Yesterday we had a long meeting of the curriculum council where people from the English Department complained that they are burned out because they do a lot of “hidden labor.” For thirty minutes we listened about hidden labor. Then a Middle Eastern colleague, who is notoriously non-PC, said, “What is this hidden labor you keep mentioning?”
“Well, for example, it’s when we spend time with students outside of the classroom,” somebody explained after the initial shock passed.
“So … office hours?” the Middle Eastern colleague asked. “It’s in the job description that we hold office hours. How is this unusual?”
“There are many other kinds of hidden labor,” another colleague, who is known for being very vocal, spluttered. “For example, I’m here at this meeting. This is hidden labor.”
“I can see you very well,” the Middle Eastern professor quipped. “You aren’t well-hidden.”
Clarissa's Blog 
“they do a lot of “hidden labor.””
These people want to be oppressed soooooo badly. The best option might be to actually give them some hidden labor like making them come in on the weekends and clean the campus.
Of course they’d mess it up and you’d have to increase the regular cleaning staff or pay them a lot more but it would totally be worth it.
The best would be to “volunteer” them to do highway clean up or find a big dirt field and make them dig holes and then transfer the dirt from one to another.
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It sounds like a joke. “I do a lot of hidden labor.” “What kind of labor?” “I can’t tell you. It’s hidden.”
It would be funny if it didn’t happen all the time.
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I thought “hidden labor” was just the crap you get volunteered for outside your contract when you have a lady boss, like helping decorate for some kind of office birthday party or picking up the slab cake from the grocery on your lunch break. I’ve never had a male boss do this so I prefer them 😉
Would never have guessed it’s stuff that’s in the contract.
-ethyl
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