Long story short - I didn’t have much fun reading this essay. The author talks often about how Americans work more hours than Europeans. He talks about this like it is a bad thing. I look at this fact and see a specific trend. Americans also produce more. When you think about it, in the earlier days of civilization people worked solely to live. If they did not go hunting or grow food, they died. Ever since then work has wandered from this way of life, but the end goal is still the same. Clausen paints a world in which everyone sits around at a beach-side resort wasting the day away. His view on this subject seems completely the opposite of human nature. If nobody worked, then there would be no way to live either. I think this piece boils down to one main point; people want to get without giving anything first. But I will try and talk about the writing styles and such in this piece.
Now onto what I believe Clausen did well in his writing. I felt really pulled into his story about his work experience. I could imagine everything he wrote about due to his great detail. He talks about the changing of words like “workaholic” from a bad thing to good. I agree with him on this. The idea of someone doing their best for an employer is nearly revered in America, especially in situations when the employee does not see any personal benefit in it. Clausen sees the world a little differently. He has a very negative (depending on one’s perspective) view of work habits. He says that most people basically try to avoid working any more than is required. I just don’t think this is true. I think that there are people with personalities that cause them to want to get things done, and that these people are generally successful. It seems to me that Clausen would applaud this, because that person would be doing what fulfills them personally. But he just doesn’t express this view. What I see from this story is that our author is the kind of person that he describes in his writing, and he writes his piece as if everyone is just like him. It seems to be an arrogant way to look at the world.
