Someone is Stealing Your Life

 "Someone is Stealing my Life" is written by Micheal Ventura.Michael Ventura, an American novelist, essayist and cultural critic, expresses his disgust over the reality that happens inside workplaces and says that the lives of the employees are being stolen by their employers.In this essay the writer describes about the exploitation,lack of freedom that most of the workers face in USA.

 He argues that employees devote their entire life to their employers but they do not receive the wages or salaries for the effort they exert.  Employees may also receive incremental increases to their salaries or wages and they may also receive health care benefits and be given two weeks of paid leave every year.  Yet the employees do not receive enough for what they give to their employers.  He says that they do not even have the role to make decisions. They do the same thing over and over without any more freedom than a prisoner.  It must, however, be stressed that it is not the fault of his employer if he was not paid well and did not receive the right benefits as an employee.  It is an economic reality that if the supply is higher than the demand the price has the tendency to go down.  The same is true for the service being done by employees who are forced to accept low salaries because there are others more who can do the same job and at the same salary. If he feels that he has no authority over what he does as an employee maybe it is because his position in the company does not permit him to do so.  Companies have systems which must be observed by employees.  For example, secretaries need to have a filing system for the records in the office.  A secretary cannot simply complain of not having the freedom or authority to do otherwise since that is how things are done and should be done in the office. Ventura also complained that the employers receive a lot more than the employees do.  Certainly employers who put up businesses should receive substantially higher than his employees.  Firstly, employers receive more because they took the risk by investing their life’s savings in the business.  Secondly, employers receive more because without them employees will have no job. Thirdly, while the contribution of the employees to the success of the business is not being questioned, employers receive more because their responsibilities are far greater compared to the responsibility of a rank-and-file employee.  For them, a simple mistake in management decision may cost the entire business.  For example, decisions of employers affect the entire corporation such that an employer who commits a mistake in leading the company to the wrong direction may result in the closure of the business.  On the other hand, a secretary who commits the mistake of making a typographical error in a letter or who loses a document may at any time rectify his mistake. 

 If Ventura says that his employer is stealing his life, I consider working as one of the most liberating experiences of life.  Working will give us the opportunity to meet new friends and new people.  It will teach us to be disciplined.I think every employee must learn to appreciate the little things in life.