There is a rather bizarre lawsuit in France that is likely to reaffirm the view of many that the French labor force is noncompetitive due to long-standing expectations of employees about mandatory work conditions, vacations, and protections. Frederic Desnard wants 360,000 euros (£300,000) under a claim of a “bore out” or boredom’s equivalent of burnout.
Desnard says that he is being “killed professionally through boredom” by his 80,000-euro-a-year job. He is an executive in a perfume business. Frankly, as the grandson of a coal miner on my Italian side and a cooper on my Irish side, I find the notion of a protected right to be engaged and excited by work to be rather precious. We should all strive for such fulfillment and you can quit to secure more engaging employment. However, to sue your employer because you are bored is rather presumptuous in my view. Many people are struggling to find employment today and only dream of a job with this type of compensation.
Yet, experts say that bored employees represent a serious health crisis and one expert,Dr Sandi Mann (referred to as a “Boredom expert” in these articles),says that workers likely die earlier to the boring conditions.
I do not question the health impact of such work, but I cannot imagine a legal basis for such a claim — or a way to rationally distinguish between jobs that are mildly engaging and jobs that are legally boring.
What do you think?
I am going to purchase one of her paintings in the next few months. I am thinking of flying down to her studio in San Diego, CA then and going from there.
One of Ms. Antico’s works I found to be quite lovely was “Painting of Twilight Over the Palm Trees” I enquired about two works yesterday:
Magic in the Moonlight, Mission Hills 12 x 12 – $3650
Twilight Over The Palms, Mission Hills, San Diego 12×16 – $4550
They’re above my budget presently but given her renown it’s not too far out of line for many artists. She gave me the impression the Nocturnes are more expensive (probably due to demand) Perhaps commissioning one might be a better fit.
Here is one I purchased most recently:
http://christianekubrick.com/collections/small-paintings/products/sophie-in-stripey-shirt
It is a painting by Christiane Kubrick and depicts her friend, British actress Sophie Duvall.
@Autumn
OK! I will write the whole song. It might take me a day. Sooo, tomorrow I will have it!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeek: this is an example of how delusional/arrogant the Dems are:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/28/emotional-obama-democratic-convention-speech#comments
@squeek
Pls DO complete that parody!! =) Although they done drove him down before. Maybe a song about how they are trying to lift up HRC against all odds?
@Autumn
I did not watch the DNC stuff. It would have probably just made me mad. I can see a recap tomorrow. I toyed with the idea of writing a Parody Song tonite, The Night They Drove Old Bernie Down, and the refrain was pretty easy:
The night they drove old Bernie down!
The Progressives were crying!
The night they drove old Bernie down!
And Debbie Schultz was lying!
They sang na na boo boo boo! boo boo boo boo boo boo boo boo!
But I really wasn’t in the mood to tackle the main verses.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@DarrenSmith
OMG, I love art and artists! I love that Shiney Moon La Jolla one! I try to patronize some of our locals a bit, as much as my budget will allow. Sometimes I just pay them to paint something I like, like Munch’s Madonna. Goodness, but you can sometimes get a water color for as little as $50.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@Riesling
Well, I am sure I would stay very busy. From what little I know, the French are not overly fastidious. There is a word they have for “smell” and it starts with a “d” IIRC, and I read it somewhere and had to look it up. I keep wanting to say decolletage, which is when you leave college, but that is not the word. Decoupage is close, but no banana. The story it was in was about a woman, and it was one of those 1920ish type avant-garde books, and the word was about her particular “fragrance”, but I can’t find it anywhere. I forget the book, so I am lost. I have scoured the French Dictionary without luck. Any idea what I am talking about???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I found a more relaxing way to spend the evening other what watching political TV: admiring the work of an artist blessed with Tetrachromacy.
https://concettaantico.com/
@riesling
well, if you are so focused on “cleanliness” perhaps you should stay in the sanitized US — or go to Germany / Austria rather than la belle France.
@squeek
thanks for the chanteuse – I needed a lift of spirits as I chose to watch the DNC bs tonite. A total horror show. Well, I need to roll up my proverbial sleeves and get to work – ensure Jill is on more state ballots and otherwise direct voters to consider the Donald. HRC aka the TPP must be defeated!!!
Love France too, but I must say that if you like cleaning house there, you’ll never be bored. Been all over the country and stayed in every accommodation from 5* hotel to camp grounds and the only place I didn’t feel the need to scrub the place down was in a converted farmhouse on the Loire. It was owned by an English couple.
@Riesling
I am glad you liked it, and that you got the underpants allusion! I guess you have seen London. I wanted to put “Miribile Dictu” in there with “Le Humanitie, eau!” but I could not even find “Miribile Dictu” in the French dictionary anywhere. Go figure! Quelle Horreur!, as my BFF Penelope Dreadful always says!
Squeeky Fromm
Le Femme Reporter
Bonjour, Squeeks – Nantes rhymes with flaunt. But I like your underpants rhyme better (and your definition of chateau).
@Autumn
I am glad you liked it. There is another song I love. My father found it in a movie he liked and told me about it. This video has the English words. The pictures suck, but the translation is there, sooo. I am not sure, but I think maybe this is what they call demonic French. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohs142EtQbI
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
He must be a special snowflake alumnus of Brown University.
@Squeek
Merci! I watch French films often – such a beautiful language. Had not de Gaulle kicked out US forces I would have grown up there. We moved to Germany by default — I was only 3 so didn’t retain the French language.
@Autumn
I love France, too! One day I am going to learn the language. And maybe even go live there. In the meantime, there is always youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvaT5rntmhk
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeek,
great poem! J’adore France – their innate quirkiness, food, art – wish I could afford to visit more often…
Well, let’s see. He worked for a parfum company. France. Rhymes. Hmmm.
Boredom of Parfum???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
There once was a fellow in France,
Who got bored out of his underpants!
Son avocat, mon frere,
Just kicked derriere!
And, now he owns a Chateau in Nantes!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
OK. Boredom of Parfum is a word play on Gordon of Khartom. Who was kind of out there. An eccentric.
Son avocat, mon frere is Frenchish for “his lawyer, my brother.”
Chateau is a French word for a cathouse, composed of the root words, chat=cat and eau=water. Which I leave to your imagination.
Only in la belle France! totally frivolous lawsuit IMO. Still, I love the French. Any country who subsidizes their artists and independent bookstore owners is all right by me!!