"Stroking"

          In Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, he provides examples of the phycological control that corporations gain over there employees, which is known as stroking (Schlosser, 71). An example of this is when a friend shared with me a similar experience of his when he was an employee who was relatively new to this country. His story began when was injured at work by a cut to his pinky finger. The finger needed stitches, and later on became immobile because of a damaged nerve that was caused by the injury. Many years have gone by since the injury, but as he described his incident he demonstrated his inability of having the complete functions of his finger. While the story of his injury was unfortunate, his boss’s cowardly behavior was more disturbing. The employee explained that he was given four weeks off of work because of his injury, and by promising not to report the incident to anyone ever, he was paid several thousand dollars in exchange. Additionally, when he returned from his time away from work, his boss ocassionally reassured their newly found bond by asking if there was anything that he needed to just mention so. This story connects directly with the stories in Fast Food Nation that describes similar situations in where the behavior is common of companies who use this stroking method on their employees. These experiences are common among companies who either employ immigrant or inexperienced workers that struggle to secure basic and much needed employment. These type of workers often deal with the treatment because of the fear of not being able to easily obtain work elsewhere, or perhaps, if they are here in the country illegally they fear the possibility of being exposed to governmental agencies.