https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjkkztJkNfs
Time: 6:14 – end
“In this very attitude did I sit when I called to him, rapidly stating what it was I wanted him to do—namely, to examine a small paper with me. Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, ‘I would prefer not to.’
I sat awhile in perfect silence, rallying my stunned faculties. Immediately it occurred to me that my ears had deceived me, or Bartleby had entirely misunderstood my meaning. I repeated my request in the clearest tone I could assume. But in quite as clear a one came the previous reply, ‘I would prefer not to.’
‘Prefer not to,’ echoed I, rising in high excitement, and crossing the room with a stride. ‘What do you mean? Are you moon-struck? I want you to help me compare this sheet here—take it,’ and I thrust it towards him.
‘I would prefer not to,’ said he.
Bartleby is a story that may seem repetitious but that is only done to emphasize a very important point that this video captures perfectly. This story is about a man named Bartleby who works for the very prestigious narrator and whenever he is given an assignment by his boss, he states ‘I would prefer not to’. Now this might be strange… how can you tell your boss that you would rather not do what is told of you? That is your job after all—that is what you’re being paid to do.
A lot of times we are so caught up in things that we believe we ‘have to’ do. Either because we feel we may get in trouble for not doing it, because we think it’s the only way to be successful, or for whatever other reason. Sometimes it feels like we don’t have a choice, so we go along with things that we truly don’t want to go along with.
Bartleby teaches us that it is ok to reject doing what is expected of us, even if it may seem impossible to do because of its high stakes. Even with the highest stakes, Bartleby who works for a very successful lawyer in Wall Street, refuses to do his work as shown in the excerpt above. And when he did refuse, nothing happened — he didn’t get in trouble. Now he did go to jail towards the end but that was for sleeping at work, a completely different reason.
Now this is not to say to be an irresponsible and unreliable person/employee. Bartleby’s situation is a bit extreme and this is done in order to show that it could be done even in risky situations. This is simply meant to show that it’s ok to take a step back every now and then and remember that we have choices and we don’t have to do what we don’t want to if it means compromising our own needs.