A Catch-All

“They’re not smarter or faster they’re buying up others’ lifetimes to do their chores”

I see this reaction a lot, and I gotta say, it always makes me a little sad. Whenever the conversation of exploitation of labor comes up, inevitably someone finds themselves struggling with the guilt of “It is so important to me not to contribute to exploitation but I cannot do this thing myself and need someone else to do it for me, so how do I even approach that?”

Exploitation isn’t in the hiring of a service worker. Exploitation is in the respect you show them for their ability to perform the service you need from them.

I have been on a cleaning service staff before, and also been someone who hired a cleaning service, and I can tell you for sure that a lot of cleaning crews (especially worker owned ones) absolutely LOVE their clients and are genuinely happy to be able to make their lives better. The clients they don’t like? Those are the ones who disrespect the workers.

When I was involved with a cleaning service, we had everything from little old ladies living alone to McMasions with five cars as clients, and I can assure you that whenever there was someone who clearly hired us because they were overwhelmed or unable to keep their space clean, those were the households where you put a little more elbow grease in and did a deep clean even when it wasn’t paid for, because you could see how much these people were trying and struggling, and they were always so kind and generous and often embarrassed when talking to you about the job.

I only hired a service a couple if times in my life, but whenever I did, I worked with the same people as often as I could, tipped as well as I could afford, and tried to be the kind of client I would want to have, and that’s how I often ended up with my baseboards cleaned too, or my fridge scrubbed and organized or a restorative clean done in a high use room even when that wasn’t what I had scheduled or paid for.

I’ve heard the same thing from all manner of service workers over the years. Many of us like our jobs! We enjoy the work. It’s the customers that can do a number on you.

IF BUYING ISN'T OWNING

PIRATING ISN'T STEALING

“Despite our seemingly close working relationship with PlayStation we weren’t informed that this was happening,” says one executive at a major AAA publisher. “It’s only hitting us now that we may be out of jobs sooner rather than later.”

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“Sony is now facing regulatory action in Mexico over their decision to stop making PlayStation game discs.”

“Federal Representative Iraís Reyes and Senator Luis Donaldo Colosio are filing a complaint against their National Antitrust Commission.

While Rep. Reyes and Sen. Colosio are both members of the political party Movimiento Ciudadano, they are filing this complaint as private citizens.

However, they both clearly understand the situation from a gamer/consumer perspective.

Rep. Reyes talked about how PlayStation gamers would only be able to buy their games directly from PlayStation.

“If discs disappear, anyone who owns a PlayStation will no longer be able to choose where to buy their games and will be forced to purchase them exclusively through Sony’s store,” Reyes said.

Subsequently, Sen. Colosio pointed out how local retailers, like Liverpool, Sanborns, and GamePlanet, would be harmed by this move.

This move may be a prelude to other political actions, including legislation.

Their complaint refers to this as a relative monopolistic practice that violates Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Law.

But then again, since Mexico’s antitrust commission only started last year, this issue could show how powerful it actually is.

If Mexico does take action, it could force the EU to reexamine if they should regulate Sony as well.”

all digital future

These two law makers warn of a all digital future, referencing when 500 digital movies were removed from stores and libraries

“According to the complaint, Sony’s strategy could create an excessive concentration of power by allowing the company to simultaneously control the console hardware, the digital storefront, game distribution, and pricing.

“Sony would become both the referee and the player within its own ecosystem, and we know what can happen when a single company controls every part of the market,” Reyes stated.

Colosio added that the transition to an all-digital ecosystem also ignores infrastructure disparities across the country.

“By forcing everything to become digital, the assumption is that everyone has access to reliable high-speed internet, when we know that isn’t the reality throughout Mexico,” he said.”