memes

Two kinds of employees. The irreplaceable widgets in the soulless machine of industry and the hot-swappable cogs.

Curiously, it's the irreplaceable widgets that get paid the worst, because the company has a vested interest in keeping these costs minimized long term. The real money is as an expendable, as the jobs are created when the industry is growing and flush with cash to blow on empty suit executives and PowerPoint brain consultants. And when the party is over, they're the ones with all the networking connections to jump ship soonest. Meanwhile, the irreplaceable widgets are the ones wedged into a sinking ship.

If you work hard and never use any sick days, you'll be secure in your position at Lehman Brothers or Silicon Valley Bank as the last guy left to turn the lights out when the business fails. If you're at Deloitte or Capspire or PWC, you're already on to the next host organism long before your old firm even knows it's got a terminal case of rot.