This week's ecotrain QOTW invited people to reflect on groups who really suffer but carry on regardless, to my mind 'Lanyard Wearers' fit in quite well to this category.
This may be a slightly odd take on this question, but Lanyards have been on my mind recently and I think it fits...
I used to have to wear a Lanyard in my job as a teacher, as did all other staff, and all students, at all ties while on site. Students would actually get sent home if they forgot their Lanyard three days in a row (yes, a good old 'three strikes policy'.
Frankly I'm amazed that I got through about 14 years of teaching without the college introducing them - I guess that's because we were quite small initially, and it was leafy Surrey, so not exactly gangland, but eventually the college grew in size, the management changed, risk culture ramped up and Lanyards I think were inevitable. I certainly don't associate their introduction with 'positive change'!
Now that I'm Lanyard free, I can't help but feel sorry for any suited-up individual I now see wearing a Lanyard, obviously in work mode, as they're either on their way to work, or on their short lunch break, when I know it's hard to switch off! If they were on their way home, they'd probably have taken it off.
It's just what that Lanyard represents - it's a visible reminder of your wage-slave status, a reminder that you are the corporation's property while you wear it, a representative of the company, you are not yourself, your identity is work-identity while you wear it and professionalism applies.
No wonder management love them so much. They assist in the flattening out of personality and character, both of which are generally the enemies of management.
There's also something quite sinister about the way you put them around your neck, somewhere between a leash and a noose, in the short-term choking off your individuality, in the long term killing your spirit.
Then there's the fact that 'security' is usually the justification for having people wear them, which is an acknowledgement and reinforcing of the culture of fear and surveillance at the same time.
I'm also reminded of the type of jobs which require people to wear them - Public Sector and Corporate - the kind of jobs that really demand an unreasonable chunk of not only one's time, but over the years, one's self as well, and that's ultimately why I think anyone subjected to Lanyard culture is really suffering.
They may not know it, but over the years Lanyard wearers are gradually having their soul sucked out by the man, who almost certainly doesn't wear a Lanyard.