PORTLAND, OR. after talking with donna, i realize that workers i’ve talked to in collectives show a satisfaction with their job that workers in non-collectives do not. i’ve talked to employees who like their job at a franchise coffee shop because it brings them in contact with so many people in just a single day, having conversations with strangers or because they simply like their co-workers or the local neighborhood. but from these employees come the same complaints: hassles from managers, working more hours than they requested, bad company policies, top-down management. from workers in collectives, a different attitude about their workplace comes out: self-driven to improve the organization and workplace, working more hours and sacrificing pay if the organization needs the money, taking responsibility for the organization’s methods and practices, being their own boss. the worker in a collective acts as if they own the organization because, in fact, they do. the employee of the non-collective acts as if they are just a gear in a machine because, well, they are.