I have some friends on FB who are down and out 100% republican. Which basically means, "I pretend I'm for people's rights then when it comes down to it fuck them, I'll take up for the faceless corporations any time."
Now it's been awhile since this happened so I'm going to paraphrase somewhat. I'll call my friend "repub."
Here is what I posted:
"I can't believe that the USA - which is supposed to be the greatest country in the world - doesn't have regulations that force companies to give each worker at least 4 weeks paid vacation time off each year like the UK etc. Now I'm not saying take all of it off at once, they can break it up into segments. The USA has some of the highest cases of stress-related illnesses and lowest workplace morale of any country each year, mainly due to the fact that companies work their employees to death and to make matters worse, people are afraid to take what little time they DO have off because many bosses look at them like they're not as valuable as the ones who simply come into work all the time and let their vacation time expire. If there was government mandated vacation time law, stress-related illnesses would go down and morale would go up. Everybody wins!"
That was when Repub stepped in:
Repub: That would never fly in America for a couple of reasons.
Me: Care to explain?
Repub: Well unlike other countries you can't give the typical American worker too much time off. Even if it's broken up into segments, too much vacation time will result in the worker coming back rusty, lazy and forgetful.
Me: So in other words all you could come up with as a response was an insulting blanket statement on pretty much all Americans?
Repub: You shouldn't talk about "insulting blanket statements" when you do it all the time.
Me: Damn I forgot that I'm not allowed to have strong opinions *note sarcasm.* Anyway, let me know the other reason why you think mandated time off is a bad thing?
Repub: Why do you liberals always want government to mandate everything? Why is your solution to everything involve government intruding into people's lives?
Me: Funny that people like you don't want government intruding into people's lives until a woman wants birth control then you want it to tell her what to do. But anyway, you didn't answer my question. Why is mandated time off a bad thing?
Repub: Corporations would either have to cut pay or fire people to make up for all the vacation time they would now be forced to pay out. Do you really want that?
Me: I'm sorry but that is a LIE! Corporations would not have to do that because they would be paying people whether they are there or not. Simple! They already pay people for what little time off they give them, what's the difference forcing a couple of more weeks? Why do you guys always take up for the corporation and never the worker?
Repub: Not wanting more layoffs so that other people can stay at home and goof off more, yeah that's taking up for corporations *note sarcasm.* You have to understand, workers are revenue generators for the company. They're not there, revenue is not coming in. Companies can't afford that.
Me: Wrong! The real "revenue generators" are the general public that buys a company's goods and/or services. The workers may be there to assist a member of the public to buy something, but ultimately it's up to John Q. Public to hand over his money to a company. If Employee A is on vacation and John Q. Public wants to buy something, he'll just go over and get help from Employee B.
Repub: Your lack of a higher education is starting to show.
Me: Oh please, now you're resorting to insults instead of trying to give a valid response. Oh and BTW, calling employees "revenue generators" is just another way of looking at them as a number that can be replaced easily instead of a person.
Repub: Yeah well haven't you considered that's a good thing? If employees know they're expendable they'll actually try to not fuck up as much.
Me: Wow. Just wow. Allow me to divert from my OP - it's been proven that having a boss who's constantly threatening your job as a way to motivate lowers morale and creates a hostile environment. But you wouldn't know that.
Repub: I never said that.
Me: Yes, you did.
I eventually deleted the post as it turned into a pissing match. But, this is why I try to stay away from posting stuff like this on Facebook....
Now it's been awhile since this happened so I'm going to paraphrase somewhat. I'll call my friend "repub."
Here is what I posted:
"I can't believe that the USA - which is supposed to be the greatest country in the world - doesn't have regulations that force companies to give each worker at least 4 weeks paid vacation time off each year like the UK etc. Now I'm not saying take all of it off at once, they can break it up into segments. The USA has some of the highest cases of stress-related illnesses and lowest workplace morale of any country each year, mainly due to the fact that companies work their employees to death and to make matters worse, people are afraid to take what little time they DO have off because many bosses look at them like they're not as valuable as the ones who simply come into work all the time and let their vacation time expire. If there was government mandated vacation time law, stress-related illnesses would go down and morale would go up. Everybody wins!"
That was when Repub stepped in:
Repub: That would never fly in America for a couple of reasons.
Me: Care to explain?
Repub: Well unlike other countries you can't give the typical American worker too much time off. Even if it's broken up into segments, too much vacation time will result in the worker coming back rusty, lazy and forgetful.
Me: So in other words all you could come up with as a response was an insulting blanket statement on pretty much all Americans?
Repub: You shouldn't talk about "insulting blanket statements" when you do it all the time.
Me: Damn I forgot that I'm not allowed to have strong opinions *note sarcasm.* Anyway, let me know the other reason why you think mandated time off is a bad thing?
Repub: Why do you liberals always want government to mandate everything? Why is your solution to everything involve government intruding into people's lives?
Me: Funny that people like you don't want government intruding into people's lives until a woman wants birth control then you want it to tell her what to do. But anyway, you didn't answer my question. Why is mandated time off a bad thing?
Repub: Corporations would either have to cut pay or fire people to make up for all the vacation time they would now be forced to pay out. Do you really want that?
Me: I'm sorry but that is a LIE! Corporations would not have to do that because they would be paying people whether they are there or not. Simple! They already pay people for what little time off they give them, what's the difference forcing a couple of more weeks? Why do you guys always take up for the corporation and never the worker?
Repub: Not wanting more layoffs so that other people can stay at home and goof off more, yeah that's taking up for corporations *note sarcasm.* You have to understand, workers are revenue generators for the company. They're not there, revenue is not coming in. Companies can't afford that.
Me: Wrong! The real "revenue generators" are the general public that buys a company's goods and/or services. The workers may be there to assist a member of the public to buy something, but ultimately it's up to John Q. Public to hand over his money to a company. If Employee A is on vacation and John Q. Public wants to buy something, he'll just go over and get help from Employee B.
Repub: Your lack of a higher education is starting to show.
Me: Oh please, now you're resorting to insults instead of trying to give a valid response. Oh and BTW, calling employees "revenue generators" is just another way of looking at them as a number that can be replaced easily instead of a person.
Repub: Yeah well haven't you considered that's a good thing? If employees know they're expendable they'll actually try to not fuck up as much.
Me: Wow. Just wow. Allow me to divert from my OP - it's been proven that having a boss who's constantly threatening your job as a way to motivate lowers morale and creates a hostile environment. But you wouldn't know that.
Repub: I never said that.
Me: Yes, you did.
I eventually deleted the post as it turned into a pissing match. But, this is why I try to stay away from posting stuff like this on Facebook....
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