Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Cynical? Who, me?

Cynicism is a belief in...nothing. You've already met cynics, I'm sure; They're those people who tell you they see things how they really are and that things are really rotten. They believe that no one is sincere, and that everyone has secret, selfish reasons for the things they do. They'll tell you that everything is rigged against you, and no one means what they say. The world, according to the cynic is a cold and cruel place.... People who are cynical or jaded make their own lives cold because they lack courage. It takes courage to believe in things; sometimes things will disappoint you, sometimes people will let you down. To have faith is to risk having your heart broken, and the cynic isn't willing to take that risk.

- from Boys Will Put You on a Pedestal (So They Can Look Up Your Skirt): A Dad's Advice for Daughters, Philip Van Munching

Worst ever meeting today at Gap. What the hell. Do they think they can slave drive Canadian employees in addition to their third world country "employees" in sweat shops? Okay, my managers would freak if they read this. I worked from 10am-9pm today straight with a federally mandated 1 hour break. O CANADA.

So today during my shift, keep in mind I usually never take a break to go to the washroom, I went to the bathroom to rest for a bit because I was feeling really nauseous from the heat of the gazillion white lights they have back there - why they gotta do that for, I will never know. If you ask them, they'll give you some "visual marketing, customer appeal, modern merchandising fluff". Anyhoo, I leave the bathroom and my manager is standing right there telling me they're swamped at adult Gap and they need me back right away. What the mother? Are you stalking me? Then she asked if I told anyone I was going to the washroom. Do I look like I'm in 3rd grade? Alright. So I go back and it's not busy at all - turns out the cashier was paging me by walkie talkie because he couldn't find a hold on the holds rack that I had put back there earlier, even though it was under the right alphabet letter. So the day just went downhill from there...and the meeting came.

ENTER: Gap propoganda 2005. Two videos preaching words like: YOU BE YOU, INTEGRITY, RESPECT, PASSION, 2nd LARGEST RETAILER IN THE US (next to WALMART)...the list goes on. They weren't even talking about the words. They were just words on a TV screen. Can they do this? I want that tape confiscated and analyzed for subliminal messages. I had that whole picture in my head of people staring at the screen with black and white swirls and their pupils dilating as they watched it. Basically, they called the meeting a educational seminar on Gap Inc. and all it's brands including Old Navy and Banana Republic. AND IT'S ONLY THE BEGINNING. AI YA. So we played games with hidden facts like Gap's enormity on the international scale, how many employees it has, how much money it makes every year, how we can compete with Walmart (to which I was thinking, of course never saying, "you can't compete with Walmart, you idiots, unless you quadruple your net sales per year and start selling lawnmowers". Why are they comparing themselves with Walmart as opposed to J. Crew? Because they want to be number 1. Power-seeking, money-hungry, status-obsessed corporate America. I couldn't believe it. Actually, who am I kidding. Of course I could believe the superiority complex of the Americans, just not the audacity of blatently brainwashing their employees. Good thing I have a strong wall built against that kind of crap. And all my co-workers were gobbling it up like American Thanksgiving turkey (which is by the way the 2nd most commercially marketed holiday in the US). That will be a different post.

Now you're all wondering why I'm still working there. Well, it's a guaranteed job wherever I go (e.g. Vancouver, Toronto, Kingston). I already know all I need to know to work there and it's just convenient. So I'm sticking with it until graduation. It pays crap, it treats you like you're one out of 14,000 employees (which you are), they let you know that you can be replaced with a one of a bazillion people who hand in their resumes each day, and it marks its clothes up so huge it's absolutely ridiculous. Does anyone want to start wearing hemp clothing with me?

To those who know me: HAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHA.

Cynical? Who, me?

posted by jessica @ 10:16 PM