Storm Beach

In this posting I am taking a break from my usual book recommendations, going with a work of fiction that I read on holiday.

The Factory is a story about a newly employed worker who from the outset (the recruitment process) begins to realise that her manager already has plans for her, that well, haven’t considered any of her plans.

She goes on to experience the futility of work, not really knowing what she is doing, and not knowing what others are doing. At one point she notices a family member in the office, but she had no idea he worked there, unsure whether he actually does.

Uncomfortably she describes how she operates machinery, but really the machine is doing all the work. We begin to realise that the factory is vast, both in size and infrastructure.

Here’s my holiday moral of the story if there is one. Whilst we need to provide for our employees, we can’t be all things to all people. We have to draw the line somewhere, a line in my holiday sand between the professional and personal. And if we don’t we end up treating everyone like a number, taking away their agency.