12: The Hiring Crisis: Five Months and Counting

Late stage capitalism comes to the staffing shortage

Hi there, 

Lately, every time I walk into a restaurant, I find myself thinking about DW Winnicott. 

Winnicott was a British pediatrician and psychoanalyst who came up with the concept of the ‘good enough mother’ (and yes, it should apply to parents regardless of gender, but he coined the term in 1953, so we’re going to go with his phrase). He observed that when babies are first born, their mothers are in a heightened state of perfect attunement to them; as soon as the baby experiences a need, the mother tries to fulfill it.  But after a few weeks—and way too little sleep— most mothers begin naturally  to allow their babies to experience small amounts of frustration. The moms are still loving and attentive, but they don’t, for example, rush to the baby as soon as it cries, and instead wait a few minutes to see if the child settles on its own. The moms, in Winnicott’s formulation, are no longer ‘perfect’ but they are ‘good enough,’ and being “good enough” is perfectly fine. 

Winnicott’s th…