The joke's on us ;)

What I particularly enjoy about the present days is that all concepts and ideas are blurry. I remember when I was back in Morocco; I was a real liberal with a strong capitalist flavor. The idea that all people are alike, at work, and should “worth” the same was, at best, sickening to me. How can you pay an intelligent and hardworking employee the same way as a lazy (and not as intelligent) one? Worse, how come that we reward seniority instead of accomplishment and success? That thought was absolutely unacceptable to me back then…

Then things changed. I started working in the Capital of Europe. And then I discovered that for me to be a capitalist and a liberal, I had to make more effort than simply getting sick by earning the "same as everyone else". I needed to raise my standards! I discovered that people are NOT paid the same, which was great news to me… but, people were made to think that they were paid in accordance to their performance, that it was only based on merit. That is absolutely fantastic one would think… until they discover that salaries and promotions are way too random. You can be as performing as the person sitting next to you and yet have half his salary. Joke on you buddy. As long as you believe you are doing great, bringing revenue and that you are well paid, the capitalist system is going great… everything turns around “belief”. And what is even more fascinating is that once discovered, there are ways out, so no worries:

1 – Leave for better (there are always better conditions out there, so would we like to believe)

2 – Threaten your company to leave if they don’t offer you what you “deserve”

3 – Moan about it and sack everyone’s moral… until hopefully you get fired with a great package (a paid sabbatical year maybe, before getting back to work)

And here is the even greater piece of news; the company as well has ways out:

1 – Fire you; with a package (everyone’s happy)

2 – Make your life miserable until you quit voluntarily

3 – Make your job redundant and offer you another one (the kind of job where you need to move away or that will offer you the least probability to have a great career path)

4 – Just give you a dull increase and make you happy for the next 2-3 years, the time a replacement is found and trained.

All of the above is only applicable when you continue working and making other people richer (no worries, you can receive a “thank you” once in a while).

Am I now becoming a communist? Hell no! But now I’ve learnt to laugh about social discrepancies… and there is one for you: my salary!