...so it's time to sharpen our skills.
The Age of AI is an outstanding time to diversify your core competencies.
[AJ Freeman *human byline art c/o yurazenvisuals*]
After one hell of a weekend, it’s Tuesday morning and it’s time to get back to my “Real Job!” In this week’s installment, we work toward a better future…smarter and not harder, naturally.
I’m AJ Freeman, and “This Was a Real Job.”
This Week in Work: A Time of Transition
As I often mention, ever since AI took pretty much all of my copywriting work over the last few months, I have less a “career” than a—wait, what was the line—oh yeah, a dynamic constellation of income opportunities.
This past Saturday I was given the opportunity to speak on some of them in a radio interview, and it actually helped me clarify some things to and for myself.
You see, the interview spot actually came at an ideal time: I’m in the midst of a department transfer.
In case you don’t have 10 more minutes today to check out the full interview (or aren’t at all curious about what my speaking voice sounds like after reading all these words I write every week) I go into a bit of detail about my latest career direction in the wake of this year’s developments in tech…along with my broadcast partner ZiZi, I’m going to give my old podcast some long-overdue love.
It’s called “CoWork/Life with AJ & ZiZi,” it’s on Spotify, and I’ve started a separate section of this Substack if you want to keep up with the latest object of my focus.
A little change is nothing new. During my time working for The Economy, I’ve held a remarkable variety of jobs, most centered around what is commonly classified as “sales”….most recently, I worked at a Pacific Coast gift shop whose budgetary shortfalls during slow season have cut back on my limited hours.
Hey man, that’s the game. So long and thanks for all the hash, as they say.
Still, the thing about sales is it’s not really sales. The guy who sold you a bigger air conditioner this summer in all likelihood could have just as comfortably steered you toward a new car or even, subtly and over a number of years, eventually talked you into having a baby…that’s what marketing is all about.
That means the jobs that I have had, do have, and will have by and large have what it is to be human at their very core…abilities such as synthesizing data, identifying patterns, transmitting information, engineering effects…these are what would be in the cover letter to my resume if not for my intense disdain for them.
Like, what is this, 1987?
All that being typed, it’s actually an exciting time in my own personal career…no, I didn’t imagine that I would have earned more money selling bracelets at open-air markets than freelance writing in 2023, but that’s the great part about having flexibility in your skillset, you can fit in no matter what shape things take.
Turns out just being alive these days can take a pretty diverse set of skills.
Maybe Update Your Resume: Stock Stacker?
I’m far from alone in having my retail hours reduced this week. Big-box colossus (and leading beneficiary of federal food stamp programs) Wal-Mart has announced expansions to its costless labor strategy, implementing AI resources into its stock management. The utilities will also take a lead role in “merchandising” or the placement of product on shelves and in the store at large.
Wal-Mart has long been a pioneer in costless labor. The company was one of the first major retailers to embrace self-checkout at scale, and according to a 2018 report, has been found liable for over 1.4 billion dollars in wage theft, which sure sounds like individuals in the organization conspired to steal over a thousand million dollars from its workforce and should be facing serious jail time.
Obviously, crime being a social construct, that was not the case. Robbery is only bad when people without money do it, otherwise uncounted overtime would be a criminal matter and not something to be settled out in small claims court..
In any event, Wal-Mart brass maintains that its associates will maintain “fulfilling roles” in the organization while the company reaps obvious benefits, citing lower projected turnover rates and increased efficiency among them.
However, it’s hard not to see that in a time of increasing overhead, when facility leases and product procurement prices are steadily rising due to economic factors, that Wal-Mart has chosen to fulfill its shareholder promise of higher returns every quarter forever and ever by lowering costs the only way it can.
The message here is very clear.
And so, while sacred knowledge such as product facing to ensure labels are visible to shoppers and color coordinating products to make things you don’t need seem appealing may be lost to humanity, there are greater losses at stake.
You see, the most pernicious aspect of AI integration into the workforce—at least for those who rely on workforce participation to fund their lives on Earth—is the paring down of required skills. Odds are that you won’t be entirely be replaced with an AI algorithm at work in the near future, but it will very likely be replaced by a lower-paid, less-experienced employee using AI tools.
…and that means it might get even more difficult to find a human being working at Wal-Mart.
Color Commentary: What Can Brown Do for You?
In a recent edition of “This Was a Real Job,” I expressed deep appreciation for my own everyday employment experience, particularly as compared with someone like a UPS delivery driver.
There you are, in the middle of the hottest summer in human history, driving a non-airconditioned vehicle around an asphalt desert during the most oppressively sweltering hours of the day. The workload is heavy. The pay is unsatisfactory. Oh, and the truck you’re driving is painted in one of the darkest possible colors to really trap that heat and seal in the flavor.
You’re basically driving an air fryer.
So, in the spirit of solidarity, it was good news that the drivers’ union scored an emphatic victory in their labor dispute with the package delivery company.
The gains made were substantial: part-time workers will receive a raise to at least $21/hr, and all workers will enjoy an hourly pay bump of $7.50 per hour over the 5 year-contract length, including an immediate $2.75 increase. As a result, full-timers will average just under $50/hr, putting them in the six-figure range yearly. The new contract also includes protections around days off.
That’s what happens when you threaten to kill the cash cow…folks can get real amenable real fast, especially as it relates to such an unautomatable job.
Of course, as I mentioned in a previous post about the organization-wide pay rise for TSA inspectors, a rising tide lifts all boats, so good news for UPS drivers is also good news for their career path contemporaries at Amazon, FedEx, DHL and similar. Hell, it’s good news for all of us…in a country’s working class, negotiation anywhere is effectively negotiation everywhere.
That’s what solidarity is.
Still, my mind is on the union’s next challenge: getting those heat-stroke uniforms off their drivers. Yes, we all know that branding is second in holiness only to profits in the corporate canon, but there’s no real reason to have human beings running around cities in woodland-themed attire.
Like, will you not know your package is being delivered by UPS if the truck only has a massive UPS logo on it instead of being brown and black from top to tires?
So while I’m glad to hear that the drivers’ union got a dose of what they needed at this time, I’ll also be keeping a careful eye on how they are dressed in the coming years. The corporate color scheme may be all but sacrosanct, but not forcing their hardworking drivers to pay the physical price for branding would go a long way toward demonstrating respect and regard for the worker.
Ain’t like next summer is going to be cooler.
*the “Color Commentary” segment leaked out from one of my other projects, “64 to Infinity: Love Letters in Crayon”!
if you’re a lover of color interested in a chronochromatic history of humankind as expressed through a familiar childhood palette, head on over and subscribe.
like this publication, it is entirely apolitical, unlike it “64 to Infinity” is SFW.
Hope Spot: Suspension of Belief
As Hollywood studios slowly empty out their existing content reserves amid the ongoing talent strike that has frozen production on the industry’s most high-profile programming, small cracks are beginning to show in business as usual.
In perhaps the most universally visible disruption to the monumental edifice of American showbiz yet, September’s Emmy Awards have been postponed indefinitely. All the pomp and pageantry is ready to go in some dank-LA storeroom, but no writers or actors would have been available to attend the yearly celebration due to the continuing labor action.
Turns out without writers and actors, there’s not all that much for the rest of Hollywood to pat themselves on the backs about.
The postponement of the award ceremony officially signifies that is isn’t some weekend walkout…this is the type of committed labor action that can bring enduring changes to an industry.
In a previous piece, I speculated that all of this year’s mindless Christmas movies would be written by AI…unless they can be acted by AI as well, the freshest batch of holiday bullshit may not be forthcoming at all.
Now, I covered the work stoppage in its earliest phases, so I’m not going to delve too deeply into the specifics here. The points of contention are the same as in all the other strikes: pay, protections, AI, pay, compensation, profit sharing, and pay. If you’re interested in more of my perspective on the Hollywood Talent Strike, just go back and add “actors” to everything I said about the industry’s writers.
With the industry’s biggest award shows now in question, this matter is clearly not envisioned by Hollywood insiders to be a settled by summer’s end.
Now, let’s not put too much makeup on this pig yet. I don’t watch the Emmys. You don’t watch the Emmys. In fact, I wager that neither of us could name five of last years’ Emmy winners at gunpoint.
Still, just as the first national organization to take COVID seriously and inspire the appropriate public alarm was the NBA, seeing the constant stream of celebrations in Tinseltown hit even a slight hiccup may be a sign that this strike is to be taken seriously. An indulgent event like the Emmys has no place in the serious business that is defending the dignity of the worker at all costs.
…and ya know what, that’s reason enough for hope to this audience member.