"When you don't feel bothered by your boss's criticism, are indifferent to others' praise, are apathetic towards your colleagues' progress, and turn a blind eye to your own situation, then you've been 'rubberized'." Recently, white-collar worker Dao saw online the term "rubber person" in the workplace. These people have no nerves, no sense of pain, no efficiency, do not accept new things or any advice, and are indifferent to both criticism and praise. They even lack a sense of shame or honor - this is what defines a rubber person. "They're like a piece of rubber that's neither soft nor hard, completely numb." Initially, Dao saw himself as an observer, but upon closer reflection, he found many details that applied to him. "In fact, many people have already become or are in the process of becoming 'rubberized,' without even realizing it." This week, we collaborated with Sohu Women Community to conduct a survey on this topic.
No goals, no recharging
Half of the people are just passing time at work
"Just now, I said that many details apply to me, for example, I never set work plans; I just do whatever comes my way; also, I never attend training classes, not because I want to save money or don't have time, but simply because I'm too lazy to go; furthermore, I've never envied colleagues who achieve great results; getting my monthly salary is fine..." Dao listed several characteristics of being a "rubber person," which seem to be quite common in today's workplace.
Among the 123 people who participated in our survey, 60.66% said they don't set short-term or long-term work goals, 72.13% said they don't choose training courses to recharge themselves, and even 53.28% admitted that most of their working hours are spent idling away.
In today's world where finding a job is not easy, once someone finds a decent job, they often slack off. Thus, coasting becomes their normal work state. And these people will be the first to become "rubberized."
Is it lack of ambition, or helplessness?
Most people occasionally act like "rubber persons"
Since so many people think they share some characteristics of "rubber persons," how many actually consider themselves as such? 34.43% of respondents believe they sometimes are and sometimes aren't, while an equal percentage consider themselves "rubber persons." Only 31.15% believe they are not.
What exactly causes the phenomenon of "rubber persons" in the workplace? 49.18% believe it's due to "personal lack of ambition leading to becoming a 'rubber person,'" 44.26% think it's because "the job is too boring, whether you try or not makes no difference, so you'd rather be a 'rubber person,'" and 6.56% think it's because "work is too smooth, making one lose motivation, thus turning into a 'rubber person.'"
"I think ordinary people can't completely distance themselves from 'rubber persons,' because sometimes choosing the 'rubber person' state is unavoidable," Linda, who recently attended a business training course, explained her understanding of the "rubber person" concept using a phrase from the instructor: "Try to endure the unchangeable status quo, bravely change the reality that can be changed, and most importantly, have enough wisdom to distinguish between the two. That is, if you can foresee the result of your efforts, give it your all; for things you're unsure about, conserve your strength and play the role of a 'rubber person' once."
Linda's perspective is relatively unique, and those surveyed who believe they are sometimes "rubber persons" and sometimes not might agree with her point of view.
Don't be indifferent about everything
Being dissatisfied helps you resist rubberization
Milo was once the complete opposite of a "rubber person," with work plans, training courses, overtime work... But now she feels herself gradually becoming "rubberized." "Maybe after striving to a certain extent, the current situation has made me satisfied, so continuing to strive lacks motivation. Looking back, dissatisfaction was the key to avoiding 'rubberization.'"
When designing the survey questionnaire, the reporter included five questions related to the characteristics of "rubber persons." The first three questions — setting work goals, attending training sessions, and passing time at work — had mostly negative responses, whereas the last two were the opposite. "Does success or failure at work significantly affect your emotions?" 69.67% answered yes, while 30.33% said no; "Would you rather stick to your old job than learn new things and meet new people every day?" 56.56% chose no, and 43.44% chose yes. It seems that most people agree with the idea of maintaining a positive attitude at work, but when it comes to actual implementation, laziness starts to take over.
Boring "ugly celebration"
I didn't originally plan to talk about Xiao Yueyue anymore, but those three characters are really annoying, appearing everywhere at an extremely high frequency. Recently, some online game developers created a small online game based on Xiao Yueyue's story called "Xiao Yueyue vs Xiao W." In the game, Xiao Yueyue's boyfriend must dodge various "projectiles" she throws at him outside a store — flesh-colored bras, purple underwear, super "rice cakes," etc. If hit three times, he has to "banana beauty" with her.
If you haven't seen Xiao Yueyue's story, you might already be confused at this point. But confusion doesn't matter because the essence of this matter aligns with your first impression — it's boring, and there's no need to understand it clearly. On Sina's mini-game section, I saw many netizens' reviews of this small game. Many found it "boring" and "unfun," and in the rating recommendations, the number of non-recommendation votes was three times that of recommendation votes. Clearly, this game isn't as "popular" as described online.
Game developers clearly overestimated Xiao Yueyue's influence because in several domestic online games, Xiao Yueyue transforms into a super big BOSS waiting for players to defeat her. Although they mostly claim to fight Xiao Yueyue out of anger, isn't the real intention to attract players' attention using Xiao Yueyue?
This suddenly reminded me of Jia Junpeng, who was very popular last summer. I quickly searched online, and as expected — shopkeepers who always manage to link network hotspots with products have already launched various goods with "Xiao Yueyue" keywords. Whether the product itself relates to Xiao Yueyue is irrelevant. However, Xiao Yueyue's signature purple underwear has become a main promotion item for many online stores.
If Jia Junpeng's popularity was a meaningless carnival, then Xiao Yueyue should be considered a meaningless ugly carnival. Adding the word "ugly" perhaps indicates the intensification of the boredom of the celebrators, but more importantly, it shows the indiscriminate consumption of internet attention. Aesthetic fatigue exists, and so does ugly fatigue. By the time that happens, something even uglier than Xiao Yueyue might appear to challenge our moral bottom line.