A common problem.

I could probably write a post tagged to this image every single stinking day and not run out of material. 

But today's stupid is the American office worker who expects the company to love him/her/them/it/whatever. This is all the fault of Silicon Valley, and it's a rude awakening for many young workers. 

The sides in the stupid/venial fight between management and labor often shift in America. From the Gilded Age we had heartless companies and stupid workers. In the fifties the companies got stupid (assuming the good times would last forever) and the workers got venial, threatening strikes and getting so many cookies out of the cookie jar that the companies became hollowed-out bakeries. In the eighties and nineties, the companies got venial again, enjoying the ultimate flexibility of sending jobs out of the country and destroying factory towns across the nation, to the shock of workers. 

Into this brouhaha stepped the companies of the Silicon Valley, who promised a veritable heaven on earth for their workers. Sure, they would be expected to be dedicated, work long hours, and devote themselves body and soul, but they'd get everything they could want -- money, respect, free food, laundry services, and so on. 

Now the Silicon Valley companies are laying people off, cutting salaries and freebies, and the employees are running around with their dresses up over their heads. No one can believe that a company could do such a thing! Except companies have always done such things. Sometimes it's the only way they can survive. 

But the modern generation is as gobsmacked as a kid who gets dumped for the first time. I thought it was forever! That's because you were thinking wishfully and ignoring the lessons of history. 

Those of us who have worked in other businesses can't help but be a little schadenfreudey over the whole thing. I've been laid off three and a half times (one was a part-time job). It happens. The landscape changes. The rich people on top are not going to put their personal money into the company to keep the perks flowing, but even they can take a hit, and they might get defenestrated if it's a public company. It's messy. It's a financial and professional disaster. It's life. 

So don't be stupid. Don't throw yourself into all the team-building. Don't assume the good times will last and you can just relax and delete your résumé. Anyone can be dumb by nature, but willful dumbness invites retribution. It can rain stupid or venial at any time, so keep your umbrella handy.