My brother hated college more than life itself. He always looked forward to summers where he’d work service more consistently. Fast-forward, he’s dropped out and now works in food services full time, never been happier.
It's not the work itself that is bad but the conditions of it. I loved cooking, I much prefer it to computer work. But allowances for health and family have to be carved out case-by-case depending on your relationship to your bosses.
This isn't necessary and we could change it. But we haven't, and so these jobs suck for reasons that have nothing to do with the work being done.
Yeah, what we're talking about is not that. Union work is an entirely different beast. I'm talking about people not knowing from one day to the next what their schedule is going to be, informing their supervisor well in advance when they're available to work and still having work scheduled when they're not able to work and then being threatened to be fired if they don't show up. Complete shit show.
Any cursory examination of other cultures would show it doesn’t have to be this way.
This is exactly the kind of prejudice I detest. Who are you to say that providing folks with good food and pleasant hospitality they want to keep coming back to and enjoying is somehow a psychologically draining career? But putting letters on screens that move boxes around and implement TCP/IP protocols is better?
In fact, in my experience the folks with the absolute most pride in their work and general positive sentiment about their role in the world have been restaurant/bar workers. It’s downright common in places like Spain/Italy/Japan, and I see it in some places in America too. But when you’ve preconditioned folks to believe they’re the scum of the earth, that’s what they’ll believe.
As it was I was working 60 hour weeks while my teeth were rotting out of my head and I hadn't had a sunday off to go to church in four years. Regardless of the pride I took in my work I think I'm well positioned to describe it as draining.
Plenty of software jobs might be called draining. For instance the contractors HN loves to pity. But I’m a contractor and I love it, more than my prior FAANG time even.
Still, should we expect public school teachers to deride the idea of being a software engineer because some instances of it are stressful?
Someone who has experience in those careers, not in Spain/Italy/Japan, but in America. And I've never heard on them being unionized in my particular corner of the country. The only place I've heard of it is in Las Vegas, and yes, the people in those jobs seem to do ok financially and do a good job.
In several of these crap employers I was forced to sit through their anti-union training which I have to was the best proof I ever encountered about how useful a union must be.
It's not just the crap pay, irregular hours and lack of health insurance either. The contempt from customers (I'm sure not you and not all of them) is palpable. Honestly, I'm becoming a bit upset just thinking about it now well over a decade since I last held down a retail counter or slung a burger and fries. I wish all the jobs were as nice as your brother's, but I assure you that the people who work them are unhappy in them for a reason.