a little uplift before bed

i was looking at youtube tonight right before bed when i noticed this video on the home page. this is the ps22 chorus. besides the fact that this is a chorus of children singing modern songs, which is cool, i was struck by the intensity in each of their faces. i was moved by their expressions. forgive me for saying this if it's out of place, but it was as if they were worshipping. they were experiencing true joy and happiness through singing. no one was forcing them to sing with such passion, it was simply oozing out of every one of them. there is just something so amazing about kids doing what they love. it truly inspired me in a huge way tonight.

this is the blog, if you are interested.

www.ps22chorus.blogspot.com

corporate exhaustion

so my intention has been to post a post-nyc blog with my findings and thoughts, but something else is on my mind tonight.

corporations.

never in my life have i felt so dumbfounded by an institution. starbucks, i'm talking about you. the son of a bitch that is the corporate coffee house.

i am currently in my fourth year of slavery with this major corporation. i never thought i would be there this long. but isn't that what everyone says? oh jeez, i am officially everybody else.

with that aside, the thing that bothers me the most is the monster that is corporate. why do they feel like they have to tyrannically run our lives? i was told today that my dress was a little too creative for starbucks. okay, i understand that i knowingly subject myself to the mindless, cog-in-machine type of employment, and thusly, rules for normal dress code apply. but seriously? i can't even express myself a little bit? what's so wrong about "bending" the rules a little? so instead of wearing the douchy black slacks with a tucked-in black button down shirt, i wear a conservative black skirt with a cute turtlneck? who REALLY cares? half the time customers don't even realize we have dress code. nobody even notices the collars and the slacks with belts that we are all forced to don day to day. and wasn't starbucks founded by a couple of hippies anyways? has anybody told them lately that they sold out to the Man? i'm not saying we should come in dressed like slobs or crazies, but a little creative freedom please?

also, why is it so hard for the managers to stand up for their employees? again, i understand we all knowingly work for corporate, but why has everyone become so spineless? when did we lose the desire to stand up for what we believe or to have a fellow employee's back when a customer attacks us with their death rays of bitchiness? yes, jobs are on the line. and nobody wants to be unemployed in this economy. but i am so tired of feeling like i work for people who don't have a heart. its like as soon as you get promoted in starbucks they suck out your brain and replace it with 100 percent fair trade arabica beans...

or shit. either one.

so without going on ranting and raving anymore, i guess i just wish there was a solution to all this. or at least an understanding. but i'm at a loss. and the longer i work at starbucks, the more clear it is to me how corrupt it all is. and as a young woman who would like to be a business owner one day, how do i avoid this fate? do people with the best intentions end up like this? like a spineless monster who only cares for profit, even when it claims otherwise?

i feel like starbucks has a severely detrimental fate ahead of itself. and rightly so. what once was a wonderful company has become a part of an increasingly disappointing world structure.

and seriously, instead of cutting the brewing of decaf and bold coffee to save money, maybe try cutting out the sale of useless merchandise like journals and half-ass books. just a thought.