*The Fantasy World of the Workplace* [I had to write an 'opinion
   piece' for a college English class while I was _also_ working in
   an office.* Replace *work* with *school* and I think
   _everything_ applies equally to school.* A-] Work life in
   corporate America is structured very oddly, I think.* There's
   very little reality in the structure, that's for certain.* It's
   a fantasy world - very Walk Disney-like, where people never get
   sick, never have to lie down, never practice any religion, never
   have anger or sadness.* In corporate America, everything is all
   smiles, nobody smokes or drinks, or has physical problems, or
   has any sort of ugliness at all.   In my workplace, there is a
   policy.* The policy is: You don't get sick.* There are no "sick
   days" where I work!* You get vacation days, and a nice bunch of
   paid national holidays - and I can't complain about that - but
   there are no sick days!* If you are sick, you come into work.*
   If you don't, and you stay home sick, it is considered "an
   incident".* Three "incidents" and you get a verbal warning: It's
   absurd!* If you're sick - you should stay home!   Weather is a
   strange thing about working in corporate America.* There is no
   weather.* it does not exist.* If it rains outside, or snows, or
   is terribly hot or cold, or just generally unpleasant - you go
   to work.* If it is a beautiful day - a day where you could enjoy
   nature and the outdoors - you go to work.* it's all very odd to
   me.* We don't run the weather, the weather runs us.* But if you
   work in the business world, the weather is not a factor in your
   life.* Stay dry, stay warm, and come into work.   There's no
   place for religion in work.* One mustn't display too much in the
   way of religious iconography - yet, what if you wis to pray
   several times a day?* What if lighting a candle is part of your
   religious practice, or helps you focus?* Well, in the business
   world, religion does not exist.* There is no* accommodation* or
   it, not much in the way of acknowledgement, and we pretty much
   accept this as *normal*!* Yet, any half-decent religion is
   supposed to permeate your life.* Still, it must stay out of
   work.   Mustn't lie down at work either.* Where can you lie
   down?* You can sit -- oooooh --- you can sit!* Sit, sit, sit -
   it's a pretty well accepted thing to do at work.* You can stand
   too, from time to time.* But lie down?* The prone position does
   not exist in the business world.* Yet, it's perfectly human to
   need to lie down from time to time.* Odd, this is, to me.   I
   have a few solutions, if you'll hear me out.* A cot room would
   help with the lying down problem.* Mexico had its siestas, why
   not here in the USA?* How can anybody be productive when the
   only way to rest their eyes is at their desk, hunched over a
   keyboard, pretending to work while actually resting eyes?* It
   just doesn't seem natural to me.   Of course, the word
   "business" has built-in to it part of the reason why these
   things don't generally happen.* "Busy" + "ness" = "Business".* I
   don't know who coined the term, but it definitely fits.*
   Millions of people, every day,, who are at jobs they don't care
   to be in, find themselves, "looking busy" hour after hour.* It's
   a strange way to lead one's life, in my opinion, but I guess it
   keeps the cos well-oiled and turning, since the appearance of
   work gets the managers to feel better about how the business is
   going, and perhaps this positive energy helps the company out in
   some way.* Still, it's only speculation on my part.   Religion
   exists among humans.* It's pretty common and takes many forms,
   yet it can't be practices in the workplace.* Solution?* A
   generic prayer room at work, where you bring the religion in
   with you when you come to pray, and take it out with you when
   you leave.* If a business wants a little extra cash, they could
   sell candles and incense at the Company Store,* The prayer times
   could be worked out with a person's manager beforehand, in
   exchange perhaps for regular break times.* Pretending religion
   doesn't eist among humans is pretty unnatural to me as well.
   Now, with regards to a "cot room" or a "religion room", I'm
   referring to things people could do during their break periods
   or lunch time.* for example, I've been considering learning Tai
   Chi, and would like to see if I could work something out that we
   could have Tai Chi sessions at work.* It would happen before
   work, or during standard break times, if I could manage to get
   this going.   The weather and the sickness issue, for me, really
   comes down to having the ability to stay at homme on days when
   the weather, or your immune system tells you.* "Stay home" = You
   are penalized for being sick, or on the weather being
   "uncooperative".* Technology today is such that *many* jobs can
   be be performed at home, with no need to be in a special
   building for performing those tasks.* Luckily, telecommuting is
   gaining ground more and more; and perhaps, one day, it will be
   available to everybody. Still, why don't people work closer to
   home?* What good is a community if the community isn't there to
   MAKE it a community?* Just doesn't make any sense to me!* Work
   where you live, and most of these problems go away!* Still, no
   pre-planned Utopia has been successful yet, so I suspect mine
   wouldn't be either :)