Here's how young Chinese go into ER: "Let it rot"

[NW-Bound]

A short time ago, I read somewhere young Chinese people were getting burnt out from hard work that got them nowhere. They just don't want to work, and instead are just "lying flat".

And now, there's a new term: "Let it rot".

A Web site has this definition: 'Lying flat' equates to spending little effort and adopting a laid-back attitude, whereas 'let it rot' means not caring whatsoever.

I have to say I feel sorry for young people who got so disillusioned with their society. Here in the US, my own children are working hard, but they are reasonably rewarded. Life can be so unfair.

 

[Beststash]

I guess I'm the exception? I retired as soon as I thought I could afford it. I was 52 but had I been financially able to I would have done it 20 years earlier in a heartbeat. I've been retired now for almost 20 years and my only regret is not doing it earlier - I now realize I could have.

I can completely understand the Chinese worker rebelling against working “996” weeks — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week - if that is not a being a "wage slave" what is?

It seems that US culture focuses on four principles - fame, fortune, power, and ??success?? From birth we are raised to value those societal goals. It seems in the US, most people live to work and my experience during my work life is having to force my direct reports to take their vacation instead of carrying it over, sometimes for years.

Having said all of that, unless the US adopts a UBI model or have a benefactor that allows young people to not work, how is that possible? I have a niece that seems to have a similar lifestyle and she is 40+. She works only enough to pay her bills (cleaning houses and Gig jobs) and if a major item comes along will start whining like her life is over I tell her constantly she needs to get a regular job but she is not interested. She seems to get by??

Let it Rot!!!

 

[aja8888]

Lying flat and Let it rot is not going to work in China. The Party says so. If you decide to do this, 996 is in your future!

Take heed!

 

[NW-Bound]

Musk recently praised the hard-working ethics of Chinese workers, compared to the loafing American workers.

 

[dmpi]

Everyone has special skills and talents. You're suppose to find a job that best utilize them. Only then will you actually enjoy your work and not dread working the long hours. What we have is a society that doesn't identify nor value people's special skills. That's partly because automation has shrunk the overall labor market and also because the capitalistic system monetizes difficult, mundane and unpleasant tasks.

 

[punkinhead]

Everyone has special skills and talents. You're suppose to find a job that best utilize them. Only then will you actually enjoy your work and not dread working the long hours.

I had a job that I enjoyed but I certainly still dreaded working long hours.

 

[marko]

. What we have is a society that doesn't identify nor value people's special skills. That's partly because automation has shrunk the overall labor market and also because the capitalistic system monetizes difficult, mundane and unpleasant tasks.

I don't know. Seems to me we value the special skills of plumbers, electricians, doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, mechanics, police and fire and the like.

We’ve become more automated partly due to the fact that thanks to regulatory policies, human employees can be an expensive and sometimes unpredictable aspect of running a business. "Gee...do I buy this burger flipping machine or put up with some 16 year old knucklehead who thinks he's worth $35 an hour, calls in sick all the time and threatens to strike or take me to court every other day?"

 

[easysurfer]

To me, sounds a lot like another way of saying "burnt out" .

 

[street]

I see this pattern with the American young people. Work ethic has been lost in our country and I have a good my own opinion why. I see it with a neighbor adult (41) works but just enough to get by lives at home yet. Like him and many other they are great people but have no desire to move ahead or position themselves for their aging years. Most seem that I know aren't lazy but just want to do to life for today. I actually think in the cases I know of they may know there is an inheritance in their future.

 

[427Vette]

I don't know. Seems to me we value the special skills of plumbers, electricians, doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, mechanics, police and fire and the like.

We’ve become more automated partly due to the fact that thanks to regulatory policies, human employees can be an expensive and sometimes unpredictable aspect of running a business. "Gee...do I buy this burger flipping machine or put up with some 16 year old knucklehead who thinks he's worth $35 an hour, calls in sick all the time and threatens to strike or take me to court every other day?"

Just yesterday I had an experience with lazy young adults. An older neighbor lady called and asked me if I could help her with something. I got there to help and she wanted to move a piece of furniture. I have a bad back and neck and she knows it but she asked so I felt obligated to help her. She says as soon as I got there the grand kids are downstairs. I assumed the “kids” were 7-8 years old. After we moved her stuff around she insisted that I meet her grandkids. The kids all came lumbering up the stairs, three pasty white way overweight boys/men aging from 17-21 grumbly came to meet me. It looked like they hadn’t seen the sun…ever. I had to ask what they were doing today. They were playing video games. It was a beautiful 65 degree sunny day. These three goofs were spending the summer with grandma at the lake. No summer or full time jobs just sitting around at grandmas. It dawned on me that moment why we have a worker shortage. Had I known that the “kids” were young adults that moving project would have been handled with me and grandma supervising.

 

[punkinhead]

I see this pattern with the American young people. Work ethic has been lost in our country and I have a good my own opinion why. I see it with a neighbor adult (41) works but just enough to get by lives at home yet.

The social compact where you work hard in exchange for decent treatment in a job for life, a pension, and retirement health insurance is gone and people recognize it. I applaud them for recognizing it and acting accordingly.

 

[CindyBlue]

Wow, this is sobering. I really feel for the young people who are feeling such despair.

But I also, sadly, understand it - seems that there are so many societal reasons for this "bai lan" attitude, even here in the United States. The permissive "everyone gets a trophy," lack-of-consequences-for-their-actions society; teachers being forced by school policy to endure kids disrupting and destroying classrooms and getting away with it because of their IEP status; employers who have to go through hell to fire incompetent workers because of regulations that protect them; landlords who can't evict tenants who are not paying rent and ruining their property. It seems like the harder you work to get ahead, the more regulations there are to stop you from getting and staying there.

That said, success through hard work is still possible, but so many young people don't see it anymore. They see the worst of it, in schools, and in jobs, and especially in social media - that the students who misbehave get protected, and the ones who work hard and strive are taking a back seat as teachers deal with the misbehaving ones; that a college degree no longer guarantees a job that will pay the bills (including their college loans for attending a "prestigious" college that they probably shouldn't have taken out in the first place but they were told is the only way to get ahead, even though a local college might have been just as good and saved them a lot of money); that homes cost so much that the jobs they can get after they graduate won't pay enough to buy or even rent.

I think social media has really upped the expectations of young people, too. They expect the big house, perfect job, high salary, etc., right out of school, whereas I think in past generations it was understood that you'd be "poor" for a while as you built your future, and that understanding made it ok and even fun. How depressing to feel - genuine feelings - that if you aren't a success immediately at the beginning of your life, you are a failure.

I have a lot of faith in the youth of the world, but I sure wish society would help with the expectations and enactments of real consequences early on to help them develop more resilience before they become independent and are expected to make their own way.

 

[Sunset]

The social compact where you work hard in exchange for decent treatment in a job for life, a pension, and retirement health insurance is gone and people recognize it. I applaud them for recognizing it and acting accordingly.

I never had one of those jobs.
Still, found work I liked, and looked for better jobs along the way.
No Pension, No Health Ins.

No expectation someone is going to take care of me.

All these layabouts that get old with little to no work history are going to find: no pension and no healthcare and no participation trophy

 

[Chuckanut]

Overall, most of the young people I know work.

I do agree that slaving away in the hopes your contribution will be recognized and you will get 'your reward' is foolish. My father taught me that people should always work for themselves. This is true even if a person is employed by others. "You might be employed by MegaCorp, but always work for yourself". Keep you skills current, and don't be afraid to leave if the long term outlook is not good.

The video seems a little to slick for me. All of these very attractive young people leading lonely, sad, pathetic lives with high tech devices in very nicely furnished home. Hmm..... Just a bit to glossy for me to accept.

 

[Markola]

Overall, most of the young people I know work.

+1. I’ve worked closely for years with many young professionals and have been consistently impressed with their drive, work ethic, creative problem solving and sheer knowledge, due to their lifelong marination in the internet. Differences with us 50-somethings and older might be their natural skills with systems of all sorts and their ability to see through and willingness to comment on the BS of more senior people, like me, and organizational dynamics. They don’t see themselves as mechanistic “human resources” but as expressive individuals who will participate in corporate BS only as long as the ROI is there for them. Otherwise, they are outta here. I think it’s a healthy way to approach work life but their brutal honesty can be unsettling and even startling to traditional command-and-control types, for sure. YMMV.

 

[neihn]

...They don’t see themselves as mechanistic “human resources” but as expressive individuals who will participate in corporate BS only as long as the ROI is there for them....

+1. DD said 'enough' to her architect firm and started her own LLC. Now her firm has to hire her on her term as contract employee.

In my office, I witnessed some young slackers, but they are minority, most are very smart and very energetic.

 

[travelover]

Everyone has special skills and talents. You're supposed to find a job that best utilize them. .......

I certainly found that to be true. I'm good at goofing off and wasting time. Once I found retirement, I knew I'd found my calling.

 

[NW-Bound]

The video seems a little to slick for me. All of these very attractive young people leading lonely, sad, pathetic lives with high tech devices in very nicely furnished home. Hmm..... Just a bit to glossy for me to accept.

Yes, the video makes one wonder how some of these young Chinese get their food and lodging if they do not work.

No doubt many of them are supported by their parents and get indulgence due to being the sole child due to China's past one-child policy.

Others are self-supporting, but work minimally to barely make enough, and spend a lot of idle time. The following video says that one can live minimally in China for 810 yuan a month (US$121). The flat-liers make just this much, then stop.

That's the original "Lying flat" movement. The current "Let it rot" carries it further, and I am still trying to understand it.

 

[NW-Bound]

The following India TV piece explains that the "Lying Flat" movement was started in April 2021 by a mid-20 Chinese named Luo Huazhong. He biked 1,300 miles to move from Sichuan to Tibet to live a minimalist life.

And US workers are now catching on to the "Lying Flat" movement.

 

[Walt34]

What a crock. Businesses are whining that they can't get workers. What they are leaving unsaid is "...at a price we're willing to pay".

It turns out that McDonald's can, in fact, afford to pay $15/hour. Or more if they have to.

When I was working at a gas station in high school (back when they hired people to pump the gas, check the oil, clean the windshield) one of the guys there scared me to death. He wasn't big and mean or anything, he was a nice guy, kinda small, but he was about mid fifties in age. And I was his supervisor. The lesson was clear that if I didn't get off my butt and make some plans then someday I could be him.

 

[JDARNELL]

Need to do my patriotic duty? Been there done that. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. Don't try to sound the rally cry for people like me to help clean up the mess others have made. There is no social contract today between business and workers. I suspect the masses are looking at going back to work as a marginal decision only. What is the purpose of work? Basic survival? A control system? I think many people realize they are one paycheck away from financial ruin.

It's easy for me to say the comments above given where I am in my life and financial position. But I admit it is hard to buy into what anyone is selling at this point or try to motivate the new college grads to follow the traditional American dream. I think there are many more options.

 

[NW-Bound]

What a crock. Businesses are whining that they can't get workers. What they are leaving unsaid is "...at a price we're willing to pay".

It turns out that McDonald's can, in fact, afford to pay $15/hour. Or more if they have to...

Perhaps Arby's got into selling Wagyu burgers so that they can pay their workers more.

If so, any day now we will see McDonald's offering steak sandwiches.

 

[Koolau]

Perhaps Arby's got into selling Wagyu burgers so that they can pay their workers more.

If so, any day now we will see McDonald's offering steak sandwiches.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall seeing McDs do much in the way of following the crowd - possible exception adding salads at one time. Whether through arrogance or brilliant market research, McD seems to be more of a pace setter than a follower. That doesn't mean I like their food, however. YMMV

 

[ncbill]

What a crock. Businesses are whining that they can't get workers. What they are leaving unsaid is "...at a price we're willing to pay".

It turns out that McDonald's can, in fact, afford to pay $15/hour. Or more if they have to.

When I was working at a gas station in high school (back when they hired people to pump the gas, check the oil, clean the windshield) one of the guys there scared me to death. He wasn't big and mean or anything, he was a nice guy, kinda small, but he was about mid fifties in age. And I was his supervisor. The lesson was clear that if I didn't get off my butt and make some plans then someday I could be him.

Yep, I worked construction through high school & college because it paid the most for unskilled labor.

Some of the guys there earning the same as me were in their mid-30s, still as unskilled labor.

It was a great incentive to stay in school and not slack off...too much.

 

[ERObjd]

In China employees don't have the option to just quit when their job sux. In America employees dont have to sit and take it. One example being the Game Shop employees here in Lincoln who decided the heck with being treated like trash and walked out.

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