I had the misfortune of working at a boutique IP law firm for two weeks back in the days as an intern (hated it), and I noticed how strongly the bosses encouraged the young, unsuspecting associates to buy cars, buy houses, get married, and have kids. And whenever any of the senior associates had a new kid or purchased a new car, they were praised and glorified, so this created a peer pressure system where every employee competed with each other to see who can “establish their lives” and “live it up” the quickest.
If you work in one of these companies, be very careful about listening to your boss.
Well, OF COURSE they want you to increase your financial obligations/liabilities or at the very least sink into a consumerist mode where you’re unable to live frugally anymore even if you wanted to. If they had it their way, they want you to also surround yourself with equally-high-paying friends and friends who’re married with kids, so that you yourself are also sucked into these high-spending, low-happiness lifestyles.
The more money you need to spend each month, the more dependent you’ll be on your job. The more dependent you are on your job, the weaker your bargaining power vis-a-vis your boss. The weaker your bargaining power vis-a-vis your boss, the less you get paid, the rarer you get promoted, and the less balls you have to leave your job or even demand better working conditions that you rightfully should be entitled to for working hard. Family men with mortgages and car loans and young children are the best candidates for employers with a power trip — it’s like the ultimate wet dream to push these sorry men around, because they have no choice but to swallow their pride and put up with all the bullshit you can rain on them. It even becomes a game to these bosses: they try to push the limits more and more (watch “Office Space” where Bill pushes Milton to the edge, and Milton still takes it) just to see what they can get away with, gleefully.
I feel like an idiot for having to say these explicitly, but the behavior of some of my peers just convinces me that they don’t even know what’s going on.
Source: NUS Confessions #39374
