Mike Rowe's answer to article about "bad jobs"

[paradox]

I love Mike Rowe. He makes some really great points about the attitudes of our society towards work - and he does it with some great tongue in cheek humor.

http://profoundlydisconnected.com/yo...dline-my-face/

If you feel the same be sure to thank a plumber or the car hop at Sonic. I salute anyone who gets up and goes to work. None of them are beneath me, and I am thankful for all of them and the work they do.

[J.T.M.]

Sadly his " great tongue in cheek humor " wouldn't fly if he were posting on HSTD

[Wolfy-hound]

Love Mike Rowe.

I've said for years, there's nothing wrong with ANY job. People always seem to sneer at someone for "flipping burgers" and the like. It's a paying job. Washing dishes in a restaurant is a job.

Back in the day, there was a term for a low-level menial job. It was called "opportunity".

[plowjockey]

Look, I don’t want to sound like the cranky neighbor on the front porch, screaming at the kids to get off his lawn. (And yes, the Cranky Neighbor Clause of the DJCC expressly forbids this.) But come on — 12 million people are looking for work and 3 million jobs can’t be filled? How come nobody is asking questions about that? Why is no one taking a poll on whether our expectations have replaced our common sense? Why do we talk only of “job-creation,” when we can’t even fill the jobs we have?

This has been my view, in which I have been trashed many times.

The trucking industry is begging for drivers - which can make $40k+ their first year. That driver will earn every penny of that pay. Subsequent years will pay much more.

It's a tough job, but the money will buy groceries and pay bills. Most larger trucking companies offer health insurance.

Some will profess that it pays lousy and is lousy work, but 3.5 million drivers do it every day year after year. Either they are stupid or they are making a living at it.

The physical qualifications are minimal, but there are many qualified jobless, who want nothing to do with driving a truck.

Much easier to sit home, smoke pot and wait for that relief check.

[paradox]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

This has been my view, in which I have been trashed many times.

The trucking industry is begging for drivers - which can make $40k+ their first year. That driver will earn every penny of that pay. Subsequent years will pay much more.

It's a tough job, but the money will buy groceries and pay bills. Most larger trucking companies offer health insurance.

Some will profess that it pays lousy and is lousy work, but 3.5 million drivers do it every day year after year. Either they are stupid or they are making a living at it.

The physical qualifications are minimal, but there are many qualified jobless, who want nothing to do with driving a truck.

Much easier to sit home, smoke pot and wait for that relief check.

Yes its funny how that is just "beneath" some people but they really appreciate the fact that when they walk in a store there is actually stuff on the shelves.

[plowjockey]

Proctologists can make $400k per year.

A dirty job, but relatively easy, compared to a GP.

[Harry Chickpea]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

Proctologists can make $400k per year.

A dirty job, but relatively easy, compared to a GP.

Plus, they also know what to do in a SHTF situation.

[paradox]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

Proctologists can make $400k per year.

A dirty job, but relatively easy, compared to a GP.

We all have to deal with anyway - why not get paid for it

[ejagno]

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

Love Mike Rowe.

I've said for years, there's nothing wrong with ANY job. People always seem to sneer at someone for "flipping burgers" and the like. It's a paying job. Washing dishes in a restaurant is a job.

Back in the day, there was a term for a low-level menial job. It was called "opportunity".

As a business owner I wish every young person under the age of 21 would understand this philosophy. Out of 48 employees I have but one who actually thanked us for giving them the opportunity to work. I also just added an addendum to the employee handbook about respecting each and every position within the company because they are all dependent upon one another for the total success and no one is superior. If the dishwasher doesn't provide us with clean dishes then there is no need for chefs, cooks, wait staff, bartenders or hosts. Talk about give them a new perspective on how TEAMWORK functions.

[okiemom]

I too love mike and the Ciscovery channel. My boys have learned some amazing things watching tv. I don't let them watch much without it being educational. they love the science shows and I am amazed at what they pick up.

Dh works on and for a wastewater treatment plant and I know it may not be considered sexy but I am so glad we don't have to move states to chase work and it will always be needed.

I wish I had mike's lack of gag reflex. just watching him sometimes got/gets me going. he is also so good at promoting every life/job has a story not matter what, tit doesn't have to be someone rich and famous.

[mmoetc]

Originally Posted by ejagno

As a business owner I wish every young person under the age of 21 would understand this philosophy. Out of 48 employees I have but one who actually thanked us for giving them the opportunity to work. I also just added an addendum to the employee handbook about respecting each and every position within the company because they are all dependent upon one another for the total success and no one is superior. If the dishwasher doesn't provide us with clean dishes then there is no need for chefs, cooks, wait staff, bartenders or hosts. Talk about give them a new perspective on how TEAMWORK functions.

Used to have an area manager who stressed that the dishwasher was the only vital member of the restaurant staff. Ask for volunteers for any other position and watch hands go up. Ask for volunteers to man the dish room, watch eyes to go down.

[willow_girl]

When I worked for the TSA, I always liked to give a shout-out to the crew that cleaned the restrooms. I'd tell them that if we didn't come to work one day, there probably would be cheers, but if they didn't show up, people would be really upset!

[paradox]

Originally Posted by willow_girl

When I worked for the TSA, I always liked to give a shout-out to the crew that cleaned the restrooms. I'd tell them that if we didn't come to work one day, there probably would be cheers, but if they didn't show up, people would be really upset!

That is a great one. I SOOOOO appreciate clean public restrooms!

[MO_cows]

Great wisdom from Mike Rowe, with enough humor to keep it from feeling like a lecture. A lot of people do need an attitude adjustment about work. We have had a lot of years of easy livin in this county, and people got it into their heads that they are too good for certain jobs. Or, even worse, that they are doing their employer a favor by working there and not the other way around.

As far as the trucking jobs, my DH has his CDL and trucking was something he looked at when he lost his job of 35 years last fall. Everybody wants OTR and we aren't willing to have him gone for weeks at a time, no matter how good the money. I'm sure a lot of other couples/families feel the same way, hence the shortage of drivers. Also sitting in the truck constantly and eating restaurant food is about the most unhealthy life a person can live. DH ended up taking a job that is a 30% pay cut from his prior job and is a "dirty job" to boot, but we can manage. The old "money can't buy happiness" cliché proven again to be true.

[bluemoonluck]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

Much easier to sit home, smoke pot and wait for that relief check.

And this, I believe, is the reason that we have such a problem getting people to work those "dirty" jobs...and also the very reason that the illegals from Mexico/South America ARE willing to work them.

In years past here in the USA, if you didn't work you didn't get paid, and you and your family would risk starving to death. So given a choice between starvation for you and your family, and working a job - any job - you'd work.

Now if you can't find a job you like, you can just settle yourself and your family on the govt teat, sit on your rear end, and know you won't starve.

Immigrants come from places where there are no other options, much like it used to be in the USA - work or starve, those are your choices. So when they come to America, they have the same mentality and therefore are willing to do the work that Americans don't have to (because us Americans now have the govt teat option).

However, the kids of the Illegals are raised right along side American kids, and they quickly learn that they are "entitled" to things.... 2nd generation immigrants these days rarely have the work ethic of their parents, because they know they - as American Citizens - are entitled to a nice cushy job and if that doesn't pan out, they can latch onto that good ol' govt teat.

That's also the reason why allowing amnesty for Illegals isn't going to solve the "nobody wants to work these undesirable jobs except the illegals) problem here in the USA. Only the 1st generation illegals are going to be willing to do the work - and the more benefits we give to them, the less wiling THEY are going to be to do it as well!

It's a never-ending cycle: fresh immigrants will do the undesirable jobs, but once they become citizens they won't, so we need a new shipment of fresh-from-the-border workers.

The solution is simple: Make it so that sucking off the govt teat is no longer an option. If we do that, Americans will once again have to choose between starving or doing those undesirable jobs, and dollars to donuts enough of them will decide they'd rather work than starve that we'd fill up those job openings just fine WITHOUT needing the illegals to do them for us.

[Sawmill Jim]

Some those dirty jobs pay big bucks .One thing some over look is the fact so many can't pass a drug test . When i went to the oil patch there were folks took the drug test several times .I think the pass rate there was one in thirty .Tell me that an't sad and or stupid or both .

Shucks that was the only test i could pass . I have always been dopey enough with out out side influences

[Wolfy-hound]

There's also been a HUGE push that "Go to college" = "success in life" and anything else is a lousy waste of your talent and time.

The attitudes people have towards certain jobs is ridiculous. "Managing a McDonalds? Oh, you couldn't get a better job than THAT? Too bad." While the speaker does nothing but push papers around an office in a close-to-entry-level position they've held onto for five years. Somehow sitting at a desk is good... working driving trucks or in a restaurant is bad.

I don't care if you dig ditches. It's good honest work for good honest pay. Nothing wrong with it.

I personally think that anyone who is physically capable of working should be doing so, and if they go on Government assistance due to lack of a job, they should be required to do at least part time work to get the checks. They could watch the kids of other applicants, do the paperwork in offices, pick up trash along the highway, sweep floors, work government cafeterias in government offices, be the janitors in those government offices... whatever needs to be done, and that's how they 'earn' the checks that are LOWER than what minimum wage would give them in the SAME position.

So the choices would be a government check for being a janitor, or getting a real janitor job that pays better... or a better job you like more. Make it less appealing to get that government check, and get work out the people who DO get the checks, while giving them plenty of time(since the job would be 'part time') to look for a different job to get off assistance.

People who are actually disabled would be exempt. But considering I know of at least one local paraplegic who works a job without getting any gov handouts, I think a lot of folks would still be considered "able enough to work some position".

But that's my pipe dream. In my head, it would encourage folks to get off the dole while providing a lot of "free workers" for doing work so the government doesn't have to pay real workers full wages, saving tax dollars AND getting 'freeloaders' off the dole thus saving even more tax dollars.