In general, people who have money in this country like to live in the false perception that they really have power. They behave like they own your ass. Like if they really believe that they can do anything to you - George told me and other employees so many times how he can hurt us - and he told that with some sick pleasure, as if we really can't hurt him. Like the Party members in communism. And where are they now? Or like the old shamans of the past histerically clinging to their carved sticks - symbols of their power. Because the money is just a symbol. It is a symbol of power and it works to that extent as far as we agree to allow it. Humans like to have a sense of order and organization, and symbols of power are part of it. But if the order and organization works only for a minority, then there is always a danger of implosion. Symbols are very fragile and easy to break, once the trust is gone. And mine is almost gone, my dear. Patience? For what and until when?
And here it is: shortly after I requested that George pays my work on his computer, his superior, who shares a bed with him, Rick, sent out a short memo to all club managers under his supervision requesting them not to give me work, or as Ana, a manager in one of those clubs, subtly put: she got "orders from above" - the very same phrase used in former Yugoslavia to oust somebody who stepped on some big Communist Party toes. In fact this is the same phrase that the Radio 101 editors used to tell me that I would not longer be able to work there. The mechanisms of existential coercion to accept your position as a slave are obviously quite similar in both societies, the difference being that here there are more corporations (and more chances to get fucked over repeatedly).
Back to George.