Jim Thompson

On Employment Jim Thompson

This book is intended for those early in their careers who tend to view employment primarily as a means of earning an income. In the early chapters, the origins of employment are discussed and the viewpoints of both employees and employers examined. In the latter part of the book, these issues are rolled together, and, combined with the author's and other's experiences, developed into a "how-to" for employment success. We will even define employment success (or, more precisely, let you, the reader, define it). In the middle of the book, there is considerable material about employment freedom. It is the author's implicit contention that most employees today are not free, for they have succumbed to easy credit, primarily in the form of credit cards, to satisfy their lusts for material things. Like the Tennessee Ernie Ford song of the '50's, "Sixteen Tons," most cannot go when St. Peter calls, for they "owe their soul to the company store" except today the company store carries the name MBNA or Citicorp (ask your grandparents about this song). From the author's experience, many older workers could also benefit from this book, for, by his observation they have either (a) failed to learn certain basic truths about employment or (b) try to ignore them. To operate in such a vacuum is foolish. The truths expounded here are as basic as gravity, and despite one's attempt to ignore or refute them, they, like gravity, continue to affect life in the subsets of the civilized portions of this planet-our collective places of employment.