MODERN IFIGENIA

I just ran into this old article which reminded me of something I read a few weeks ago. That more recent article (which I can't find because I am aging disgracefully) talked jokingly about how Americans eat too much fast food. The article was not substantive, but American commenters were very upset because Europeans don't understand convenience. The argument was that Americans eat fast food frequently because it is convenient to their lifestyle. Which made me realize just how much the American worker has embraced their employers' needs as their own...while their employers simultaneously fight against the needs of their workers, even for things as simple as a living wage. Let's be clear: Americans eat fast food because their employers give them very limited time to eat. This creates two problems: 1. Americans eat unhealthy food that is readily available and filled with empty calories and 2. Americans spend more money on that less nutritious food to increase their ...

Everyone in the U.S. seems outraged at the fact that France has banned the use of e-mail after 6:00PM by its workers. The fear is that there are so many things we need to have 24 hours a day, that their economy will crash. The reports of the number of employees affected by this rule were initially I million, but in reality the number is much smaller -seems to be about 200,000, see NPR Story on France's new workday. I for one think we have a culture in the U.S. that does not value self-care, and because of that we are a population constantly just one step off of an edge. Sadly though, this culture of more-is-better doesn't yield better results, France's productivity rate is actually pretty comparable to the U.S. A feat considering their 35 hour workweek and mandatory vacation days, none of which are common here. To me this indicates, that we are obsessed with a lot of work and not with good work. We feel that if we spend long hours at the office we are somehow more produc...