“Work in Corporate America”
Russell Baker
In his essay, Baker added interest to his topic by beginning and ending with a perspective of a child. He discussed what a child might think about his parent’s work and how that child might be confused by the jargon-filled description and with no tangible results. Since children are seen as truthful and not calloused to the world, it helped the reader to imagine corporate America with a fresh mindset. In seeing the confusion of the child, the reader questions whether work in corporate America is appropriate and necessary.
In reading the child’s perspective, I wondered how many people are being paid to do nothing. I wondered if people get any satisfaction from “selling space” or “analyzing systems”. Do they feel that they are making a difference without any tangible results?
Viewing the topic as a child made the author’s point simply and was a catalyst for questioning corporate work.
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2 comments:
My first thought on this essay reminded me of a Friends episode. Some of the characters are playing a trivia game about each other. It is asked "What is Chandler Bing's job?" The answer to this question is a title of nothing. No one knows what it is exactly that Chandler does or even what the title of his job is.
I thought he used great imagery to show the point of the pointless jobs. Everything revolves around a simple paper with nothing important on it. I like the idea of a child following his or her father to work only to find that they cannot understand what it is they are doing. I can easily imagine a child trying to mimic their dad and walking around saying things that mean nothing yet sound important. The child is carrying a bag of some sort full of blank pages or scribbled pictures of no real meaning. This child is just trying to understand what it is their father does, when really their father does nothing.
Our jobs seem to be headed in that specific direction. Few professions seem to hold much value or responsibility.
Oh, my word, I remember that episode, Jessica. No one could remember; Baker would say it is he does not really do anything. He brings a very interesting perspective, one that I have not considered when thinnking of the working world.
To me, working is a classroom filled with students throwing paper airplanes and spitwads. It is a place of safety for thos who are scared to death of the outside world. It is impactful, meaningful, and supportive. It is not nothing and it has everything to do with paper.
I apologize, Mr. Russell Baker, but you are dead wrong. Who are you to tell people their passions are nothing, only the shuffling of paper and telephone conversations? No one.
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