I work, you jerk.

[Brotherofwill]

In LotR there's a scene where Merry and Pippin enjoy a well deserved rest after the battle at Saruman's tower. I can't remember the exact lines but one of them goes: "It's just like coming home after a hard day's work", to which the other replies "Never had one of those" and both laugh.

Now while this may seem like a comic relief type of movie scene, it holds quite a lot of depth. Honestly, who still works (mostly relating to teenagers) and who works in any type of physical job? We all know that line of our society going from producers to consumers and I think that's quite sad. I have almost no work experience whatsoever and I'm motherfking 20. Maybe 2 solid weeks of hard work, some little other stuff. That's it.

Shame really, because I think work, especially physical one, can teach kids a lot. I logged some trees once and transported the stumps, which was fucking awesome. Made me really respect nature a lot more, and realise that throwing wooden logs is fucking awesome and probably the closest that God wanted you to fulfill in your life. It certainly made me like the forest more than a lot of these "you'll hate nature even more after you watch this fearmongering bullshit" nature documentaries that they show you at school to raise awareness. Anyway, I'm going off track.

Do you work? Do you work hard? What do you think?

 

[Riobux]

I can't help but get the feeling you're over valuing physical labour as though mental work isn't hard. I don't do any physical work, granted, but I still get that feeling of "ahh, home after a hard day's work" after college, which is shortly followed by "...And you have homework and revision!".

 

[BonsaiK]

There's more types of hard labour than physical labour.

Many jobs have a very high "emotional labour" component, which means keeping a smile on your dial the whole day regardless of how you might be feeling. Call-centre work is particularly gruelling in this aspect.

Keyboards and mice are the new ploughs and shears.

 

[StarkillerisDead]

I work in retail. Its very soulcrushing after a while and you have to take all sorts of s**t from people without ever rising to the bait. its a hard slog man.

 

[ShadowStar42]

I actually work a physical job (UPS) and have also had mentally and emotionally stressful jobs, so yeah what the others here have said. But to the OP, if you feel you're missing something by not doing a hard days work...then why don't you get a job where you can? Landscapers, UPS, USPS(if your in America), pretty much any large store warehouse job, there's plenty of work out there for you to do if that's what you crave.

 

[GothmogII]

I can't help but get the feeling you're over valuing physical labour as though mental work isn't hard. I don't do any physical work, granted, but I still get that feeling of "ahh, home after a hard day's work" after college, which is shortly followed by "...And you have homework and revision!".

That, but then, is the work of a web designer or illustrator somehow less meaningful than physical labour, even when such jobs can be just as draining as cutting down trees. Just ask anyone who's had to spend long hours -and- weekends after their shifts were over just to get a large project completed. This not to disparage any kind of job, physical or otherwise, but the put-down is a little unfair. Especially to the people working their butts off!

 

[Blackadder51]

I have been working in retail since 14 and 9 months im now 18 and still doing it, i went from selling fruit and veg in a small fruit shop to selling laptops in Harvey Norman and now i have a job selling Glass and China in David Jones.

I give my job 100%, even though retail is not the most paid it can be the most rewarding and now with David Jones i will have a career and i rather enjoy it.

Work is work, sure my job is not physically tough, nor is it that mentally tough but i do enjoy what i do, selling stuff and from there i gather my reward, yes monetary (money) is a big part of any job, but way that you approach the job and try in it will get you far.

And i always remember this quote

The only job were you start at the top is when you are digging a hole

Edit, Just because physical labour seems the hardest at first glance, emotional and mental fatigue can often be quite the problem

 

[JEBWrench]

That, but then, is the work of a web designer or illustrator somehow less meaningful than physical labour, even when such jobs can be just as draining as cutting down trees. Just ask anyone who's had to spend long hours -and- weekends after their shifts were over just to get a large project completed. This not to disparage any kind of job, physical or otherwise, but the put-down is a little unfair. Especially to the people working their butts off!

This. This. THIS.

Good GOD. I don't know how many projects have come down to 24-30 hour "shifts", in order to meet an arbitrary, suddenly imposed deadline from a client. "We need this done tomorrow!"

And then be told that they changed their mind, do it again.

 

[Billion Backs]

I had my first part-time job when I was 15-16.

Physical labour, for the most part, ain't worth shit, especially if it's not trained physical labour. Unless we're talking hobbies, then I guess anything goes. I've done various woodworking and electrical projects since I was maybe 7, for fun, although that didn't really lead anywhere.

 

[SimuLord]

I bust my ass. Full-time student and part-time radio producer. When I'm not on break (like I am between now and Memorial Day) I work 50 hours a week. When I am on break, I'm usually catching up on writing or trying to herd cats (which I do a lot of since I manage ten people).

But I s'pose I'm a bit out of the demographic for your rant since I'm in my thirties. Enjoy laziness while you can still get away with it. I'd love to be in the beautiful slacker phase of late adolescence, but you can only get away with that up to a certain age (somewhere between 25 and 30, I reckon.)

 

[Socius]

Im a pizzachef!

 

[Sun Flash]

On weekends and a few weekday evenings, I clean and feed on the livestock on my grandparents' farm (God I sound like a country bumpkin there) but by day I work the tills at a GAME store, which is not awesome as it sounds especially at chirstmas time. Plus it gets very grating when having to explain to another mum that CoD is maybe not the best choice for her tweenyboppers, only for her to ignore me and come back a few days later only to tell me "It's not suitable, how are you allowed to sell this? Horrible stuff. bleh bleh bleh..."



Since I do both, do I win?

 

[Angerwing]

I work on checkouts at one of the biggest supermarkets in my city, full time. I have to stand for 8-9 hours a day, smile and try to make conversation with complete twats, and spend my whole day apologising for thing that weren't my fault, and thanking people for effort I put in. And I get paid little.

Yeah, I do the menial labour sort of thing. Not only is it physically draining (it's screwing up my back something chronic), It's also terrible when I'm in a shitty mood or something, and I have to grin and talk to people.

A little while ago, a family friend killed himself, and I had to work straight after I found this out. Some old bag told me that I should be more enthused, and that my dull mood was driving away patrons of the store. Fair enough, on most days. Not today. I explained to her that someone I knew quite well had jumped off of a very high balcony that morning, and died, leaving behind his single, now childless mother, and his pretty much family-less girlfriend (who is like a sister to me). That shut her up. At that point I honestly didn't care if she complained, making me lose my job. Fortunately, she didn't.

 

[Shockolate]

I Would rather prefer a physical job.

I've joked with my friends that my dream job would be a fisherman on the Deadliest Catch.

 

[Kirkby]

Well i definatly dont have a job, but thats because im taking Biomedical science at Uni (or College if ur American) I dont know if any of u know what that is but its fucking hard! Theres no way i could ever work and get a good grade on my course

So for me my lack of work experience is due to the complexity of my course

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

I work as an operating room technician full time. Basically it's my job to prepare an operating room for an operation, assist the surgeon during the operation and cleaning up afterwards. I believe ALL work is hard work, because no matter what you do, your employer will try to squeeze as much work out of you as possible. And im also premed, so that's pretty much a full time job without pay!

 

[Funkysandwich]

I find physical work a lot easier than mental work. I just can't get motivated enough to write essays, solve equations etc. I can do an engine swap on my car in a day, but I can't write a 1000 word essay in a month.

And I'm studying IT at uni...

 

[JEBWrench]

I believe ALL work is hard work, because no matter what you do, your employer will try to squeeze as much work out of you as possible.

I think this is true not even when you work for someone, but when you're self-employed too. Because your customers will try and squeeze you for as much work as possible as well.

 

[Junkle]

As a student about to graduate high school, I despair for my generation and their lack of knowledge about hard work. It would definitely do them good to do some good, physical work, of basically any type.
Also, I have very little doing physical work, but working in a uniform store bit. Parents who are buying uniforms for their kids ON THE DAY SCHOOL STARTS are never fun to deal with.

 

[CouchCommando]

Until about 7 months ago I worked very hard until I injured myself (almost fully recovered now), I'm a licensed plumber, although I could have gone to university my family was pretty big and my siblings had already been there and done that so I got a skilled trade, so I could pay my own way, everything was great I enjoyed the out doors a variety of work, no day been the same and it combined the perfect balance of manual labor, mental stimulation and human interaction to be in my view the perfect job.
Funniest thing was when a public servant in a large office tried to ridicule me for my job, for one I was always taught to respect a working person no matter how menial their job and also because as a licensed plumber I was earning more in a week than the manager in that building was pulling in in a fortnight. And also I am my own man, not cooped up in some office with the same people day after day.