Couldn't disagree more!
Just flies in the face of meritocracy.
I'll give you a non-sport example. Forewarned is forearmed, I'll be on my Soap-box here - and am not aiming to "have a go" at you. I can't state that enough.
I dog-walk for a living. The bye-laws state there can be no more than 4 at a time. So I walk 4 at a time, maximum. To earn any decent money, I have to walk for more hours, which costs me more energy. To provide a good service (dog genuinely enjoys the walk and isn't stressed by other dogs) means I have to drive them further away to parks with more compassionate clientel, who won't let their Staffie/Rottweiler run up to the disabled Labrador I bought a ramp for out of my own pocket, potentially knocking it over.
Because I am constrained by the time of giving them a full hour, plus pairing them suitably (won't put a nervous Whippet with a bouncy Boxer) and walking them to nicer parks, I face logistical nightmares with traffic and every minute counts. I work super hard on the dog's recall (so they don't disturb other people's dogs) and if their recall isn't adequate, I keep them on lead. Bear in mind I might be holding onto 2 Golden Retrievers, a Husky and a Doberman at the same time, having already been stressed by traffic and already being tired from previous hours of walking.
I'm punctual, I negotiate with the clients about the time the dog is walked (so the "blocks" of time they are left alone for is as short as possible) and I come Home pretty zapped some days.
Now. The rivals. Anywhere between 6 and 13 dogs at a time, dumped into a field to knock 7 shades out of each other as they are over-stimulated. They are constantly being conditioned to run up to other dogs (because they get chased or enjoy chasing another dog) and thus when their owners walk them at weekends, they are in charge of "don't worry he's only playing" dogs that terrify children at beaches, interrupt picnics, disturb dogs that need to be on a lead as they are leash-aggressive and so on. Also, in picking up a larger number of dogs, the first dog picked up is in the car/van for MUCH longer (as it takes longer to pick up a bigger group) which is creating all sorts of frustration and impulse issues, as well as the dog being far too hot in Summer months.
These people will do one walk, maybe two at a push - and take in loads as they charge per dog. They're not under pressure of time to have the dogs dropped off for the next walk and if they take on a client that isn't "easy" they can just say "sorry, doesn't work" because it's such a small percentage of income, whereas every dog I take on counts. They're back in the House after about 3 hours of shoddy, law-breaking work that's causing all sorts of behavioural issues with dogs (and not picking up all the poo) and of course because they take so much in, they have all day to swan about with business cards, or afford a larger van with larger text to recruit more clients, or work at social media promotion.
They're "flashier" than me. They do a far inferior job and make far more money for this vastly easier, no-conscience-whatsoever work. They cherry-pick the very easiest dogs (wee Bichons and Cockapoos) and my desperation to stay afloat means I end up taking on what's left and working through behaviour issues at a dog-walking rate just to get by, or having to work harder at being creative/smart with advertising - and am under constant pressure to be "perfect" at my job to stand out from the crowd, which takes a toll. The amount of stuff I have ended up memorising about ligaments, breed traits, medicines, socialisation windows, counter-conditioning to rehabilitate broken canine minds - just so that my work can "compete" with the amount these people can pay on self-promo (rather than EARNING a good reputation) has overwhelmed me at times.
To stand out further from the crowd, I take 2-3 days at Christmas. One year in the past 5 I took all 5 days off. Beyond that, no time off for birthdays, bank holidays, anything - my availability is what makes me stand out. On Tuesday coming I have re-arranged the schedule (which took a lot of negotiation with clients who take my availability for granted) so that I can accommodate an arthritic client getting her Husky into the boot as she isn't physically capable of lifting him.
When I see cheating, law-breaking, lazy route to victory with no consciousness stuff whatsoever in my place of work, I see the embodiment of what the Man City, PSG, Chelsea etc type clubs and their fans stand for. I always think of "the working man is the tough guy, you father is the tough guy" and "anyone can pull a trigger, let's see him get out of bed and work day after day" in association with those plebs, or the friend we all have who is an extremely good lad but his Bird leaves him for the local drug dealer and you have to support him through the Heartache.
I know that was long-winded. I'm sorry it was. But fuck those people, fuck Man City and fuck the bigger-wallet-wins strategy.
We won our Title through outsmarting the market and outworking the other sides and it made the 30-year wait infinitely sweeter. It won't be our last title either and I for one hope we aren't the biggest spenders that year either so we can rub the noses of the snide, supported a side for 5 years because money wankers right into the dirt.
.......and breathe
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