thanks for this though. Interesting to think about. I’ve added your comment and the link to my DEVONthink wiki on status quo :)
  - text70 6y ago
    At that level, abstract logic becomes more important. Is it better to think of a flower in a field as part of a larger ecosystem, or characterize your company as a machine composed of cogs?
    - skinnymuch 6y ago
      Characterizing the company and cogs as flowers as part of a larger ecosystem sounds and feels better. However if the treatment is the same as the cogs. Or worse with the platitudes, then it’s better for the company and higher ups. Worse for the flowers or cogs.
  - prepend 6y ago
    I’ve been a cog before and had hippie managers and asshole managers. Honestly, I prefer the occasional whip from the asshole than the constant stream of bullshit from hippies trying to tell me every day how my data entry was “awesome.” The weird thing is sometimes I think they convinced themself that our cog work was awesome. If I’m a commodity, I’d rather be straight about it and have a shared reality since businesses will actually treat me like a commodity when it’s important.
    - skinnymuch 6y ago
      Yes I responded very similarly in a nearby comment. Haven’t had such divergent managers. But have had asshole and normal enough ones. I know I didn’t like it when they thought my work was “awesome”. It would be miserable if they ended up actually believing that. Your last sentence is key. Worded better than I have been able to word it throughout this entire thread
brobdingnagians 6y ago
I think the name is clever and a bit cute, though perhaps easy to misinterpret. But on point of principle: No matter what someone is paid (or whether they are paid at all), they are a person, with hopes, dreams, feelings, and dignity. I know you probably already believe that, but it's worth stating anyway. Our society does tend to treat people like cogs, but that is a problem with our society. Words influence how we feel about others. We should use words that affirm the dignity of others, then work to make that a reality. Just because most people treat other people like cogs doesn't mean that we should throw in the towel and accept it; much less start doing it ourselves. I agree that putting a bow on nastiness is messed up, but the root problem is the jerks. If we stop even thinking in terms of people having dignity, the jerks have won one more step. We should spread kindness and dignity wherever we can, and try to get people to name things that imply dignity. I agree there is a major problem of people with less pay being treated poorly. It seems respect is only given to the high paid, but that is messed up when you stop to think about it. Our real worth isn't determined by our financial status. What if we lose the financial status? Would our friends desert us, our rights be removed, and we end up forgotten? I for one want to work against the world becoming more like that.
- fny 6y ago
  You can call people "sanitation engineers", "sandwich artists", or whatever (these are real titles by the way) and for as long as you treat them as replaceable, interchangeable, and cheap, they will be cogs. Also are "production worker", "factory worker", "shipping clerk", or "driver" any better or worse than "human lambda"?
  - bckr 6y ago
    I was a "Dish Machine Operator" for a few months, and it actually did make me feel cooler than being a "Dishwasher". "Human Lambda" being the name of the company, perhaps the workers are "Lambda Operators".
    - pessimizer 6y ago
      Horses for courses; my favorite job title ever was as a "3602 Clerk." Such an anonymous title for such a crazy job.

prepend 6y ago

My office took the DISC [0] personality profile and it revealed that there are some people who love compliments, just love them. Even if they aren’t genuine, they like hearing “You’re a rock star, I’m so grateful you’re here today” even if the person is completely unable to evaluate rockstar vs. non-rockstar. Even if they say it every day to everyone. And there are people who hate compliments. So it’s funny how within an org there are cogs (and non-cogs) who hate that they aren’t recognized and then there’s cogs who hate when they are recognized. Not sure the distribution in the population but it seems like the default mode is to shower complements that mean nothing other than the complimenter has some process for complimenting people. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment

skinnymuch 6y ago
Haha this is a point I didn’t bring up but loosely in my opinion lends credence to why obfuscating cogs as cogs is morally wrong. The opposing view on here appears to be if you can compliment the cogs who enjoy that and keep them happy that way, things are better. This view is self serving and for the benefit of the higher ups. Not the cog. Thanks for this though. Interesting to think about. I’ve added your comment and the link to my DEVONthink wiki on status quo :)
- text70 6y ago
  At that level, abstract logic becomes more important. Is it better to think of a flower in a field as part of a larger ecosystem, or characterize your company as a machine composed of cogs?
  - skinnymuch 6y ago
    Characterizing the company and cogs as flowers as part of a larger ecosystem sounds and feels better. However if the treatment is the same as the cogs. Or worse with the platitudes, then it’s better for the company and higher ups. Worse for the flowers or cogs.
- prepend 6y ago
  I’ve been a cog before and had hippie managers and asshole managers. Honestly, I prefer the occasional whip from the asshole than the constant stream of bullshit from hippies trying to tell me every day how my data entry was “awesome.” The weird thing is sometimes I think they convinced themself that our cog work was awesome. If I’m a commodity, I’d rather be straight about it and have a shared reality since businesses will actually treat me like a commodity when it’s important.
  - skinnymuch 6y ago
    Yes I responded very similarly in a nearby comment. Haven’t had such divergent managers. But have had asshole and normal enough ones. I know I didn’t like it when they thought my work was “awesome”. It would be miserable if they ended up actually believing that. Your last sentence is key. Worded better than I have been able to word it throughout this entire thread

brobdingnagians 6y ago

I think the name is clever and a bit cute, though perhaps easy to misinterpret. But on point of principle: No matter what someone is paid (or whether they are paid at all), they are a person, with hopes, dreams, feelings, and dignity. I know you probably already believe that, but it's worth stating anyway. Our society does tend to treat people like cogs, but that is a problem with our society. Words influence how we feel about others. We should use words that affirm the dignity of others, then work to make that a reality. Just because most people treat other people like cogs doesn't mean that we should throw in the towel and accept it; much less start doing it ourselves. I agree that putting a bow on nastiness is messed up, but the root problem is the jerks. If we stop even thinking in terms of people having dignity, the jerks have won one more step. We should spread kindness and dignity wherever we can, and try to get people to name things that imply dignity. I agree there is a major problem of people with less pay being treated poorly. It seems respect is only given to the high paid, but that is messed up when you stop to think about it. Our real worth isn't determined by our financial status. What if we lose the financial status? Would our friends desert us, our rights be removed, and we end up forgotten? I for one want to work against the world becoming more like that.

fny 6y ago
You can call people "sanitation engineers", "sandwich artists", or whatever (these are real titles by the way) and for as long as you treat them as replaceable, interchangeable, and cheap, they will be cogs. Also are "production worker", "factory worker", "shipping clerk", or "driver" any better or worse than "human lambda"?
- bckr 6y ago
  I was a "Dish Machine Operator" for a few months, and it actually did make me feel cooler than being a "Dishwasher". "Human Lambda" being the name of the company, perhaps the workers are "Lambda Operators".
  - pessimizer 6y ago
    Horses for courses; my favorite job title ever was as a "3602 Clerk." Such an anonymous title for such a crazy job.