I made a comment on my Facebook status earlier saying I hate when I call a business and the message on the person's voice mail says, "You've reached the voice mail of (insert name). He's not available to to come to the phone right now, but if you leave him a message, he'll be sure to return your call shortly." I then commented on how people like this are so lazy they can't even take 30 seconds of their time to record their own effing message.
Yep, you guessed it. That opened the flood gates for a blog. I was going to write this as a commentary on the laziness of Americans, but then I started wondering if it's truly laziness or if people are just plain spoiled. Another theory is that these sorts of actions contain undertones of hierarchy - they can and would do it, but they have their minions who will do it for them because they're being paid to do so.
If you think about it, with the exception of technology, a lot of "lazy" actions are based on this hierarchy. I say technology is the exception because it's a gadget...obviously it doesn't have a socioeconomic status. Let's look at some hierarchical lazy actions: going out to dinner when you could make the food yourself (and often skimping on the tip), getting mani/pedis, having a chauffeur, or asking your assistant to walk your dog. Some things are limited to the upper class, but some things like going out to dinner are actions the majority of the population does every day.
So is it an unwillingness to succumb to demeaning tasks? Or is it simply because the options are available and convenient? For example, is the big cheeses asking his secretary to pick up his dry cleaning for him because she is available and willing to do it, or is it because the boss is unwilling to pick it up himself as long as he has people who will do it for him? Or is it a little bit of both? (PS: yes, I do realize this may have been portrayed as a bit sexist with the male boss and the female secretary. Perhaps we'll cover that in another blog. LOL.)
