coldhand25 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 So basically, thanks to the pandemic, the job opportunities for a university student were really scarce, but my friend managed to get his father to hire me for administration at his firm. I got placed into one of the places where they put together the devices the company sells. Now, I don't get a lot of money for this job, but it's still more than nothing, and almost the same as what the people earn who I work with - who are not only working here in the summer. The difference is, they are like 20 years older than me, and, well, aren't the brightest ones out there. This is only my second week, but I start to wish I was deaf (we are allowed to use only one "ear" of headphones, to hear if they are calling for us) because of the constant stupidity I hear here. They talk about everything, including politics, law, economics - all the while they pretend they actually know what they are talking about, and while I'm not someone who has much knowledge in law, I'm studying economics, and I actively take part in political stuff, so I know that they are factually wrong in like 90% of what they talk about, which I wouldn't mind if they could stop being such racists and "know-alls". I don't know, I just wanted to get my thoughts out here, because I won't go against all my coworkers, as I still have 5 weeks of working left here, but I start to already have enough. What's your go-to tactic to ignore stuff around you if you can't just listen to music to not even hear them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricaofRenais Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 I have had to learn to zone out a lot of stuff because my dad (since before I was born) has to have either talk radio or the tv on all the time, and he has to complain about everything. I will either tell myself very involved stories or plan out things I am going to do such as cook play video games or other things for after I am done with dealing with my dad when I can't have headphones on. I have gotten really good at zoning out after 20+ years of doing it. at least you only have 5 weeks to go so you have an end point to look forward to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armchair General Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Arguing works on my stepdad. If that fails, I just let him take the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldhand25 Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 I'll have to learn to be able to focus on my job, but otherwise zone out completely... I just hope I won't bring this habit with myself back to university... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRay Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Maybe try reaching out to one of your co-workers who is more moderate. I canvassed last year during the summer to try to get people to donate to charities, and I get to talk to people on the other side of the aisle a couple times. We still disagree on a lot of things after a conversation since our talks do not last that long (they got places to go and I need to get others to donate), but having a conversation and finding common ground helps soothe the initial bumps. Once you find common ground, it is easier to convince them to look at the problem from your view and explain to them why some of their ideas do not work or are not true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldhand25 Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 7 hours ago, XRay said: Maybe try reaching out to one of your co-workers who is more moderate. I canvassed last year during the summer to try to get people to donate to charities, and I get to talk to people on the other side of the aisle a couple times. We still disagree on a lot of things after a conversation since our talks do not last that long (they got places to go and I need to get others to donate), but having a conversation and finding common ground helps soothe the initial bumps. Once you find common ground, it is easier to convince them to look at the problem from your view and explain to them why some of their ideas do not work or are not true. Yeah, I was thinking about talking with a few of them about how I don't really (=not at all) agree with their views on these topics, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tell my thoughts in a way they would understand/consider it. I know it sounds rude, what I mean by that is, I can't really speak with them in a neutral tone about these stuff, when some of it concerns me, and since I'm working here only for the summer, they might just go ahead and dump all the shitty stuff on me. But if all else fails, I'll probably try to get to their level and talk with them about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRay Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 1 hour ago, coldhand25 said: Yeah, I was thinking about talking with a few of them about how I don't really (=not at all) agree with their views on these topics, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to tell my thoughts in a way they would understand/consider it. I know it sounds rude, what I mean by that is, I can't really speak with them in a neutral tone about these stuff, when some of it concerns me, and since I'm working here only for the summer, they might just go ahead and dump all the shitty stuff on me. But if all else fails, I'll probably try to get to their level and talk with them about it... I would try to find common ground first. I would try to find some things that most people would feel easy to agree with. Concerning economics, I believe most would agree with the following: 1. We should try to increase GDP as much as possible. 2. We should try to reduce unemployment as much as possible. 3. We should try to reduce income inequality as much as possible. Once you find common ground, ask them how they would try to accomplish those objectives if they were a politician/economist, and ask why they think their method would do the trick. If they are not well educated, I recommend citing examples and cases that are as recent as possible since it hits closer to home and they are more likely to have experienced its effects. If you want to explain why regulations are necessary for example, I would talk about how the lax financial regulations helped caused the Great Recession in 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldhand25 Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 44 minutes ago, XRay said: I would try to find common ground first. I would try to find some things that most people would feel easy to agree with. Concerning economics, I believe most would agree with the following: 1. We should try to increase GDP as much as possible. 2. We should try to reduce unemployment as much as possible. 3. We should try to reduce income inequality as much as possible. Once you find common ground, ask them how they would try to accomplish those objectives if they were a politician/economist, and ask why they think their method would do the trick. If they are not well educated, I recommend citing examples and cases that are as recent as possible since it hits closer to home and they are more likely to have experienced its effects. If you want to explain why regulations are necessary for example, I would talk about how the lax financial regulations helped caused the Great Recession in 2008. Hmm, that actually could work with some of them. It will probably not work with the one who is the "loudest" in these conversations, in just this one week I already heard how he thinks that teachers should earn less, women should earn less, and so on.... I'm afraid he is a lost cause. But yeah, I will probably try to talk about these with the others next time, thank you for the tips! It might just makes these 5 weeks a bit more bearable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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