Low wage menial work, how can people stand it day after day after day? (debt, millionaire)
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My Uncle works in a factory and has for 20 years-not sure how much he makes but he has no debt-he always wanted to do something more but didn't-so now he is a bitter man...he hates his job so much..I think if someone has a passion to do more, be more they should-
things are tough and people do what they have to do in order to survive...tell your brother that he must do what he has to do in order to do something better-think of it as a stepping stone.
I was that way for 15 years.....being laid off got me back to more of a "passion".
I was that way for 15 years.....being laid off got me back to more of a "passion".
It's sad...my uncle wanted something more but something happened-either he went for a job and it didn't work out or he didn't have the self confidence..if you work for a factory and like it good for you but my uncle hated every minute of it....
Well at least for you being laid off opened a door-
There isn't a job in existence that I would WANT to do, if I was relying on it for a paycheck. It would become something I HAD to do to get paid.
Now, if I were to get paid regardless of whether or not I did it, then I might enjoy it more. But I don't have to enjoy it, I just have to do it.
Disagree. I really need a job and I REALLY need benefits. I recently turned down a job as a debt collector working for a slimy company. No way could I harrass people (especially in this economy) over an unpaid cell phone bill. There is more, but I'll leave it at that.
As to the OP's question, yes, I am wondering that myself. I had a very good job I left many years ago and have had two (what I'd call) crap jobs since. I simply did not last long at either one. Of course, I'd eat ramen noodles before working on an assembly line. Too hard on the feet and just cannot do routine.
My latest thinking is that if worse comes to worse, I'll buy me a little RV camper and hit the road. I'll be the mobile job seeker. Not sure in reality how that would work, but it sure would be an adventure.
There's good, bad, and ugly about almost every job out there. You do what you have to do to survive. Your job is NOT your life. It PAYS for your life. I know it's fashionable these days to get satisfaction and derive pleasure from your work but since the economy tanked, many of us have had to go back a step or two and concentrate on survival. Just making it from day to day and month to month.
My father grew up in Pittsburgh back in the day when it was a huge steel mill town. Everyone worked in the mill. One mill or another. Those jobs were tedious, boring, dangerous, dirty, and hot. Yet people showed up to work every day for 30 years. Was it because they loved the job? Not so much. They showed up every day because the money and time off were decent. This allowed them to have a life when they weren't at work. You just slogged through the job and did the best you could. It wasn't your identity.
Even when I had a GOOD job and all the associated perks, it still wasn't easy to show up every day. There were other things I would have preferred to do with my time.
There's good, bad, and ugly about almost every job out there. You do what you have to do to survive. Your job is NOT your life. It PAYS for your life. I know it's fashionable these days to get satisfaction and derive pleasure from your work but since the economy tanked, many of us have had to go back a step or two and concentrate on survival. Just making it from day to day and month to month.
My father grew up in Pittsburgh back in the day when it was a huge steel mill town. Everyone worked in the mill. One mill or another. Those jobs were tedious, boring, dangerous, dirty, and hot. Yet people showed up to work every day for 30 years. Was it because they loved the job? Not so much. They showed up every day because the money and time off were decent. This allowed them to have a life when they weren't at work. You just slogged through the job and did the best you could. It wasn't your identity.
Even when I had a GOOD job and all the associated perks, it still wasn't easy to show up every day. There were other things I would have preferred to do with my time.
That was normal back then. It is hard to go from a good job to a bad job. There are questions, however, around ethics for me. I wouldn't turn down cleaning bathrooms at this point, but I sure wouldn't like it.
It's not your life? Assuming an 8 hour work day and 8 hours of sleep a night, it's 1/3 of your life during the week. And knowing how these menial jobs pay jack ****, you either take a second job (so a 12 hour work day at least) or take more hours at work (let's say a 10 hour work day). No matter how you slice it really, it's a significant chunk of your time and life being spent doing something.
I really am surprised more people stuck in low-paying menial labor don't go off the deep end. You could cook the best fries of all the McDonalds in your area, word could spread about those fries but you probably wouldn't see a nickel of the extra profit. Or to quote Office Space, "Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation?"
Frankly I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often
Yep. It is like working in a coal mine. I went from having a great job with a car, freedom to travel, then I moved because my husband was transferred, and I got a job...it was miserable. Inbound calls, tied to a six foot phone cord, all day long, except for hald hour lunch and 2 fifteen minute breaks...lived in little cube hell...I have seen dog kennels that were larger...but the job came with awesome health benefits, tuition re-imbursement, which I needed...so, it was tolerable. The way to make a job like that work, is to find something you really enjoy after work, and do that...not just go home and zone...exercise, the upside of a job like that , is that when the job is done, you don't have to worry about it, jsut show up, be the warm body and go home...
Sure, I'll bet you would become the store manager. Too bad no one goes from fries to store manager in 3 months.
Blah, blah, blah
I can tell you've never done any of the jobs you speak about. If you've ever worked as a toilet scrubber you'd know it's not what you make it out to be.
People love to tell the next guy what to do and how to do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TracySam
I think that humility is a characteristic of a good human being, and I fear that humility is dying or dead.
No one should feel that any job is "below" them. Hard work, any work, is character-building and something to be proud of. As long as you do your best.
Even if the work is tedious, menial, manual, icky, dirty, or involves having to have contact with "low class people."
It makes me want to should "WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???" and "WHAT MAKES YOU SO SPECIAL????"
I have a Master's and a comfortable job that I love (I'm one of those people who is passionate about my work). I have a comfy office, flexible time, a good salary, good benefits. But if I were laid off, and could not find a job in my field within a couple of months of diligent searching, I would take whatever job I could get. I'm not above any kind of honest work.
And you know what? I'd do it really well and with pride.
And I could guarantee you that if I started working the register at Walmart, within a few months I'd be a department manager. If I were working the fries at McDonald's, I'd be shift manager in about 3 weeks, and store manager in 3 months. If I were scrubbing toilets, I'd be the Assistant Director toilet scrubber in 2 weeks and Toilet Scrubbing Director in a month!
Because I'd work my ***** off, and I'd show dedication, energy, reliability, honesty, detail-orientedness, pride and ownership of my work, problem-solving ability, integrity, and resourcefulness. I'd go to bed every night exhausted but feeling good about a job well done, and grateful for it.
If you have the attitude that you're doing a job that's "beneath you," you'll have a crappy attitude and not do a good job. If that's how most of the people in those positions are, then I'm confident that I'd rise to the top pretty quickly, on my merit and hard work, not on my self-image of being "superior."
So tell the guy to take great pride in the assemby line work, go to work with a smile, be polite to everyone, whistle while he works, and offer to pitch in and do extra work. Show up early and volunteer to stay late. Before long he'll be head of the assembly line, and even move to higher positions above that.
That was normal back then. It is hard to go from a good job to a bad job. There are questions, however, around ethics for me. I wouldn't turn down cleaning bathrooms at this point, but I sure wouldn't like it.
I know what you mean, but I have a problem with,"That was normal back then". People working at jobs which they don't particularly like, or downright hate, to earn a living has always been normal.
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