[lbo-talk] There Are No Unskilled Jobs: The Bike Shop

[Wojtek S]

Could not agree more.  Deskilling of "manual" jobs aka taylorism was a
strategy to control labor. I remember teaching this stuff at Rutgers some
20 years ago, and struggling to get the students interested. They thought
it didn't apply to white collar jobs. I tried to tell them they are next,
but they laughed. Today I hear that unpaid internship I.e. doing menial
white collar jobs for free is virtually a requirement for most college
graduates. It is hard not to laugh, even though it is so fucking sad.

Wojtek
Sent from my Droid
On May 19, 2013 10:36 AM, "Andy" <andy274 at gmail.com> wrote:


> Found this cleaning out the starred posts in Google reader:
>
>
> http://underbelly-buce.blogspot.com/2012/06/there-are-no-unskilled-jobs-bike-shop.html
>
> [...]
>
> There Are No Unskilled Jobs: The Bike Shop
>
> I pushed my old beater-bike into the bikeshop he other day and asked
> the guy with the wrench if he had any rubber handlebar grips.
>
> --Oh sure, they're right over there.
>
> I found a wall of grips.  Flailing wildly, I picked something that
> looked plausible and took it back to the counter.
>
> --Okay, you want me to install that, or will you?
>
>  --Way above my paygrade.  You do it.
>
> --It'll be five bucks extra.  I'm sure you could do it yourself.
>
> --No, that's all right, you do it.
>
> The techie rolled the bike into the backshop and deftly removed the old
> handles.
>
> --You know, these new ones you picked, they're actually a bit long for
> your frame. I could cut them off, but I can just sell you the smaller
> size.  It'll be five bucks cheaper.
>
> --Uh, sure, I'll take the smaller size.
>
>  He switched products.  Then I watched him spray the bars with glass
> cleaner.  Then he pulled out a different spray can and administered a
> dose of something I didn't recognize.
>
> --Special formula?
>
> --Secret formula!
>
>  He showed me the can.  Hairspray.  He told me it nicely seals the
> grips to the bars.
>
> So he (a) corrected my mistake in product choice; (b) cleaned the bars
> (I wouldn't have thought to do that; and (c) sealed the grips to the
> bar (I didn't even know  you could do that).
>
> And charged me five bucks.  And saved me five bucks.
>
> There are no unskilled jobs.
>
> --
> Andy
> "It's a testament to ketchup that there can be no confusion."
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