Currently, I hold an on-campus job where I work fifteen hours a week. I am a student advisor and mentor for incoming or current students; meaning, I answer phones, perform basic office duties, and assist in orientations or open houses, as well as help guide freshman in the right direction. Throughout my experience there, my job has been influenced by a process of rationalization and I have experienced alienation and exploitation. Also, my experience is a public issue, rather than a personal trouble.
The process of rationalization is the way in which forms of calculation based on reason and observation overtake the social world. This process dominates the training and the execution of my job. Every year students are surveyed and this information is used to develop the lines we tell incoming students and their parents. I am fed the sentences I am supposed to say when asked specific questions and I am well trained to answer in ways that avoid actually answering the question. The words spoken over the phone, in person, or written in emails that go out to students and parents are worded in such a way to avoid conflict. It has been several years to develop the technique, and reactions were closely monitored to ensure the least amount of drama. This process is executed every day when the phone rings or the email buzzes. Honesty is not necessary, just the word choice and delivery become what matter. It is easier to say what each person wants to hear, rather than what is truthful. .
Alienation is when people no longer work to feel good about themselves or their product, but for a way of earning money. The process becomes mechanical and routine. They no longer feel connected to their product. This has been the case with every job I have held. I need to make money in order to support myself in college. I use the money to pay rent, phone bills, to purchase groceries, et cetera. The process of going to work is dreadful and the pay does not appear to be worth the effort I put into it.
