According to Barbara Ehrenreich, it's not enough to be positive about your job these days. You need to be passionate about it. In her satirical review of Jeffrey Gitomer's book Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, Ehrenreich skewers that branch of the self-help industry dedicated to indoctrinating wage slaves. Gitomer's book preaches surrounding yourself only with smiling people and positive attitudes. Read other self-help books, but don't watch the news. The real world out there is "negative". Also avoid "negative" people. Avoid their problems, too. Gatherings of people with problems in their lives are "pity parties" which you must avoid to focus on yourself. You must also smile - and smile all the time. Ehrenreich slyly notes that women have traditionally been required to smile, as a reflection of their status as supplicants in a male-dominated world. Now even white collar males are required to smile as well, because they too have been rendered helpless and submissive.

Ehrenreich suggests that it is possible to get something "postive" out of embracing, not avoiding, "negative" people. Join one of those "pity parties", she says, and transform it into "a revolutionary strategy meeting".

"Fake Your Way To The Top!" from The Huffington Post