No Excuse | Teen Ink

No Excuse

April 28, 2022
By Mvk2004 BRONZE, Berlin, Maryland
Mvk2004 BRONZE, Berlin, Maryland
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

We wake up to clock in
Deal with customers without chagrin

The bosses get dollars while we toil for dimes
We’ve been taught to ignore the signs of worker’s rights violations

All that matters is money, so says the banks
They take our labor and expect us to give thanks

We go hungry because the manager decides it so
The landlord takes away what we need, and they know

Those apples are not just rotten it is the basket they lay in
The trunk of the tree they fall from is infested with rot and disease

And when we try to organize, the company strikes back
First it was the Pinkertons, now they spread lies through apps 

We buy their phones so we can watch the news
All the ways they destroy the planet and we have a great view

They don’t practice what they preach, funny how they tell us to do the same
They feign acceptance so we accept their products and take medicine when we get sick because of them

Their excuse for our suffering is that “That’s the way it is”
When they’re the ones that control how we live

They pretend like we can’t change it
But we’re the ones with power, and we can do it

They tell us to buy less coffees and save our money
When they’re the ones on yachts

They claim to know of our struggle
When they grew up in mansions getting loans from parents

They say to work harder
When that’s all we do

They dictate how we live and die 
So there’s no excuse for how they treat us


The author's comments:

No Excuse focuses on the world and our lives. The way the system we live in treats us. It encourages the reader to re-examine the process they go through every day.


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