Alienation

Ring, wrap, ring, ring, wrap, ring.  When I worked at a toy store I would get into this rhythm, it always varied, but it consisted of the same parts.  Ring, wrap, ring, wrap, wrap, ring, ring.  I would spend hours completing the most mundane tasks for minimum wage.  Never was I challenged or able to work creatively for long periods of time, this something Karl Marx would point to in discussing the division of labor in the workforce.  Marx believed the amount of creativity one was able to use in their jobs the more satisfied they were with their work.

Marx and Blauner each had their own theories on alienation in the workforce, and out of the two I most identify with Blauner in terms of having "a sense of meaninglessness."  I never benefited from particular good sales, or felt invested in the store.   I did not feel as though I was doing work that was all that worthwhile, for I was serving rich yuppies and their snotty children.  It can be argued that by Dalai Lama standards I should have been able to find some sort of meaning in my work, but it was overflowing with stupid trivialities I could not get past.  I have always wanted to help people and some how change the world in a positive way and working at a toy store could never satisfy this dream.  I along with people through the ages have felt alienation at work, its nothing new but I feel it can be changed and avoided.