Work for free or I will beat you up.
Last night I came across two very interesting article I would love to share with you. They are both from the Australian news website called news.com.au; which I have been told to take with a shovel of salt. What I like about the web site is that they cover a lot of different topics; but I try to only look at the facts in the article and ignore the opinions.
Lately I have been reading and hearing more about a work culture that actually scares me. Apparently it is very common in Australia to do unpaid overtime work. What is more scary is how so many people, based on the comments to the article, support this.
I have also been told to take the comments with a truckload of salt; but they are still opinions, and they are many.
Coming from Scandinavia this attitude and behaviour is more or less unheard of now, since decades ago. You are more likely to get pressured to work hard your given hours then to be encouraged to work overtime; because if you work overtime your employer, by law, have to pay you for it.
It is kind of common sense if you ask me. You do a certain amount of work and get paid for it. To me it does not make any sense at all to do a certain amount of work and just get paid for some of it.
That is kind of like buying a book at a bookstore and just get half the book, because the store did not feel like giving you the whole book. Of course, you can get rest of the book, if you pay a bit extra for it.
I really hope Lizzie still wants to go back to Europe when we both finish our degrees; because I can not work in a society that is this far behind with worker’s rights.
This is probably why I already have two “failed” employments here, because I spoke up for myself and demanded to be treated with respect.
If that is not enough, youngsters in Australia are too afraid to go outside because of fear of violence. That is honestly just sad if you ask me. How is this possible? Who can we blame?
I have noticed that the media in Australia are extremely good at being very dramatic about certain things; but I still do not want to only blame the scaremongering from the media.
This is probably isolated in Australia. You will for sure find similar fears around the world, just in different shapes and forms. We have become a very scared planet the last decades or so. The news are filled with horrible things 24/7. We laugh when the news actually report about something positive and say it is not news worthy.
It does not help of course that we promote binge drinking and violence as something fun.
I know I might seem a bit pessimistic about Australia, but I am not. The few I know here personally are great people. Even if I find the sun to be a bit too much (I want more rain!!!!) I like the weather. I am really fascinated by the nature and the wildlife here.
If you know me well enough you know where I am coming from, but if you do not know me that well or that you are new to my blog, I will try to explain my writing style in one short paragraph.
I write honestly what I feel when my fingers touch the keys on my keyboard. It is not just my honest (mostly) subjective opinions, it is also uncensored observations; without the feeling of need to please anyone.
If you still have problems understanding my writing; and that you still I am a negative prick who should move back to Norway and become a hermit, I suggest you look up the following words in a dictionary:
- Honest
- Subjective
- Opinion
- Observation
Have a good one!
