Introduction
I suppose your first couple of questions might be why did I write this book and what am I attempting to accomplish by so doing? Fair questions to ask. I suppose you want to know my name. It is Tony Hornet.
Initially we should try and define exactly what type of corporation Up Up And Away Investment Management Corporation International is because that was my most recent employer. For ease of reference, we will call it UP International. It is a large for-profit corporation with 26,432 employees. It has a finance, sales, accounting, human resources, happiness and a legal department. It has its head office a stone’s throw away from the United Nations in New York City. It has offshore processing sites in China, Poland and India and branch offices throughout Asia, North America and Europe. Although it is a for-profit corporation many of the points raised in this book could equally apply to large not for profit corporations or governmental bureaucracies.
Why am I writing this book? Selfishly it is good therapy for a wounded employee of UP International who has suffered from what might be considered unflatteringly as a mental breakdown after being overloaded by work with insufficient resources to process it. Add to this having difficulty to manage the stress due to various medical conditions and negative reactions to prescribed medications. I need the pain and suffering to be exorcized and writing this book will hopefully cure my soul. I also dearly hope that you will gain insight as to what employees face working in largecorps for your own safety and health.
I would also like those not working in large corporations to imbibe a flavour for what all those office tower employees are enduring. You might be envious of their beautiful office building and wonderful employee benefits. You may have no real idea of their largecorp experiences. You also might be a current or former largecorp employee wanting some exposé about what occurs in these office towers or comfort from what you are about to read because you’ll realize you aren’t the only largecorp employee that is suffering or has suffered.
Am I trying to tear down largecorps and hope that they crumble (without loss of life) like The World Trade Centre? Yes. I am attempting to expose what life is like working in what might be considered a modern-day coal mine with its roots in the Industrial Revolution of England. In many allegorical aspects the current largecorp employee toils in an unsafe coal mine where the main danger is not death from poor working conditions in an unsafe mine, but mental distress or death caused by stress, burnout, slick manipulation and executive management greed that is responsible for the stress and burnout of countless largecorp employees. Crudely put many largecorps are run by bandits. Hang them high!
The words written here are mine. Unlike the modern millionaire athlete or corporate executive, I can’t afford a ghost writer. Of course, you are free to agree or disagree with what you read. I hope I escape from any impression you may have I am an anti-capitalist. I am a capitalist that believes in a fair and compassionate capitalism, the anthesis of so many largecorps. Now it could be there is no compassionate capitalism the way piggie management rewards itself and poops on its employees.
The names and some of the locations used in this book are fictional, but rest assured the experiences are personal and 99% true. I have had 30 years of experience working for largecorps so I have some valid insights some intellectual or academic just might not have in a largecorp funded school of management. Those poor young students. The cadres of largecorp Youth! Their goal is to rise to a position of what they consider respect and of course power and lots of cash and stock options.
Read on and agree or disagree. Call me a chump or a champion. But do read on. See you on the rubber chicken circuit when this book reaches the New York Time’s best seller list. I accept all major credit cards. Of course, since so many of you are being replaced by artificial intelligence and strange pandemic closures that are pumping up the wealth of billionaires and impoverishing just about everyone else there may not be any money available as most of you will be unemployed in the next ten years. What will you do then?
(This piece and all subsequent pieces are purely fictional and any resemblance to actual characters is coincidental and unintended. )
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 