an hour of pay /= an hour of work, it equals an exchangable amount of work for the pay received- the rest of the hour is free time until the next pay segment is given.
Ron Swanson shares that philosophy as well "Normally, if given the choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I will do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night, if it meant nothing got done. "
But with Ron Swanson it's not because he's lazy or a slacker. The reason Ron is like that is because he's an extreme libertarian who wants to waste the governments money and cause them to be ineffective and tied up with useless things so normal people aren't bothered by government interference. It's not the same. Ron is that way _because_ he cares. Not because he doesn't. He's not a slacker, he's the opposite.
@@medes5597 If you look at the job he ended up doing, despite his otherwise libertarian leanings, he was a conservationist at heart. That is probably why he actually let Leslie do so much.
And by doing nothing you are not necessarily a slacker. Slacker is simply the term used by those who cannot understand why doing nothing may be better for you in the long term. Most people don't truly do nothing - when you stop working on what you are "supposed" to work on you often will do things that just make you happy, like sleeping (better for your health), reading (better for your mind), or doing some other action that brings you pleasure and has the potential to create other things. The greatest minds in history would be considered "slackers" today.
I never realized how much I relate to the movie Office Space until I started working full time in an office. No matter how great benefits and pay are, if I'm not interested or passionate about what I'm working on, it's almost impossible to focus at work. All I end up thinking about is how much I'd rather be doing physical work or being outside.
During the height of Covid I was a supply planner for a large Cheese manufacturer. I remember calling out a Sales Manager in a meeting because he was angry we weren't able to produce some type of multi-flavor cube packs. I remember saying "we're losing several thousand people a day to the virus, relax, we're working on it."
I watched Office Space for the first time at uni. At that point I was a geology undergraduate looking to land 150k a year making notes about rocks in a desert in some foreign country 7 days a week 8 months a year. Now I make beer and whisky for a living 15 minutes from my house. I play with my son for hours every day, go on adventures with my wife, and cook meals for the both of them, which they seem to enjoy. Fuck the grind, Office Space saved my life.
My favorite prof in U once said that her ultimate goal in life was to do the least amount of work possible for the greatest compensation possible. I've always taken that to heart.
There's something really meta about watching a "philosophy of doing nothing" video on UA-cam. I mean, how many of us could be doing something else right now, or are watching this to put off doing something else? *raises hand*
Percentage wise, it is 100% easier not to do things than to do them, and so much fun not to do them-especially when you were supposed to do them. In terms of instant relief, canceling plans is like heroin. -John Mulaney
Last job i had was office work. It was slowly destroying me. Eventually after they blatantly told me they were punishing me for my beliefs (christian company and i did not subscribe) and cut my hours i completely stopped caring about anything. Stress vanished. They eventually let me go and now my job is blue collar. I have no stress from my job, a feeling of accomplishment, and no more petty office drama. Plus it pays better :)
I came at it from the opposite end. Used to do manual labor work, and loved every bit of it. There was just therapeutic about. Probably just hard to be pissed off when you’re tired and sore, plus you have physical evidence that you actually accomplished something productive with your day. Unfortunately I broke my ankle in a motorcycle wreck so now got to do desk work and my god I hate it.
I'll meet you guys halfway. I work in retail. My job is to unload a truck, sometimes two, sort freight to its correct department, and then go to the floor to put the freight onto the shelves. In addition, I help customers with whatever I can. Its not hard work, but it is tiring and we do experience burn out. On the other hand, despite our bosses complaining that we aren't working hard enough, we can leave on time even if all of our freight isn't stocked, we can wear headphones as long as we communicate with our bosses effectively despite the fact that we're not supposed to, and a lot of us pace ourselves so that the work will last all day, especially when there is no general freight truck. We have freedoms because our bosses are too busy or lazy to stop us. We could work harder but then we would lose people who cannot keep up. Our store runs efficiently because we all half ass our jobs for decent pay and good benefits. Many days I'll leave work wondering if I should find another job, one that fulfills me more, but where would I find a job that goes from 2 pm to 11 pm? As a night owl I value my shift. So I and many of my coworkers are in a rut, but we acknowledge the rut because none of us want to deal with the nightmare of finding a better job. Like I said, middle ground. Btw, it should be obvious, but bonus points to those who know the company I work for lol.
Mike Judge is a genius. You guys should do a video on Silicon Valley, They cut apart the ridiculousness of tech giants and startups with perfection and I feel like you guys could have a field day with it.
I came to a strange realization a while back that goes in tandem with this video. I was working a pretty damn important job at a Fortune 500 company. I was making pretty good money and was pretty well liked around the office. One day a friend of mine got hurt and asked if I could help him do his job for a while. His job was installing yard signs for real estate companies. The pay was crap and the work was pretty mundane...but I absolutely loved it. Like, I was happier doing this mundane job where the stakes were super low than I ever was at my supposedly "coveted" position at the IT firm. I still work the job at the IT firm, but I have to admit that I was much happier and felt more fulfilled at the other job.
With all due respect, the fact that you kept the coveted position at the IT firm speaks volumes. Sometimes jobs are soul-deadening, but we hang on to them for the social status. Being someone of high esteem is more important than having fun for most.
I see your point, but I wonder if you would've felt the way, if you knew it's a job. I mean, you were doing it knowing it's temporary and it was quite a refreshing change from your old job. Do you really think you'd still be that happy, if you were doing his job, full time, after five years? Ten yeara?
@@houssineassas9966 very true.. novelty is always exciting when you've been stagnating for awhile but that novelty can turn into stagnation fast just in a different form. we must always be challenging ourselves and constantly seek out novelty if we wish to extract as much fulfillment, meaning and virtue out of this life as we can.
I can relate to this. Recently got fired from my job for not really doing much work at all. I couldn't bear doing the work anymore and I was slowly doing less and less work until I was basically doing nothing. Now it's been a couple months and I'm enjoying my free time outside hiking and ice climbing. Life isn't significantly better but it is a whole lot less terrible.
Worked in a Cafe for 5 years and cared about the job, got very stressed, had anxiety attacks. Left and got another job in a cafe in a bookshop with the philosophy of 'do as little as possible'. Found out the two other staff members had the same idea and since none of the bookshop manegment knew how to run the cafe we slowly did less and less work and no one noticed. It was wonderful
I always enjoyed the story of Bartlebee, and I've given it some thought. My biggest problem with the whole concept of inaction is that while one person choosing to be inactive might slightly disrupt the system, it can't change the system. If there was to be inaction on a large scale, like in a labor strike, then it can be effective, but on an individual basis, it will confuse people for a while, but then the system will just replace you. Look at Bartlebee himself; by choosing not to, he ends up dead in prison. Maybe it was better for him, but it ends up being a weird foot note in the otherwise smooth operation of an oppressive system. Ironicly, the only way to cause group inaction is through often Herculean amounts of personal action, like organizing a walk out.
the Doughboys podcast does great manscaped ads talking about how stinky their balls are. what's weird to me is all the boner pill ads on comedy podcasts. if you're listening to comedy podcasts you probably don't need to use your dick for anything, speaking only from personal experience
My friend and I discussed this a bit. I was recently searching for a new job, and we were talking about our past office experiences with major companies. People who's life revolve entirely around their work. I had co-workers working 60 hours a week regularly by choice(kindof), and he had co-workers coming in Saturdays to work. They were defined solely by their work. My new job is strictly 40 hours a week. I made it very clear that I would not work overtime.
On another note, I loved this episode because I constantly say "I would prefer not to" when my boss asks me to work 60 hours week after week...and no one gets it lol
I work in an office like this. My philosophy became, "Do enough to not get fired." Oddly, my quality and productivity increased once I quit giving a crap at all about the demands of the office, and I was made a supervisor. People liked working in my department, because my leadership philosophy, when confronted with a request from a worker to do something like work odd hours or take a long lunch and then make up the hours afterward was, "Is there a legal or moral reason why they can't do this? If not, then LET THEM." My department's productivity was the best in the company while I was there. Funny how a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Then I got into database administration, and I've been left blissfully alone by leadership ever since.
"I've always subscribed to the idea that if you really want to impress your boss, you go in there and you do mediocre work, half-heartedly.” -- Jim Halpert
I once had to fill in for my boss at a managers meeting. Everyone was complaining about the people under them. One even said dammit! These people must be made to work!! I’m the boss and that’s it!! They asked me what I thought. I said, trust begets trust, and a happy employee is a productive employee…. Room was silent! 😉
During my most soul-sucking job, I spent nearly all of my time working on grad school apps instead of the “important” work I was supposed to be doing. Once I was accepted to grad school and was moving halfway across the country in a matter of weeks, I just stopped doing anything. I showed up but actively did nothing. My bosses HATED me for it, but at that point they couldn’t really do much. I think they refused to fire me as a way of saving face, since they knew I was leaving soon anyway and didn’t want to give me the satisfaction of personal vindication.
As someone who worked really hard and got no where because my bosses promoted their friends: when I finally quit it was the most liberating feeling. I just decided one day I was done and I would move on. I gave my notice and they spent the last few weeks trying to get me to stay but I had enough because they were keeping me there because I had such good numbers But I really didn't appreciate the treatment. Never again. Never going to stress a job like that ever again
Kind of why I got into education. Sure the pay is pretty low for the amount of college education I have, but I get a chance to help future generations acquire the skills needed to succeed in the world while still having enough free time to pursue anything I want to do otherwise.
I'm a musician who works a regular job. My 9 to 5 (physical labor) is separate from my identity as an artist as that is my purpose and passion. From my perspective, my job is a tool that allows me to acquire money so that I can take care of my family, financial obligations and responsibilities. It also allows me to put money towards my music and spend it on leisure, etc,.. Honestly things I care about are what gets me through the day, looking forward to time with my wife or playing guitar and creating music. I don't know I just see my job as a temporary role I play, the mask comes off when I clock out. Not that I can't be social or develop friendships with people. It's like when you're out with friends you're more laid back but, at work you may be more reserved. .
antonh24 That’s my philosophy as well. I’ll give an honest days work for an honest days pay and don’t mind pulling extra hours if I got nothing going on. But the second a job starts acting like their entitled to my personal time or taking my extra effort for granted, I start putting in minimum effort.
I think that people love working if the work is meaningful. I think that the birth of a lot of these philosophies is that people are doing grunt work, but they also live in a society that grants them the freedom and opportunity to recognize that they're doing grunt work. Not to mention that they can see their bosses who don't appreciate the work they do and they can also see how much harder they work but for so much less compensation.
Not quite. The essence of wu wei IMO is not to put yourself into situations where you have to strive, compete, leverage, manipulate, or over-identify with things and outcomes. Capitalism does all those things to us and encourages us to do those things too, and this is unnatural. The irony is that our craving for nature is an acknowledgement that we are living unnaturally, and it's killing us, the very thing we were trying to avoid by doing civilisation in the first place.
@@BigHenFor Most large systems do this, because they always try and force their constituent parts to either work for the system or leave it. This is part of the appeal of alternate systems. A person might say they want socialism(despite how many times it failed or lead to an authoritarian nightmare, or both) but what they really want is simply to not need to work if they want to eat. This is currently impossible, as even self-reliance just means that you do all the work yourself. The only real difference between communism and capitalism is that you've just cut out the money aspect. If you want to eat, you need to work.
Got laid off from a job a long time ago. Decided to never talk about work with people outside of work time, never tell people what I do for a living, and never ask them what they do when meeting new people. The idea was is make my job the smallest part of my identity that is possible. That way, when you're stuck in a shitty job, it doesn't define you. I absolutely love the work I do, and get paid extremely well, but it's a very, very small part of who I am. Talk about and focus on, and live- your life, not your work. Key takeaway: your employer doesn't care about you, and that's ok. You don't have to care about them, either. Do the job to the best of your ability at all times, though. Slacking isn't acceptable to me. I don't slack at my job, and I sure as hell don't slack when it comes to enjoying my life. just my two cents
This episode speaks to me because I have a job where I have to wait for another department to supervise me (and the other people in my department) while I do certain aspects of my job. Basically every department where I work is understaffed, and therefore I sometimes have several hours between tasks where I have nothing to do but sit and wait. The other members of my department are impatient and are constantly fretting about wanting to do their jobs and go home, but I sit back, relax, and enjoy getting paid to do nothing.
I had a fairly good gig as computer operator over 20 years at a medium-sized Texas bank. I had a good rapport with the departments I supported. In my last days of the position, before I transferred to mailroom services of the company that bought what was left of the bank (It kept me from getting laid off), I had the task of placing all sorts of documents and material in "Bankers Boxes" within a date range. IT departments aren't known for keeping everything orderly. I went through things that had been the responsibility of previous parties who worked in IT. I had to come up with description labels of the contents for each box, and prep them for shipping to the records department in Austin. It was hard to label the crap I had to organize and box, because you couldn't really put an accurate label on it. I admit I rushed the job and half-assed it, and even got cute, and stuck an old company BBQ invite in one box, and an old Christmas party invite in another. I had been told by my easy going supervisor that those boxes were never gonna be opened anyway, they'll just be stowed practically forever. I was glad when I got that shit done, all the same.
I am definitely burned out on monotony and empathy. I eat alone, i won't go to the office birthday parties, i don't care about your baby shower, I won't hold a conversation with you or the customer. I'll do the bare minimum slowly. Because doing it all quickly and correctly only makes them give you someone else's work. I've taken steps to building my own business in something I'm passionate about. I'm almost done with my degree, I've been in contact with art exhibits, opened a business account, and opened an LLC. I hope everyone finds what they love
I quit my job a few weeks ago because I hated it and it was stressfull and now I sometimes feel bad for staying at home while my friends and former colleagues keep going to work. But I get to wake up whenever I want, so hey, that's a plus.
I recently broke up with my girlfriend of two years who believed wholeheartedly that our value as humans comes from what we do in our jobs. This belief is incredibly destructive to one's self. It's crushed her self-esteem to the point where she'd rather run away and try to start her whole life over than stay with the person she loves and who loves her. It's so painful to love someone who believes in this, because it truly colors their entire world. Your job does not make you who you are. It doesn't define you.
I work a job that feels very tedious when someone asks me to explain it to them, but really while I’m doing it, I feel very content. It keeps me active, it sharpens my reflexes and my thinking. I enjoy it. And in the end, of course I’m just a cog in a machine, and there would definitely be more efficient ways to achieve what I am paid to do that would cut me out of the picture entirely. But my philosophy is just that that’s how life is. And to anyone saying that it’s sad for people to view their work as a part of who they are, or to view their work as a purpose they serve in their lives - I believe it is even sadder to do something 8 hours a day, five days a week, and think that it has absolutely no bearing on who you are as a person or what your purpose is in this world. Your experiences make up who you are. Own it. Take pride in it.
it's because of films like office space that I decided to never get any kind of desk job and in all the jobs I've had I have felt fulfilled and happy especially now that I work in healthcare where being good in your job actually impacts other people in a meaningful way that changes their lives for the better
Nicely done. I didn’t see this until years later but in the 90s I was a programmer/analyst and in the last couple of years I had to make sure all my programs were Y2K compliant. LOL
One of the best movies ever. I saw it when I had a boring tech desk job, didn't quit right away but it did cause a massive paradigm shift in my thinking. I guess over time I did become more of a hippie. Life is better with more free time, even when you have little money. Fuckin' A. Greets from HOLLAND.
First off: yet another amazing video by the Wisecrack team, bravo! I will always be a subscriber as long as you keep putting out this sort of content! As an answer to the final question of "Does my effectiveness at work define me, and how do I feel about that?": Hell yes, my effectiveness at my job defines me, and I feel like it's made a positive and irrevocable change in the way I do things not only in my job, but in my day-to-day life. I am, by trade, an Aviation Parachute Rigger in the Marine Corps, and so my effectiveness at my job has a direct effect on other peoples' lives; not just the pilot that said parachute is attached to, but all the Marines that I teach to pack said parachute. The level of attention to detail that we take with this job (and rightfully so) is beyond what most people in the workforce can muster, and so when I see my Marines leave the Corps after their obligated time, they generally excel far above their peers in whatever profession they choose to take up. This job, more importantly than all other attributes, has IMPACT. Do I prefer to be "doing nothing" like our protagonists? After doing the job that I have done for so long, if I ever tried to go back to doing a "normal" civilian job, i.e. office work, stocking shelves, serving food and the like, I feel as if I would have Peter's "IDGAF" mentality and utterly fail at those sorts of jobs, because (no offense to anyone in those professions) those jobs do not have the IMPACT that my previous job had. Nobody's life is at stake if you arrange a bottle of ketchup on a shelf backwards. So, I feel as if I would need a job that has some kind of tangible impact on peoples' lives in order to feel relevant in the workforce and the world around me.
There's a book called _The One Straw Revolution_ by Masanobu Fukuoka in which he describes "do nothing" farming -- more like: Don't-do-too-much farming, in which the aim is to allow natural systems to decide which plants will live and die, rather than enforcing the situation with pesticides, fertilizers, pruning, etc. It's a very Zen like approach.
There's 2 ways to thwart the mudanity that Peter and Bartelby grapple with. The way Zizek touts is inaction and disengagement. this is the path of thanatos the drive for comfort, the womb, and death. The other is Eros, passion, creation, and new life. In otherwords the full embracement of actualizing whatever potential you have. Which means risk, avoidance of comfort, and creativity. Zizek would probably argue that the confines from the 20th century negate Eros, but people succeed at it everyday however rare. As Joseph Conrad said in "under western eyes" "In life you have to either rot or burn. And there is not one of us, painted or unpainted, that would not rather burn than rot."
I had junioritis back in highschool, and I remember this one time my art teacher was arguing with me about why I wasn't following her instructions and I literally said: human nature. That art class sucked though lol
I watched this movie for the first time when I was 18 and it did not make much sense to me. Now, 6 years later and this movie is not only relatable but it is basically my life.
That moment when you suddenly realize you have become peter in real life (but instead of doing nothing place zero value on your work as a means to define your life and view it only as a tool to achieve your goals completely divorcing yourself from any interest at all in whether or not the entities which you prosper or suffer in so far as it does not create “drama” in your own life). Its quite a peaceful place to be.
Adding to that is how we evaluate each other. Often is said, my son is a doctor, my cousin is a lawyer, my friend is a pilot, and so on as if a persons identity is tied to their occupation. While often used to inflate ones standing it seems to me it is actually a reductive description.
When I was doing my MBA. Our professor for organizational behaviour actually made this film mandatory viewing. That was a great choice from our professor :)
I used to tell my employees (I managed restaurants for a little over a decade) when dealing with irate and irrational people that sometimes doing nothing WAS doing something. I've used that same logic while leading guilds as well as helping my boys (3 of'em) in certain life situations. Inaction is action an action taken.
I've found a strenuous compromise: I work on a family-owned farm for a person I like doing tangible work in a beautiful setting for pitiful compensation. The most important thing to me though: I'm not enhancing value for anonymous shareholders I'll never see or speak to. I do things I would prefer not to, but things I find personally distasteful or strenuous, not aiding and abetting environmental and financial crimes. I feel like I own myself. The flip side of this is that I have zero financial security. Because my truck blew a head gasket, I've ridden an electric bike almost 2000 miles since May and will only next week be able to fix it. And I can only do that because I was able to defer my truck payment (I'm almost done) until repairs are complete. Opting out completely is attractive but I wish to live, and here in America that takes money, whatever you have to do to get it. I won't steal or starve, that means I've gotta work or rely on charity. I've got a lot if neighbors who need that charity more than I do, so I must either work or feel like I'm stealing from their kids, and remember I won't steal. What I'm getting at, it can be done, at a price, for a while.
Look into skilled trades. Good pay and an environment where everyone pulls their weight and are valued based on the work they do rather than the soulless dredgery and office politics that comes with desk work. What you’re doing is pretty much the labor industry’s equivalent to interning at a telemarketer firm. Low pay entry level where they normally put kids with no experience or work history.
Check out Capitalism Realism by Mark Fisher for a quick exposition on the neoliberalism and corporate bureaucracy. Its a great and short book that builds on a lot of the ideas of this essay and even references Office space as well.
3 роки тому+1
Just watched Office Space for the first time last night and loved it (because I've recently started working in an office) and this came up on my suggested. I miss Jared most of all!
Damn... this is a connection I haven’t seen anyone make. Yet, it’s on the surface. Not enough know Bartleby the Scrivener. I read it in college. I learned here to always stand up for yourself and always respect yourself on the job.
This analysis makes me think about my office job. Getting paid consistently is convenient, so is the healthcare, a comfy chair, little to no micromanagement but my duties can be so mind numbing that I get the occasional headache and don't do much outside of work other than watch tv and play my game. Worst of all, I'm a writer. I know this because this is what I tell myself everytime I nothing at work and home then regret not actually writing. Does anyone feel like we're in an era where our visual media is so advanced that it can be difficult for "literary"creatives to remain inspired?(if they're still plugged in)
I often find that our work or even lack thereof does define us even if it's in the eyes of others. I sometimes have to take a step back and say to myself "I am not my job. I am not my job. I am not my job." Even though I love my work and what I do day it's so easy to fall into a routine of thinking that your job is your entire being. If I lose my job then that doesn't mean that I am worthless. I have seen families crumble from people who have not found value in themselves after losing a job. I find that I think of my job as a valuable hobby, I reduce my stress making me do my job better.
While it would be easier to have residual income, dividends, lots of cold hard cash etc.. there are people who have very little money or income and don't sweat it ... Boon-docking, Van Life, Rv-Living, frugality, and/or just being cheap by choice...
@@maxidaho We've seen the results of the plans of wealthy entrepreneurs. It turns out they mostly just want to make themselves more wealthy and they don't care how many people get hurt in the process. That's why we don't let them be in charge of it anymore. We bring democracy to the workplace.
If you stopped giving a f**k and just wandered aimlessly, I'd bet someone, somewhere would at least hand you a sandwich if you were on the verge of death. If no one did, then maybe you were always living in a miserable society in which on one gives a damn about each other and wouldn't even feed a dude about to starve to death outside a skyscraper filled with millionaires.
It’s odd that many people forget that one of the biggest proponents of capitalism is that you indeed can say “I prefer not to”. Your boss can say the same thing and decide not to hire you for it. But you can literally do whatever you want, and put as much work into it as you want. Your worth is completely up to you, you just have to prove it
I'd like to believe that our future isn't so bleak, capitalism or not. As shit work continues to be taken over by automation and more creative avenues of work (not unlike your own) become more viable, maybe self expression and self actualization will become our most valuable commodity.
Or more likely these things will become hobbies and volunteerisms. Automate away the majority of jobs and give people a UBI and people will do what they want to do for free
If everyone tried to be an artist there would be such oversaturization that it would eventually become overwhelmingly pointless to even try to break through the herd.
I used to have a job guarding a room, where you could literally do nothing all day. That's actually where I watched this movie, while on shift. But in retrospect I hated that job, and hated doing nothing. It's possible to have a job that you care about enough that you will willingly work as hard as you possibly can every day, completely under your own self-motivation. And once you know that, then it becomes clear; if you're in a job where you care so little, that you try to avoid working, you need to keep looking for the job you do care about.
Well, shit. I just got a job with beer behemoth ABinBev, they drilled corporate policy on us the whole week before even letting us into the production line. But in the meantime, I was reading Rivethead, and now I watched this. I don't really have a way out if I want to make a living, so I guess I'll just keep pretending to be a happy rat until I crack
I had a job were I worked in an office and nothing I did was important or noticeable. I quit and now work in an office that I actually have responsibilities. The responsibility is what I needed.
See i like the idea in principle and executed maybe a decade or two ago, but in this age it feels like even the negation of work is being captured by capitalism. Claim: Our being is in the process of being cleaved into discrete buckets so that every conceivable facet is marketable/interwoven into a market system. In that space, "doing nothing" just becomes another facet, and could be marketed towards with a sufficient adjustment (UBI could conceivably pull this off and allow for capitalism to limp on as a system past another financial collapse through sheer consumer weight, though that's a hypothesis that would need more than just hand waving to show, and even then is subject to subtle perturbations). I mean even at the end of Office Space the refuge is in another form of wage labor. There's no imagination past the proletarian condition, past what modernity could be. There is no future, and Bartleby suggests there is only death in resistance (though i need to read that shit before I make claims about what it's tryna say so thanks for the recommendation). Hurray for comforting thoughts!
I'm no expert but I believe that is Zizek's point as well. He has a well known quote in which he challenges writers of works like V for Vendetta to explain what happens AFTER the revolution/protest/action. There is never an answer because, shockingly, no one knows what to do past our basic economic system. The end message of Office Space, to me, was that people want to achieve some ownership of their labour. Peter wanted the feeling of accomplishment - something he did not achieve. Physical labour, while still wage slavery in this context, at least gave him that feeling of accomplishment. Interesting point about Bartleby though - now I'm depressed. Gonna go avoid putting up the towel rack for another 4-5 hours while I brood.
@@Cosmicllama64 For more brooding: I feel like you could seriously explore the death drive in revolutionaries through the lens of something like Bartleby juxtaposed to a "glorious death in the revolution", modulo ideology. It's like we live in this eternal stasis, constantly watching ourselves rot away. In that universe, the fire of action seems almost poetically lovely, triply so since dying in struggle often means not having to deal with consequences, good and bad, only the final illusions in your head that spread into infinity as with your blood across the pavement. Live to die or die to live? Real nasty duality.
But, as noted, none of the alternatives are better. China might say that it's better, but does anyone actually trust their government? Russia collapsed from the strain, and I'd laugh at you if you tried to use Venezuela as an example of the success of socialist ideologies. Denmark's experiment in socialism went so badly that they briefly had an anti-tax party, and have been moving back to private healthcare because the system is failing, much like how Canadians would come to America to bypass long wait times.
I work in an office designing stuff. I find the work satisfying in small quantities, but the overwhelming montony of it all is border line soul crushing. On my days off, I find that I do nothing, but it isn't an escape as much as a prison. I am cursed to do nothing because I find myself doing too much duing the week. Maybe I swallowed the line about needing to be productive too far down to spit it back up. Not sure, but the "Philosphy of Doing Nothing" Is something that I find myself trying to avoid. Maybe I gotta find a new job. Maybe I gotta find a new way to look at it. Not sure, but just figured if you guys are asking opinons, i might as well give it. Love the channel guys!
Get 20% OFF + Free Shipping + FREE GIFT with code
WISECRACK20 at Manscaped.com! ➡️ bit.ly/2lK8i3E
Thanks to Manscaped for sponsoring this video!
Wisecrack How was this not your first video? Love you guys and keep the great work!
But your fans dont even have pubes yet
@@Awesomebaconman123 that's not true!! Mine are out of control!! Thank you Wisecrack!! without you I don't know what would have happened
I've got a slogan for you:
"Make your ass crack a wise crack"
You're welcome 💩
omg jared is back
Jared: Let us know what you feel in the comments.
Me: I prefer not to.
I'll stick to liking the comments I agree with and replying with one word responses
@@bigstunna2049 yes
@@bigstunna2049 same
And yet... here you are commenting on your feelings about commenting.
Oh the irony.
“If you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That's the American way.”
- Homer Simpson
It does seem to be the American way.
That's me.
Matt Groening and Mike Judge are two great talents at satiring modern life and work!
an hour of pay /= an hour of work, it equals an exchangable amount of work for the pay received- the rest of the hour is free time until the next pay segment is given.
Unless your performance affects the jobs and it’s hard to hide. I want job to just tuck away and not get evaluated on it.
Ron Swanson shares that philosophy as well
"Normally, if given the choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I will do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night, if it meant nothing got done.
"
But with Ron Swanson it's not because he's lazy or a slacker. The reason Ron is like that is because he's an extreme libertarian who wants to waste the governments money and cause them to be ineffective and tied up with useless things so normal people aren't bothered by government interference. It's not the same. Ron is that way _because_ he cares. Not because he doesn't.
He's not a slacker, he's the opposite.
@@medes5597 Good point, but I believe that would still align with the concept of "doing nothing" being a form of rebellion.
Ars moriendi but RS felt that way because he was a libertarian extreme that purposely sought to obstruct government action.
@@medes5597 If you look at the job he ended up doing, despite his otherwise libertarian leanings, he was a conservationist at heart. That is probably why he actually let Leslie do so much.
And by doing nothing you are not necessarily a slacker. Slacker is simply the term used by those who cannot understand why doing nothing may be better for you in the long term. Most people don't truly do nothing - when you stop working on what you are "supposed" to work on you often will do things that just make you happy, like sleeping (better for your health), reading (better for your mind), or doing some other action that brings you pleasure and has the potential to create other things. The greatest minds in history would be considered "slackers" today.
I never realized how much I relate to the movie Office Space until I started working full time in an office. No matter how great benefits and pay are, if I'm not interested or passionate about what I'm working on, it's almost impossible to focus at work. All I end up thinking about is how much I'd rather be doing physical work or being outside.
During the height of Covid I was a supply planner for a large Cheese manufacturer. I remember calling out a Sales Manager in a meeting because he was angry we weren't able to produce some type of multi-flavor cube packs. I remember saying "we're losing several thousand people a day to the virus, relax, we're working on it."
Until you start doing physical labor outside and you wish you were inside the office. The irony of work. Have done both.
I watched Office Space for the first time at uni. At that point I was a geology undergraduate looking to land 150k a year making notes about rocks in a desert in some foreign country 7 days a week 8 months a year.
Now I make beer and whisky for a living 15 minutes from my house. I play with my son for hours every day, go on adventures with my wife, and cook meals for the both of them, which they seem to enjoy.
Fuck the grind, Office Space saved my life.
My favorite prof in U once said that her ultimate goal in life was to do the least amount of work possible for the greatest compensation possible. I've always taken that to heart.
As I grow older, it becomes clearer that this is the way.
The motto
This is the way
There's something really meta about watching a "philosophy of doing nothing" video on UA-cam. I mean, how many of us could be doing something else right now, or are watching this to put off doing something else?
*raises hand*
Percentage wise, it is 100% easier not to do things than to do them, and so much fun not to do them-especially when you were supposed to do them. In terms of instant relief, canceling plans is like heroin.
-John Mulaney
Learning about philosophy with Wisecrack> Doing nothing
Very insightful of you. Cool
I see you're not a bathroom type of mobile user. 2x speed is a good length video for multitasking with lower cognitive functions.
🖐
My man we need a video on the philosophy of your grooming habits
He's going full tormond giantsbane....
He looks like hes never used conditioner
There this youtuber called CG Kid who makes videos about his past experiences with addiction and he looks JUST LIKE HIM
I think he's rocking the trump denial but in its early stage.
@@bigstunna2049 yes...or at the very least, hair mousse
Last job i had was office work. It was slowly destroying me.
Eventually after they blatantly told me they were punishing me for my beliefs (christian company and i did not subscribe) and cut my hours i completely stopped caring about anything. Stress vanished. They eventually let me go and now my job is blue collar. I have no stress from my job, a feeling of accomplishment, and no more petty office drama.
Plus it pays better :)
I came at it from the opposite end. Used to do manual labor work, and loved every bit of it. There was just therapeutic about. Probably just hard to be pissed off when you’re tired and sore, plus you have physical evidence that you actually accomplished something productive with your day.
Unfortunately I broke my ankle in a motorcycle wreck so now got to do desk work and my god I hate it.
I'll meet you guys halfway. I work in retail. My job is to unload a truck, sometimes two, sort freight to its correct department, and then go to the floor to put the freight onto the shelves. In addition, I help customers with whatever I can. Its not hard work, but it is tiring and we do experience burn out. On the other hand, despite our bosses complaining that we aren't working hard enough, we can leave on time even if all of our freight isn't stocked, we can wear headphones as long as we communicate with our bosses effectively despite the fact that we're not supposed to, and a lot of us pace ourselves so that the work will last all day, especially when there is no general freight truck. We have freedoms because our bosses are too busy or lazy to stop us. We could work harder but then we would lose people who cannot keep up. Our store runs efficiently because we all half ass our jobs for decent pay and good benefits. Many days I'll leave work wondering if I should find another job, one that fulfills me more, but where would I find a job that goes from 2 pm to 11 pm? As a night owl I value my shift. So I and many of my coworkers are in a rut, but we acknowledge the rut because none of us want to deal with the nightmare of finding a better job. Like I said, middle ground. Btw, it should be obvious, but bonus points to those who know the company I work for lol.
As a Christian, I've never been a big fan of "Christian" anything.
Like a comedian I like said, "Jesus is my savior; not my head of marketing."
@@rdp16rulez I'll make two guesses. Walmart? DHL?
@@MisterMikeTexas You hit the nail on its head, and no, it's not DHL.
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
JOSHUA was right all along.
actually this reminded me of Stanley parable
in that game there are few endings
but the only way to get the "true" ending is doing nothing
That's really the true escape for any Catch-22 you may find yourself in.
Mike Judge is a genius. You guys should do a video on Silicon Valley, They cut apart the ridiculousness of tech giants and startups with perfection and I feel like you guys could have a field day with it.
Love King of the Hill, Daria, Beavis and Butt-Head, and Office Space. I'll have to check out Silicon Valley. I also want to watch Milton.
When I worked in an office I learned the art of acting like you were doing something important when you really weren't. 😊
I came to a strange realization a while back that goes in tandem with this video. I was working a pretty damn important job at a Fortune 500 company. I was making pretty good money and was pretty well liked around the office. One day a friend of mine got hurt and asked if I could help him do his job for a while. His job was installing yard signs for real estate companies. The pay was crap and the work was pretty mundane...but I absolutely loved it. Like, I was happier doing this mundane job where the stakes were super low than I ever was at my supposedly "coveted" position at the IT firm. I still work the job at the IT firm, but I have to admit that I was much happier and felt more fulfilled at the other job.
With all due respect, the fact that you kept the coveted position at the IT firm speaks volumes. Sometimes jobs are soul-deadening, but we hang on to them for the social status. Being someone of high esteem is more important than having fun for most.
I see your point, but I wonder if you would've felt the way, if you knew it's a job. I mean, you were doing it knowing it's temporary and it was quite a refreshing change from your old job. Do you really think you'd still be that happy, if you were doing his job, full time, after five years? Ten yeara?
@@GameTesterBootCamp very well put sir, especially the ending, couldn't agree more
@@houssineassas9966 very true.. novelty is always exciting when you've been stagnating for awhile but that novelty can turn into stagnation fast just in a different form. we must always be challenging ourselves and constantly seek out novelty if we wish to extract as much fulfillment, meaning and virtue out of this life as we can.
However, the reason you felt fulfilled and happier at that job was because you had the IT job payin the bills.
"Do you fantasize about doing nothing?"
This comment it the first thing I've done all day, and it's 4pm.
My man, I think you and I, are kindred spirits
I saw this comment a couple of years ago and thought about replying but chose to do nothing instead.
I can relate to this. Recently got fired from my job for not really doing much work at all. I couldn't bear doing the work anymore and I was slowly doing less and less work until I was basically doing nothing. Now it's been a couple months and I'm enjoying my free time outside hiking and ice climbing. Life isn't significantly better but it is a whole lot less terrible.
Worked in a Cafe for 5 years and cared about the job, got very stressed, had anxiety attacks. Left and got another job in a cafe in a bookshop with the philosophy of 'do as little as possible'. Found out the two other staff members had the same idea and since none of the bookshop manegment knew how to run the cafe we slowly did less and less work and no one noticed. It was wonderful
I always enjoyed the story of Bartlebee, and I've given it some thought. My biggest problem with the whole concept of inaction is that while one person choosing to be inactive might slightly disrupt the system, it can't change the system. If there was to be inaction on a large scale, like in a labor strike, then it can be effective, but on an individual basis, it will confuse people for a while, but then the system will just replace you. Look at Bartlebee himself; by choosing not to, he ends up dead in prison. Maybe it was better for him, but it ends up being a weird foot note in the otherwise smooth operation of an oppressive system. Ironicly, the only way to cause group inaction is through often Herculean amounts of personal action, like organizing a walk out.
The infinite loop:
"Would you kindly?"
"I prefer not to."
"Would you kindly?"
"I prefer not to."
"Would you kindly?"
"I prefer not to."
...
Stephen Schaefer a man chooses, a slave obeys
Atlas is nice guy c'mon!
Philosophy of how Manscaped has taken over the UA-cam sponsorships
i had no idea other dudes were basically idiots who dont know how to groom
Better than those goddamn Postmates ads
LucianLegacy well they paid a shit ton of money for their ads to be seen everywhere
for that we need to look at Immanuel Kant famous words "money bags"
the Doughboys podcast does great manscaped ads talking about how stinky their balls are. what's weird to me is all the boner pill ads on comedy podcasts. if you're listening to comedy podcasts you probably don't need to use your dick for anything, speaking only from personal experience
My friend and I discussed this a bit. I was recently searching for a new job, and we were talking about our past office experiences with major companies. People who's life revolve entirely around their work. I had co-workers working 60 hours a week regularly by choice(kindof), and he had co-workers coming in Saturdays to work. They were defined solely by their work. My new job is strictly 40 hours a week. I made it very clear that I would not work overtime.
On another note, I loved this episode because I constantly say "I would prefer not to" when my boss asks me to work 60 hours week after week...and no one gets it lol
I work in an office like this. My philosophy became, "Do enough to not get fired." Oddly, my quality and productivity increased once I quit giving a crap at all about the demands of the office, and I was made a supervisor. People liked working in my department, because my leadership philosophy, when confronted with a request from a worker to do something like work odd hours or take a long lunch and then make up the hours afterward was, "Is there a legal or moral reason why they can't do this? If not, then LET THEM." My department's productivity was the best in the company while I was there. Funny how a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Then I got into database administration, and I've been left blissfully alone by leadership ever since.
"I've always subscribed to the idea that if you really want to impress your boss, you go in there and you do mediocre work, half-heartedly.” -- Jim Halpert
I once had to fill in for my boss at a managers meeting. Everyone was complaining about the people under them. One even said dammit! These people must be made to work!! I’m the boss and that’s it!!
They asked me what I thought. I said, trust begets trust, and a happy employee is a productive employee…. Room was silent! 😉
Yeahhh...uh, I’m gonna need those TPS reports
That'd be great...
Did you get the memo?
@@ComradeBobby We're putting cover sheets on all the TPS reports from now on.
During my most soul-sucking job, I spent nearly all of my time working on grad school apps instead of the “important” work I was supposed to be doing. Once I was accepted to grad school and was moving halfway across the country in a matter of weeks, I just stopped doing anything. I showed up but actively did nothing. My bosses HATED me for it, but at that point they couldn’t really do much. I think they refused to fire me as a way of saving face, since they knew I was leaving soon anyway and didn’t want to give me the satisfaction of personal vindication.
You forgot to mention the greatest slacker of them all: the Dude !
"I'd prefer not to" is going to be my new catch phrase
I always have said, "I could out lazy anyone, but I am too lazy to try" Now I realize I have just been a philosopher this whole time
Zizek looks just like Mark Hammil in the new Star Wars movies where Luke has basically stopped giving a shit and given up on everything. Coincidence?
Interesting, Rian Johnson is one devious sob.
Jared is keeping his beard longer and bushier. Is it just me or Jared is aiming to look like Marx 😳😳😳
It's getting to be about that time in history again lmao
More like Trotsky
"Matx: now even more red"
@Abserd O is that not marxm
Marx himself literally murdered 100 million people with his own bare hands
As someone who worked really hard and got no where because my bosses promoted their friends: when I finally quit it was the most liberating feeling. I just decided one day I was done and I would move on. I gave my notice and they spent the last few weeks trying to get me to stay but I had enough because they were keeping me there because I had such good numbers
But I really didn't appreciate the treatment.
Never again. Never going to stress a job like that ever again
If it's a "given" that your job is your purpose (unless you have a great job helping others) that's pretty sad
Kind of why I got into education. Sure the pay is pretty low for the amount of college education I have, but I get a chance to help future generations acquire the skills needed to succeed in the world while still having enough free time to pursue anything I want to do otherwise.
I'm a musician who works a regular job. My 9 to 5 (physical labor) is separate from my identity as an artist as that is my purpose and passion. From my perspective, my job is a tool that allows me to acquire money so that I can take care of my family, financial obligations and responsibilities. It also allows me to put money towards my music and spend it on leisure, etc,..
Honestly things I care about are what gets me through the day, looking forward to time with my wife or playing guitar and creating music. I don't know I just see my job as a temporary role I play, the mask comes off when I clock out. Not that I can't be social or develop friendships with people. It's like when you're out with friends you're more laid back but, at work you may be more reserved.
.
Julian Birch It means something to you and that's all that matters.
antonh24
That’s my philosophy as well. I’ll give an honest days work for an honest days pay and don’t mind pulling extra hours if I got nothing going on. But the second a job starts acting like their entitled to my personal time or taking my extra effort for granted, I start putting in minimum effort.
I think that people love working if the work is meaningful. I think that the birth of a lot of these philosophies is that people are doing grunt work, but they also live in a society that grants them the freedom and opportunity to recognize that they're doing grunt work. Not to mention that they can see their bosses who don't appreciate the work they do and they can also see how much harder they work but for so much less compensation.
Watching this at work, with a textbook in front of me, instead of studying for college or actually doing work.
Neat
Yeah you need to go ahead and, uh, work or study there. Thaaanks.
So this is actually Wu Wei from Daoism, but in western office flavor.
maybe the wu wei of Master Splinter, but not Daoism.
Taoism
Not quite. The essence of wu wei IMO is not to put yourself into situations where you have to strive, compete, leverage, manipulate, or over-identify with things and outcomes. Capitalism does all those things to us and encourages us to do those things too, and this is unnatural. The irony is that our craving for nature is an acknowledgement that we are living unnaturally, and it's killing us, the very thing we were trying to avoid by doing civilisation in the first place.
@@BigHenFor Most large systems do this, because they always try and force their constituent parts to either work for the system or leave it. This is part of the appeal of alternate systems. A person might say they want socialism(despite how many times it failed or lead to an authoritarian nightmare, or both) but what they really want is simply to not need to work if they want to eat. This is currently impossible, as even self-reliance just means that you do all the work yourself. The only real difference between communism and capitalism is that you've just cut out the money aspect. If you want to eat, you need to work.
Dudism!
Got laid off from a job a long time ago. Decided to never talk about work with people outside of work time, never tell people what I do for a living, and never ask them what they do when meeting new people. The idea was is make my job the smallest part of my identity that is possible. That way, when you're stuck in a shitty job, it doesn't define you. I absolutely love the work I do, and get paid extremely well, but it's a very, very small part of who I am. Talk about and focus on, and live- your life, not your work. Key takeaway: your employer doesn't care about you, and that's ok. You don't have to care about them, either. Do the job to the best of your ability at all times, though. Slacking isn't acceptable to me. I don't slack at my job, and I sure as hell don't slack when it comes to enjoying my life. just my two cents
I like this philosophy.
This episode speaks to me because I have a job where I have to wait for another department to supervise me (and the other people in my department) while I do certain aspects of my job. Basically every department where I work is understaffed, and therefore I sometimes have several hours between tasks where I have nothing to do but sit and wait. The other members of my department are impatient and are constantly fretting about wanting to do their jobs and go home, but I sit back, relax, and enjoy getting paid to do nothing.
I had a fairly good gig as computer operator over 20 years at a medium-sized Texas bank. I had a good rapport with the departments I supported. In my last days of the position, before I transferred to mailroom services of the company that bought what was left of the bank (It kept me from getting laid off), I had the task of placing all sorts of documents and material in "Bankers Boxes" within a date range. IT departments aren't known for keeping everything orderly. I went through things that had been the responsibility of previous parties who worked in IT. I had to come up with description labels of the contents for each box, and prep them for shipping to the records department in Austin. It was hard to label the crap I had to organize and box, because you couldn't really put an accurate label on it. I admit I rushed the job and half-assed it, and even got cute, and stuck an old company BBQ invite in one box, and an old Christmas party invite in another. I had been told by my easy going supervisor that those boxes were never gonna be opened anyway, they'll just be stowed practically forever. I was glad when I got that shit done, all the same.
This was good, but I miss Dr. Sparky Sweets, Ph.D.
I use my office job as a proxy for why I should try to keep on surviving in the first place in a difficult and sometimes pointless world.
I am definitely burned out on monotony and empathy. I eat alone, i won't go to the office birthday parties, i don't care about your baby shower, I won't hold a conversation with you or the customer. I'll do the bare minimum slowly. Because doing it all quickly and correctly only makes them give you someone else's work. I've taken steps to building my own business in something I'm passionate about. I'm almost done with my degree, I've been in contact with art exhibits, opened a business account, and opened an LLC. I hope everyone finds what they love
I thought Jared was mowed down at Area 51
No, Jared did the Naruto Run to get away.
@@livinginvancouverbc2247 that's my man
Storm Area 51 Day = The day millions decided to actually do nothing.
There's only one type of mowing goin on with Jared
I quit my job a few weeks ago because I hated it and it was stressfull and now I sometimes feel bad for staying at home while my friends and former colleagues keep going to work. But I get to wake up whenever I want, so hey, that's a plus.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. "To thine self be true" is the only takeaway.
Wow now I have a philosophical excuse for why I do nothing! Thanks Wisecrack!
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
I recently broke up with my girlfriend of two years who believed wholeheartedly that our value as humans comes from what we do in our jobs. This belief is incredibly destructive to one's self. It's crushed her self-esteem to the point where she'd rather run away and try to start her whole life over than stay with the person she loves and who loves her. It's so painful to love someone who believes in this, because it truly colors their entire world.
Your job does not make you who you are. It doesn't define you.
Come on guys, philosophy of being John malkovich.
Aatif Hashmi Voyeurism
And puppetry
Yes please!
long overdue
John Cusack said in an interview they wanted to put the experience of an acid trip on the screen.
I work a job that feels very tedious when someone asks me to explain it to them, but really while I’m doing it, I feel very content. It keeps me active, it sharpens my reflexes and my thinking. I enjoy it. And in the end, of course I’m just a cog in a machine, and there would definitely be more efficient ways to achieve what I am paid to do that would cut me out of the picture entirely. But my philosophy is just that that’s how life is. And to anyone saying that it’s sad for people to view their work as a part of who they are, or to view their work as a purpose they serve in their lives - I believe it is even sadder to do something 8 hours a day, five days a week, and think that it has absolutely no bearing on who you are as a person or what your purpose is in this world. Your experiences make up who you are. Own it. Take pride in it.
Anyone here from when Archer made a random Bartleby the Scrivener reference? Not a big Melville crowd I see. He’s a tough read.
I never sat down to read anything else but Moby Dick was a sick read in highschool
it's because of films like office space that I decided to never get any kind of desk job and in all the jobs I've had I have felt fulfilled and happy especially now that I work in healthcare where being good in your job actually impacts other people in a meaningful way that changes their lives for the better
Nicely done. I didn’t see this until years later but in the 90s I was a programmer/analyst and in the last couple of years I had to make sure all my programs were Y2K compliant. LOL
I will try that "i prefer not to" line o my boss next monday. Honestly, on the brink of quitting for months now
I like to think Professionalism is another soulless version of yourself, but don't get me wrong it has its perks.
One of the best movies ever. I saw it when I had a boring tech desk job, didn't quit right away but it did cause a massive paradigm shift in my thinking. I guess over time I did become more of a hippie. Life is better with more free time, even when you have little money. Fuckin' A. Greets from HOLLAND.
This video reminded me of the philosophy essay 'In Praise of Idleness', by Bertrand Russell
I'll see you and raise you "The Right To Be Lazy" by Paul LaFargue
Literally listening to this while working my office job. I must have a case of the Mondays!
Jared literally combed his hair for the Manscaped ad, lol
Using a special manscaped comb
First off: yet another amazing video by the Wisecrack team, bravo! I will always be a subscriber as long as you keep putting out this sort of content!
As an answer to the final question of "Does my effectiveness at work define me, and how do I feel about that?": Hell yes, my effectiveness at my job defines me, and I feel like it's made a positive and irrevocable change in the way I do things not only in my job, but in my day-to-day life. I am, by trade, an Aviation Parachute Rigger in the Marine Corps, and so my effectiveness at my job has a direct effect on other peoples' lives; not just the pilot that said parachute is attached to, but all the Marines that I teach to pack said parachute. The level of attention to detail that we take with this job (and rightfully so) is beyond what most people in the workforce can muster, and so when I see my Marines leave the Corps after their obligated time, they generally excel far above their peers in whatever profession they choose to take up. This job, more importantly than all other attributes, has IMPACT.
Do I prefer to be "doing nothing" like our protagonists? After doing the job that I have done for so long, if I ever tried to go back to doing a "normal" civilian job, i.e. office work, stocking shelves, serving food and the like, I feel as if I would have Peter's "IDGAF" mentality and utterly fail at those sorts of jobs, because (no offense to anyone in those professions) those jobs do not have the IMPACT that my previous job had. Nobody's life is at stake if you arrange a bottle of ketchup on a shelf backwards. So, I feel as if I would need a job that has some kind of tangible impact on peoples' lives in order to feel relevant in the workforce and the world around me.
the thumbs down on the video are overpaid CEOs
Watch this and fight club back to back.
Philosophy/ hidden meaning of Fresh Prince of Bel-air
Ps great to see you again Jared
Agreed. Was getting really sick and tired of all the stand-ins
There's a book called _The One Straw Revolution_ by Masanobu Fukuoka in which he describes "do nothing" farming -- more like: Don't-do-too-much farming, in which the aim is to allow natural systems to decide which plants will live and die, rather than enforcing the situation with pesticides, fertilizers, pruning, etc. It's a very Zen like approach.
I am the ultimate slacker. I haven’t done anything for years and years.
MR.X Yeah, you’ll be better than me as you rot in your grave.
There's 2 ways to thwart the mudanity that Peter and Bartelby grapple with. The way Zizek touts is inaction and disengagement. this is the path of thanatos the drive for comfort, the womb, and death.
The other is Eros, passion, creation, and new life. In otherwords the full embracement of actualizing whatever potential you have.
Which means risk, avoidance of comfort, and creativity.
Zizek would probably argue that the confines from the 20th century negate Eros, but people succeed at it everyday however rare.
As Joseph Conrad said in "under western eyes"
"In life you have to either rot or burn. And there is not one of us, painted or unpainted, that would not rather burn than rot."
I had junioritis back in highschool, and I remember this one time my art teacher was arguing with me about why I wasn't following her instructions and I literally said: human nature. That art class sucked though lol
I watched this movie for the first time when I was 18 and it did not make much sense to me. Now, 6 years later and this movie is not only relatable but it is basically my life.
a classic. one of my favorite movies
That moment when you suddenly realize you have become peter in real life (but instead of doing nothing place zero value on your work as a means to define your life and view it only as a tool to achieve your goals completely divorcing yourself from any interest at all in whether or not the entities which you prosper or suffer in so far as it does not create “drama” in your own life). Its quite a peaceful place to be.
All those familiar feelings this movie evokes, spelled out for us. Wow. Never looking at this movie the same.
Adding to that is how we evaluate each other. Often is said, my son is a doctor, my cousin is a lawyer, my friend is a pilot, and so on as if a persons identity is tied to their occupation. While often used to inflate ones standing it seems to me it is actually a reductive description.
If I don't make fun of his beard am I complicit in its development?
It's growing no matter what you do
When I was doing my MBA. Our professor for organizational behaviour actually made this film mandatory viewing. That was a great choice from our professor :)
Ah, yes. The one with the "if you could.... that would be be great meme".
People who chew loud in the office are doing a power move, it asserts dominance. The head cow is always grazing.
Aye 57 secs ago! Could this hangover day get any better?
lol i'm not the only one dead in bed with a hangover all day?
@@spacekoalalove you're not alone
@@spacekoalalove same.. same.. 😅
I used to tell my employees (I managed restaurants for a little over a decade) when dealing with irate and irrational people that sometimes doing nothing WAS doing something. I've used that same logic while leading guilds as well as helping my boys (3 of'em) in certain life situations. Inaction is action an action taken.
Tell me : Is "Wisecrack" just another way to say "Smartass" ?
Well, considering that their symbol is a donkey wearing a monocle...
A wisecrack is a smartass remark. So pretty much.
I've found a strenuous compromise: I work on a family-owned farm for a person I like doing tangible work in a beautiful setting for pitiful compensation. The most important thing to me though: I'm not enhancing value for anonymous shareholders I'll never see or speak to. I do things I would prefer not to, but things I find personally distasteful or strenuous, not aiding and abetting environmental and financial crimes. I feel like I own myself.
The flip side of this is that I have zero financial security. Because my truck blew a head gasket, I've ridden an electric bike almost 2000 miles since May and will only next week be able to fix it. And I can only do that because I was able to defer my truck payment (I'm almost done) until repairs are complete.
Opting out completely is attractive but I wish to live, and here in America that takes money, whatever you have to do to get it. I won't steal or starve, that means I've gotta work or rely on charity. I've got a lot if neighbors who need that charity more than I do, so I must either work or feel like I'm stealing from their kids, and remember I won't steal.
What I'm getting at, it can be done, at a price, for a while.
Look into skilled trades. Good pay and an environment where everyone pulls their weight and are valued based on the work they do rather than the soulless dredgery and office politics that comes with desk work.
What you’re doing is pretty much the labor industry’s equivalent to interning at a telemarketer firm. Low pay entry level where they normally put kids with no experience or work history.
Check out Capitalism Realism by Mark Fisher for a quick exposition on the neoliberalism and corporate bureaucracy. Its a great and short book that builds on a lot of the ideas of this essay and even references Office space as well.
Just watched Office Space for the first time last night and loved it (because I've recently started working in an office) and this came up on my suggested. I miss Jared most of all!
Was literally watching office space when this was posted
Damn... this is a connection I haven’t seen anyone make. Yet, it’s on the surface. Not enough know Bartleby the Scrivener. I read it in college. I learned here to always stand up for yourself and always respect yourself on the job.
Finally growing out that Socrates beard.
This analysis makes me think about my office job. Getting paid consistently is convenient, so is the healthcare, a comfy chair, little to no micromanagement but my duties can be so mind numbing that I get the occasional headache and don't do much outside of work other than watch tv and play my game. Worst of all, I'm a writer. I know this because this is what I tell myself everytime I nothing at work and home then regret not actually writing. Does anyone feel like we're in an era where our visual media is so advanced that it can be difficult for "literary"creatives to remain inspired?(if they're still plugged in)
Me going in to this video: Hmm, seems interesting enough to avoid doing my homework.
Me 19 seconds in: *hol up*
I often find that our work or even lack thereof does define us even if it's in the eyes of others. I sometimes have to take a step back and say to myself "I am not my job. I am not my job. I am not my job." Even though I love my work and what I do day it's so easy to fall into a routine of thinking that your job is your entire being. If I lose my job then that doesn't mean that I am worthless. I have seen families crumble from people who have not found value in themselves after losing a job. I find that I think of my job as a valuable hobby, I reduce my stress making me do my job better.
I really hope it was intentional to have a promotion for manscaping done by a dude rocking the Jeremiah Johnson look
I walked out of my job today even though I'm pretty decent at it, wanting to quit and somehow got even more appreciation from my management
Hmm, doing nothing- sounds freeing, if u have the capital to back it- that is
While it would be easier to have residual income, dividends, lots of cold hard cash etc.. there are people who have very little money or income and don't sweat it ...
Boon-docking, Van Life, Rv-Living, frugality, and/or just being cheap by choice...
Or the wealthy entrepreneur you plan to tax the crap out of has the capital. You know that's the plan...right?
@@maxidaho We've seen the results of the plans of wealthy entrepreneurs. It turns out they mostly just want to make themselves more wealthy and they don't care how many people get hurt in the process. That's why we don't let them be in charge of it anymore. We bring democracy to the workplace.
If you stopped giving a f**k and just wandered aimlessly, I'd bet someone, somewhere would at least hand you a sandwich if you were on the verge of death. If no one did, then maybe you were always living in a miserable society in which on one gives a damn about each other and wouldn't even feed a dude about to starve to death outside a skyscraper filled with millionaires.
@@odolwa099 You're stuck in a shltty void man. Sucks to be u
It’s odd that many people forget that one of the biggest proponents of capitalism is that you indeed can say “I prefer not to”. Your boss can say the same thing and decide not to hire you for it. But you can literally do whatever you want, and put as much work into it as you want. Your worth is completely up to you, you just have to prove it
I'd like to believe that our future isn't so bleak, capitalism or not. As shit work continues to be taken over by automation and more creative avenues of work (not unlike your own) become more viable, maybe self expression and self actualization will become our most valuable commodity.
Or more likely these things will become hobbies and volunteerisms. Automate away the majority of jobs and give people a UBI and people will do what they want to do for free
If everyone tried to be an artist there would be such oversaturization that it would eventually become overwhelmingly pointless to even try to break through the herd.
I used to have a job guarding a room, where you could literally do nothing all day. That's actually where I watched this movie, while on shift. But in retrospect I hated that job, and hated doing nothing. It's possible to have a job that you care about enough that you will willingly work as hard as you possibly can every day, completely under your own self-motivation. And once you know that, then it becomes clear; if you're in a job where you care so little, that you try to avoid working, you need to keep looking for the job you do care about.
Well, shit. I just got a job with beer behemoth ABinBev, they drilled corporate policy on us the whole week before even letting us into the production line. But in the meantime, I was reading Rivethead, and now I watched this. I don't really have a way out if I want to make a living, so I guess I'll just keep pretending to be a happy rat until I crack
Sounds like Ol' Bartleby could have used a game of Tetris.
"I don't want to do what I signed up to do."
"Cool..you obviously don't have integrity to do what you said you would do. You're fired."
You're practically forced to sign up for it, tho
I had a job were I worked in an office and nothing I did was important or noticeable. I quit and now work in an office that I actually have responsibilities. The responsibility is what I needed.
See i like the idea in principle and executed maybe a decade or two ago, but in this age it feels like even the negation of work is being captured by capitalism.
Claim: Our being is in the process of being cleaved into discrete buckets so that every conceivable facet is marketable/interwoven into a market system. In that space, "doing nothing" just becomes another facet, and could be marketed towards with a sufficient adjustment (UBI could conceivably pull this off and allow for capitalism to limp on as a system past another financial collapse through sheer consumer weight, though that's a hypothesis that would need more than just hand waving to show, and even then is subject to subtle perturbations).
I mean even at the end of Office Space the refuge is in another form of wage labor. There's no imagination past the proletarian condition, past what modernity could be. There is no future, and Bartleby suggests there is only death in resistance (though i need to read that shit before I make claims about what it's tryna say so thanks for the recommendation).
Hurray for comforting thoughts!
I'm no expert but I believe that is Zizek's point as well. He has a well known quote in which he challenges writers of works like V for Vendetta to explain what happens AFTER the revolution/protest/action. There is never an answer because, shockingly, no one knows what to do past our basic economic system.
The end message of Office Space, to me, was that people want to achieve some ownership of their labour. Peter wanted the feeling of accomplishment - something he did not achieve. Physical labour, while still wage slavery in this context, at least gave him that feeling of accomplishment.
Interesting point about Bartleby though - now I'm depressed. Gonna go avoid putting up the towel rack for another 4-5 hours while I brood.
@@Cosmicllama64 For more brooding: I feel like you could seriously explore the death drive in revolutionaries through the lens of something like Bartleby juxtaposed to a "glorious death in the revolution", modulo ideology.
It's like we live in this eternal stasis, constantly watching ourselves rot away. In that universe, the fire of action seems almost poetically lovely, triply so since dying in struggle often means not having to deal with consequences, good and bad, only the final illusions in your head that spread into infinity as with your blood across the pavement.
Live to die or die to live? Real nasty duality.
But, as noted, none of the alternatives are better. China might say that it's better, but does anyone actually trust their government? Russia collapsed from the strain, and I'd laugh at you if you tried to use Venezuela as an example of the success of socialist ideologies. Denmark's experiment in socialism went so badly that they briefly had an anti-tax party, and have been moving back to private healthcare because the system is failing, much like how Canadians would come to America to bypass long wait times.
The only solution is to end human employment, only then can we start to truly live our lives
I work in an office designing stuff. I find the work satisfying in small quantities, but the overwhelming montony of it all is border line soul crushing. On my days off, I find that I do nothing, but it isn't an escape as much as a prison. I am cursed to do nothing because I find myself doing too much duing the week. Maybe I swallowed the line about needing to be productive too far down to spit it back up. Not sure, but the "Philosphy of Doing Nothing" Is something that I find myself trying to avoid. Maybe I gotta find a new job. Maybe I gotta find a new way to look at it. Not sure, but just figured if you guys are asking opinons, i might as well give it. Love the channel guys!
Mike Judge is always a win! Wait... wrong channel. Still though.
You haven't seen The Goode Family.