The short story Orientation by Daniel Orozco is a humorous and very unique story. We all have been pulled through a long and tedious Orientation for many of different reasons. While being aligned for the position, leaders repeat the same phrases and information to make sure you understand the main point they are trying to get across. Orozco describes what seems to be an everyday orientation process, but Orozco uses elements to make fun and tease this experience we all can relate to. Throughout the story, Orozco’s uses descriptive ways of the stereotypical repetition the leader's use in their speech, humor, and how the rhythm of the story manipulates important moments and characters. He uses these in realistic and unrealistic ways to show the …show more content…
“This is a microwave oven. You are allowed to heat food in the microwave oven. You are not, however, allowed to cook food in the microwave oven” (628). Something that seems so miniscule to the everyday workplace is brought up and discussed and yet if you do not follow the rule, “You may be let go” (629). The amount of detail the leader goes into detail for simple tasks rather than larger tasks is ironic. In most work places you will …show more content…
During this stressful time, the leader of the orientation did take it too far by throwing his fellow employees under the bus, but by these remarks in the story Orozco uses the element of humor to turn this uneasy time into a relatable moment for the audience. One of character in Orientation who seems to stand out the most is one of the employees, Kevin, “Kevin Howard sits in the cubicle over there. He is a serial killer, the one they call Carpet Cutter, responsible for the mutilations across town” (630). It’s pretty obscene and very unrealistic that a serial killer would work in an office. But, The orientation leader is very chatty and garrulous, this makes this improper serial killer part of the story seem like normal office gossip and because of this Orozco creates a flow and fast paced beat of the story, it isn’t so unusual. Not much is said about the managers, but there is a lot said about the employees. This is because the managers are so involved with the company they don’t have a personal life. As well as the managers, the workers who have been with the company the longest, have the worst personal situations of them all. Through Orozco short story “Orientation,” he describes humorous, uncomfortable, and unprofessional situations in which the readers gets an insight on what he is about to experience in his new work place. Orozco bounces between,
However, the Dillard family may be happy with their jobs, but for as a typical Dillard’s employee were not. Associates are stress out due to the company’s quota they set for their employees. Through surveys of the worst companies, Dillard’s is rated with a 2.6 on Glassdoor and had been for the following five consecutive years in a roll, which groups Dillard’s among the worst companies to seek employment with or be employed with. Dillard’s environment is very subservient by the ways the employees are worked. Short lunch breaks, restrictions on thing that shouldn’t have limits on them or taking away, Dillard’s don’t have any traffic in the store like in the past, and
High turnover is something that goes hand in hand with low wage jobs, so companies are always looking for a workers replacement. Finally Ehrenreich is able to secure employment at a place she give the pseudonym, Hearthside. To help protect identies of companies and people she actually worked for and with, Ehrenreich decides to use fake names to achieve anonymity. Ehrenreich starts out at 2.43 an hour plus tips. One of the first things Ehrenreich notices is that the people around her are only working hard enough to get by. Because the managers will yell at anybody who is done with their work, and not doing something new, the workers seem to be happy with just working at a slow pace, doing just one job. Because the only reward for finishing early is being yelled at by a manager, that apparently spends his day doing nothing, there is no real bonus to go the extra mile. Due to this negative reinforcement, Ehrenreich notes that the restaurant is almost moving in counterproductive mode. With less being worked on, less is being accomplished, attributing to the overall sad appearance and low morale of the restaurant and its employees. The next problem Ehrenreich encounters is the constant berating handed out by her supervisor "Stu". Ehrenreich observes that due to this constant barrage of insults and degradations, workers are forced to feel like they are subhuman. Weekly the managers announce
This book had several strengths, for one it contained first hand experience; experiences being that Ehrenreich had worked in different cities and in a wide range of jobs. This was able to give the reader a feel that no job is similar, but the way the employees get treated is similar. For example, Ehrenreich had worked as a waitress, maid, and a cashier. In the time of her waitress occupation she dealt with many unfair rules of management and rude customers. In the time of her maid occupation, she also dealt with unfair rules of management and rude homeowners. Finally, as a cashier; she also dealt with unfair rules of management and unfair schedules that they wouldn’t accommodate to. So the relapsing problems in these jobs that Ehrenreich took on would be that management were the
“The employees were complaining for months and somehow the situation escalated to become hostile” Said the assistant Joe Haley. An organization as an entity, a whole, resembles a precise piece of machinery, because there are so many components need to function at the same time in order to make the machine work. As long as one part begins to malfunction, it will eventually influence other parts and create a vicious Domino effect, which damages the entire system quickly if not repaired
I 'll start with the department manager, Shannon. I see her as a strong leader who doesn 't demand too much because she knows how hard it is to be there. She is very caring of the associates who work there, just don 't get on her bad side (like I am because I don 't take lunches). She’s kind of a large women, however, that doesn 't because she is who she is and she is the best manager anyone could ever ask for. On the other hand, she is also married to her lovely husband and the only baby they have together is a dog.
Motivation is also a problem. The managers do not seemed to be engaged in the performance or needs of the employees. Marge is dismissed or ignored when trying to leave at her agreed upon time.
From personal experience, upper management, including human
Commins was the go-to person throughout the company when work and/or personal issues arose. Don Head, marketing manager, “was considered a ruthless operator” and seemed to be more trouble than he was worth (McShane & Von Glinow, 2013). Yet he contributed to the continuous rising sales and was a marketing guru. Jason Palu, production manager, “was a soft-spoken man” who worked hard to get to his current position (McShane & Von Glinow, 2013). Although revered for his expertise and efficiency, his autocratic mindset left many of his staff jaded. Heather Berkowitz, chief webpage designer, had a very eclectic work lifestyle. She dressed provocatively, had blue hair, and seldom arrived to work before 11:00am. Yet, like many of the others, her quality and quantity of work outweighed her undoubtedly unprofessional demeanor.
While reading the short story “Orientation”, by Daniel Orozco, there were parts in the story that were bizarre. The story dives in already by having the protagonist in the office learning. The person teaching the protagonist talks more about the people around him then about the actual job. The protagonist learns about a person named John LaFountaine. Supposedly he accidently goes in the women’s bathroom.
The story I chose to write an argumentative essay on is “Orientation” by Daniel Orozco. The story describes what seems to be a man or woman’s first day of a new job in an office setting. A worker whom appears to have been working at the office for a while is showing the main character around and telling interesting life stories about the other coworkers. The author uses literary elements such as setting, tone, and point of view to create the theme of detachment.
Daniel Orozco, in “Orientation,” uses the omniscient narrator to provide extreme detail on the bevy of personas in the office. The narrator knows the worker’s darkest of secrets, for example “ Kevin Howard sits in that cubicle over there. He is a serial killer” (108). Ironically, the narrator knows the personal and intimate details of the employees’ lives, but no information about the narrator is established. Because Orozco wrote his short story in second person point of view, he brings the narrator and characters to life. His method is a major contribution to providing a detailed description of the setting, however, the setting itself is never actually revealed. The tone of the story is procedural, systematical, and has a
In John Updike’s short story “A & P”, a dynamic and round character expresses his subjective attitude towards his views, a plot twist causes him to realize his future. Sammy an opinionated cashier at A & P grocery store does not agree with his Lengel, his manager after he reprimands a particular group of customers at the store. Sammy’s further actions cause him to face the true reality of his future.
I made many assumptions about the narrator’s audience in “Orientation”. I picture the person following along with his mouth slightly open in disbelief looking out over this maze of cubicles. Trying to take in all the information about what is expected of him, wondering about the people and places being pointed out to him, and praying he would remember it all. Keeping up with it made the entire piece hilarious!
Employers are considered to be apart of upper class and are owners of business organizations and corporations (C.E.O.’s) and managers, while employees who are hired as clerks, associates, clerical and auxiliary staff, often times at entry level positions are working towards a pay increase and a promotion to become a part of the elite. There is often conflict between those who are presumed to have power and those who do not. Those without power, employees at times feel victimize, as if they will never achieve success because employers have set up the system for the rich to get richer and the poor to remain in the gutters, as a result they may exhibit signs of resentment which contributes to the conflict.
At the regular human resources committee meeting, the support workers shared with Wolcott who is organization’s human resources manager, their concerns about current organizational structure. They believe that such a structure caused