If high school and college graduates only knew who awaits them in the work place. Every applicant is obliged to put his or her work history on a resume and be ready to account for every event that has taken place in their life. It’s even worse if you’re going for a government job like the military, IRS, or FBI. When I was screened for higher security clearances, every hiccup was accounted for from birth. In the civilian world that scrutiny is much less because of legal restrictions, but the fact remains if you are not self-employed, you could be at the mercy of amoral or immoral sociopaths whose main business often does not center on goods or services. In the spirit of equal treatment, I suggest that it is long overdue that employers from the owner to management furnish “background checks” equivalent to those demanded of applicants. There are monsters out there seeking whom to devour.
Since we live in a world where numbers have cheapened the value of individual workers, forcing bad bosses to the surface won’t happen; business is in the driver’s seat. My to-be-published book, Journal of the Silent Majority, records my experience with several corporations containing the lairs of these monsters. It was a mixed bag, but having to work for evil people, a state of being often denied by atheists, left a permanent negative impression on me. I learned several things. They are basically dishonest, manipulative, and wicked enough to kill their own mothers if the corporation demanded it. I was also struck by the lack of content and meaning in their lives and how substandard men rise to the top.
The best insurance against having to work for evil people is having the options of working for yourself, faith, having financial reserves or possessing the relevant education to tell them “Take this job and shove it!” I did it once and it felt good. People sometimes “go postal” when there is no escape from the intersection of abuse and good pay and benefits. They can’t escape because in many cases their family depends on the income. They become locked in a feudal society as slaves on the same level as Scarlett O’Hara’s convicts in Gone with the Wind. I find it ironic that most Americans think they live in a democracy or representative republic when one third of their time is spent on the manor. For the other 16 hours, it’s just a matter of time.
I find it astonishing that high schools and colleges do not require courses like Becoming an Employee 101 or Evil Employers 101. Christian colleges, especially, should warn young people of the treacherous waters into which they are about to sail or the terrible disadvantage of not having a ship of their own. Like looming shoals, evil bosses can be avoided with the help of alert crews, experienced navigators, and captains wise to their shallow and dangerous nature.
