Best of times, worst of times: The week where divisions are most apparent

If you know white-collar people this week — I don’t use the term “knowledge work” because it drips with privilege, i.e. do plumbers lack knowledge? — they are probably doing absolutely nothing of work relevance. The out-of-office is on. They might be skiing or taking their kids to Disney or some other place. Now, if someone casual asks them how the week looks, they will say “So busy, so slammed, end of year chaos.” But most people are doing absolutely jack shit this week. They’re lounging.

If you work blue-collar or retail or warehouse, this week is jacked to the gills. You need to make food for, or get boxes ready for, those people in the first paragraph. I had a friend from grad school — I’m still not entirely sure why I went to grad school, honestly — who became a manager at an Amazon fulfillment center. She told me one year that on December 21st, she worked a full 24 hour day on her feet. Didn’t sleep, didn’t go home. Now, she was white-collar salary-wise in that job, but she was over mostly blue-collar workers. So I think my argument here still works.

This is the week you see the divisions of America most pointedly. One side is working their fingers to the nub to provide services, experiences, and commercialism for the other side. The other side is claiming to be working their ass off, but sitting on planes, in hotels, on ski slopes, or in their sunken living room with their $3,200 couch chilling with the fam.

The divisions are sadly most apparent in the season that’s most directly associated with giving.

Takes?