Wednesday, August 18

Rage against the rat race

Corinne Maier wants corporate drones to celebrate sloth. Her book, Bonjour Paresse, the loose translation of which means "Hello Laziness," has sort of become anthem for slacker types in France, where the typical workweek is 35 hours, way below the American standard of slavery to the rat race. While arguably, the French already have it easy compared to other American-influenced worker types, she still insists that we must rage against the compulsion to shun idleness.

Maier is typical of the intellectual types: over educated, underemployed, and wanting to stir the pot a bit. She wants to counter this institutionalized work ethic, and cites herself as an example who only works 20 hours a week and spends the rest of the time puttering around her apartment in the Left Bank. However, the company she works for took note of her pronouncements and has now called upon her and wants disciplinary action. But all that has to wait until after she comes back from her vacation in September. How droll, noh?

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