Government employee talks about how absurd and ridiculous his job is

in norway •  8 years ago  (edited)

Geir finished his degree in psychology with straight A's, and was immediatily hired by a State branch office. In the first 9 months as an employee, "Geir" worked 4-5 weeks total. The rest of the time he and his co-workers played mobil-games, and they even played Monopoly - for hours on end. But most of all - they played catch with a ball made of rubber, while talking about music, drinking and life in general.

Even their boss came down to their offices and said it was a good thing they had something to do.

But the good thing about the job was that "Geir" had a lot of time to apply for better jobs. And don't forget to mention "cake-friday". Which basically means you go to work, drink coffee, eat some cake and then leave early for the cabin you are able to own in the mountains, because you make so much money.

Depositphotos_84881040_l-2015.jpg

I remember I used to think "The Office" was a parody, but it seems like reality is even worse. The story told by "Geir" actually also correlates with what I've heard from friends who work in government jobs/public sector jobs.

Also it's such a disgrace to know that these people make $70,000 a year, while some hard working guy or gal in the private sector is living in a closet while having to have to finance their friday cake and cabin in the mountains by paying taxes.

Don't go to college

Unless you know exactly what you want to do, and that something is in STEM's (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths)
Unless you get straight A's in your political studies, psychology, anthropology etc, you won't be accepted to any public sector job. A regular secretary job in Norway requires a masters degree with straight A's now days. They get thousands of applications, and unless your on top, you end up in the bin.

Today, there are so many other opportunities. Just look at Steemit. While most 19 year olds are mindlessly walking around campuses, studying "something" just for the heck of it, accumulating student debt - the smart youngsters are finding platforms such as Steemit to make money. While making money learning and sharing, you free up time to create other businesses and other income streams.

I understand that the narrative used to be "be the first one in the family to go to college - and get a well paid safe job" but now it is "your parents were the last ones to go to college"

https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/PechaKucha-Geir-fikk-betalt-for-a-kaste-ball-pa-kontoret-i-ni-maneder-622289b.html

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@scandinavianlife, I use to have a dream of paying for all of my children to college. I realize now that my dream is unrealistic for 2 reasons:

  1. I have 5 children, and I will probably not be able to afford to pay for everyone.
  2. I don't think that college is as important as it once was. Because of their interests, a few of my kids can get all the education they need in a 2 year apprenticeship or study program that will cost a fraction of a 4 year degree.

That's such a goddamn shame. I would be embarrassed of myself if I worked that hard throughout my academic career to spend most of my workday fucking off while getting paid an absurd amount of money to do so. That also shows how devalued the university degree has become, as well, if you have to get a Master's Degree with straight A's in order to become a secretary.

Yup! And thanks for your resteems !

Like your post. Thank u for shearing

Often people stop to think about the ROI that goes into our education. If you can pay zero and make millions over the course of your working life, you're the man! Schools are no longer the institutions that hoard information. With the internet, you can pretty much teach yourself anything. Learning how to learn in this new age economy is key to surviving in this increasingly digitalized world.

Amen to that brother!

Someday, maybe the blockchain will help starve the Beast that is government by redirecting the fruits of our labor towards more productive ends.

Remember:

The definition of an elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Scandinavianlife, what is the average Joe salary check per month working in the private sector ? Maybe a hard question the life standard is pretty high I guess In Norway compared with most of Europe...

We see the same problem here, maybe even worser than Iin your country I guess, as a business owner I'm working my ass off to pay for all these zealots which are featured in your article...

My total tax (vat, social security and tax) here is almost 70%....so from each 100 euro I have 30 Euro net...

On a sidenote almost half of the country work for the government here, indirect direct...

Private + part owned sectors: nok43,200 ($5100) per month
municipial administration: nok38600 ($4500) per month
State administration: nok45700 ($5400) per month

So as you can see, working in state administration pays better than private sector, AND they have better pension deals, less workload, more flexibility, less responsibility and less risk.

Total tax with all fees is close to 65% here.

Completely agree. Sucks that trying to explain this to people corrupted by this POS of a society is impossible. (I've tried multiple times)