Ditto. I had a somewhat similar experience as a TA at Rutgers (in sociology) when I tried - to no avail - convince undergrads about deskilling. They only person who actually knew what I was talking about was a woman who worked as a checkout clerk and had a first hand experience in deskilling. The rest of the class - mostly fratboys, suburaban fatheads, and assorted social climbers from New Jersey who never had a real job - either had no clue what I was talking about or denounced it as 'communist propaganda.'
BTW, taylorism would never be possible without the academe.
wojtek