iQuote

A philosopher ... or even your average human being ... might consider it stultifying to sit in a cube farm all day saying "Hello, and thank you for calling the Problem Resolution Center ..." then patiently listening to the user's complaint, then suggesting the obvious solution, then waiting for the next user's call. But often when I was at work, feeling relaxed and unfree, overqualified and airconditioned, it seemed to me that the plight of the low-level corporate drone was unfairly maligned by believers in social justice and human potential. It is true that the pay was low, the benefits nonexistent, the question of upward mobility moot, and the institutional neglect of our hidden talents virtually complete. But what a tremendous, almost vegetal peacefulness there was ... ! At night I might feel bad about colluding with my mediocrity -- but somehow while seated before my terminal as I swiveled back and forth in my standard-issue office chair, I felt that if I just kept working, with due diligence, at this time-serving American job that after all someone had to do, then whatever happened to me or my country wouldn't be my fault.

~ Benjamin Kunkel, "Indecision"