A Genealogy of Refusal : Walking away from crisis and scarcity narratives

Dark side of parody

The infamous 1994 film Clerks is a workplace refusal narrative, which while not centered on librarians presents a service scenario that resonates with librarians and anyone who's worked a cash register or library service desk.  The Clerks workplace parody follows a "Day in the Life" of two slacker convenience store clerks. These two clearly hate their jobs and look for any excuse to do anything other than work.   The two blow off their assigned tasks to play hockey on the roof, close the stores to attend a funeral, and all around have a wild day.  Dante, the protagonist, complains that he was "not even supposed to be here today" revealing that somehow in spite of it all, he self-perceives his presence as self-sacrifice for work, but in reality, it is not.

You want to blame somebody? Blame yourself! (mimicking) 'I'm not even supposed to be here today.' You sound like an asshole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder, like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here.

A final scene from the film reminds the protagonists, and all of us watching, that in a market economy If he stopped turning up, if he left for good, he would simply be replaced. 

This page has paths: