You have absolutely no idea how much this piece affected me. In fact it affected me enough to pony up the $7 a month and upgrade from the free version. Your experience at Columbia House really resonated with me. From 1989-2007, I worked as a teleservice representative for the Social Security Administration. You can probably imagine the kind of calls we had to deal with, day after day, month after month, year after year. And then they started introducing automated scripts, basically taking what little autonomy we did have away. My career in federal service ended with a week in a psych hospital and a disability retirement. Apologies if that was TMI, but your experience brought all of that back. And you were absolutely spot on to tie it all in with how government functions today; it’s actually how a lot of life in general functions. It’s really depressing if you think about it too much, so I’m going to end this and go find some chocolate or something.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kevin. I don’t think it’s TMI by any means. We are often paralyzed, unable to share our human experiences out of shame or embarrassment, yet it’s by exchanging brutally honest stories that we learn how much we have all suffered similar indignities when we are exploited by systems and people with bad/selfish intentions. I can’t imagine the psychological trauma you went through as a result of your repeated exposure to peoples’ pain, and the feeling of helplessness you were flooded with every day.
Jared’s essays help me feel less alone with my frustration about the state of the world. Your story did the same for me. Best wishes … hit me up if you want me to send chocolate. 🌞
You have absolutely no idea how much this piece affected me. In fact it affected me enough to pony up the $7 a month and upgrade from the free version. Your experience at Columbia House really resonated with me. From 1989-2007, I worked as a teleservice representative for the Social Security Administration. You can probably imagine the kind of calls we had to deal with, day after day, month after month, year after year. And then they started introducing automated scripts, basically taking what little autonomy we did have away. My career in federal service ended with a week in a psych hospital and a disability retirement. Apologies if that was TMI, but your experience brought all of that back. And you were absolutely spot on to tie it all in with how government functions today; it’s actually how a lot of life in general functions. It’s really depressing if you think about it too much, so I’m going to end this and go find some chocolate or something.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kevin. I don’t think it’s TMI by any means. We are often paralyzed, unable to share our human experiences out of shame or embarrassment, yet it’s by exchanging brutally honest stories that we learn how much we have all suffered similar indignities when we are exploited by systems and people with bad/selfish intentions. I can’t imagine the psychological trauma you went through as a result of your repeated exposure to peoples’ pain, and the feeling of helplessness you were flooded with every day.
Jared’s essays help me feel less alone with my frustration about the state of the world. Your story did the same for me. Best wishes … hit me up if you want me to send chocolate. 🌞
Your article explains so much. Thank you.