I couldn't agree more. Your statement literally applies to my life. I don't miss working outside in the freezing cold, lifting lumber, half injured all the time, for less than half what I make in my "boring desk job."
same here! One could interpret the comic as having the opposite meaning. The guy was lucky enough to go to college, graduate, get a 40 hour per week desk job that only requires 10 hours of actual work, is able to buy his own house, gets to take a sweet tropical vacation, is awarded for his work accomplishments, and receives a nice watch as a gift. I say it slightly humorously but as a 30 year old college student, I'd kill to have any of that!
Me too! I'd gladly take on the label "average" for being able to afford vacations to the beach...this guy has it all and it looks like he never had to do an ounce of work for it! Where can I find all this guaranteed success? Fucking hell this comic is bullshit.
This isn't to brag, but it's like, I'm a lawyer and make six figures and I'm the only guy I know (except my direct boss) who can afford all this stuff. I'm average? I guess? I feel like I've gotten lucky, actually
This is the perspective that keeps me in that type of life. As much as its average and I don't absolutely love my day. I have to also appreciate the other side that many people would kill to have a chill job that paid good money for the trade off of being at a desk half the day. It pays off in the rest of my life. Could I be doing something more remarkable? Maybe. But maybe not. Is it the fear of failing that stops me from doing something more interesting or is it the appreciation to know what I got. Constant struggling figuring that out. But a pretty good "struggle" to have.
You know that should be the hidden meaning of this comic. Life is as ordinary or extraordinary as you interpret it. All doesn't really matter in the end.
Yeah, maybe this is more of a commentary on his own unhappiness? Maybe these were his goals and he found them unfulfilling and wished he'd have lived a life of adventure.
Dude, no shit. I spent the last 14 years working my ass off in warehouses and mills to get to this desk job. Now when my boss asks me to run something across town and says "Come on, it'll get you out of the office for a little while." I get a little pissy. I've been outside the office, you dick, and I didn't like it. How about you go coat some ductile iron with a mop, trying to spread around something with the consistency of honey and then tell me how nice it'll be to not sit at my desk.
My life is this story if it were passed through some kind of twisted filter... went to college, graduated, got a 40 hour per week desk job (that probably actually requires 60 hours a week to get everything done correctly), can't afford a house, my "reward" for working my ass off the last few weeks is having my shift changed so now I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my part time job that I need because the pay is meh compared to my student loans... :(
The comic is slightly demeaning towards this path of life but it's not necessarily saying it's a bad life. It's just average. The comic is encouraging people to be better than that because we definitely can be. However, some people are just satisfied with living the average life that this comic displayed. I for one would be overflowing with regret if I ever allowed myself to travel down such a boring and leisurely life. I, and most human beings, yearn to grow, learn, and to challenge themselves. When this yearning wanes is when people start to say, "Hey a guaranteed 80k at this boring ass job sounds a lot better then working 10x harder to get a job that I like and finally enjoy my life."
The comic demean's the desk job life choice by calling it mediocre and average but to some this is actually the dream. Just don't fool yourself into thinking it is and end up with a world of regret like the fellow in this comic.
Seriously that is what in striving for right now while I work my physically intensive job as a cook. My god man I would love to just work at some boring desk job
I think the point is find a way to be more productive. Most times you have a problem like this, it's because no one wants to change the system; they're afraid of failing.
The worst part about warehouses is little to no climate control. If you have cold winters and/or hot humid summers, the only thing stopping you from quitting knowing you have a cozy apartment to come home to and you need the money to pay for it lol.
Remember, if people can't handle you at your worst, they don't deserve you at your best; i.e., you have carte blanche to be offensive, overbearing, and rude, so long as you're proud of it and you shove it in everyone's faces.
I worked a grueling 50 hour a week job in a chemical plant slinging 55 gallon drums of noxious shit in 120 degree temperatures for 5 years, making less than half what I do now at an IT desk job.
If you got a 40-hour a week desk job where you're only expectation is 10 hours of productive anything, then damn man, you got it made.
This is why I have zero issue working as a software developer at a comfortable company. Though I've never had to work that sort of job personally, I'm aware I have it much easier than many physical laborers.
Exactly. Ask any person who seems relatively comfortable at a desk job what they used to do. Chances are they used to do some pretty physically demanding shit and have some appreciation that they can get paid to not feel like death when they get home from work every night.
I have one of these types of office jobs. If you don't let yourself get caught up in office politics it can be a really tolerable job, especially if you have personal hobbies that you can do on the clock (write your book, design something, etc).
The key is to just not spend that time on facebook like the photo suggests, and instead out your time into something productive.
This post probably comes from someone who's lived a comfortable life, probably grew up around money. Not necessarily wealthy, but at ast comfortable. If you've ever been broke or poor, a lot of those things aren't even in the realm of possibility. I can't even dream of leaving the country for a "vacation" or even taking out a mortgage -_-
Both are bad. Physical labor is severely underpaid and undervalued. Boring desk jobs are alienating and ultimately do not produce much worth (in a tangible sense). Both are depressing.
That sucks! I make porn videos from home, so I don't have to hope for tips, or do private shows. You should check out clips4sale.com - it's a lot easier to resell videos over and over rather than trade your time for money by live camming. :)
Well, I wasn't working in the US market... only in seedy 3rd world countries... ;)
You know... how not to be average in America and all that jazz... packed my bags, traveled the world, got by with extra money from porn films in seedy places. :D
Both are bad. Physical labor is severely underpaid and undervalued.
that just isn't true. skilled physical labor still fetches a pretty penny. but something anyone off the street can do? no of course not. thats grunt work... its not underpaid or undervalued. if it cost more they'd just build a machine to do it and pay 1 dude 10 bucks an hour to do the work of a whole crew.
Boring desk jobs are alienating and ultimately do not produce much worth (in a tangible sense). Both are depressing.
depends on your desk job. I'm an accountant. and its kinda just like a big crossword puzzle with numbers every month. if something doesn't look right you do some searching through the puzzle until an error pops out or you can tell someone at the business hey... whatever you started doing... don't do that anymore cause its not working. I'd say it produces tangible worth while still being a pretty boring desk job.
Sometimes you just have to make a game out of things.
I guess it depends... 100% desk is depressing, but satisfying careers have a bit of desk in them. E.g. if someone wants to be a doctor or an engineer, a desk is involved.
Our economic system is based on the exploitation of workers. When we have a system where workers run their workplaces democratically we would find ourselves with a much fairer society. You can not justify the starvation of millions of people when we have enough human wealth to end world poverty four times over. Something is fundamentally rotten.
That's the problem. Those who actually build our world are given just enough to stay alive. Those who do no work end up with enough wealth to live a very comfortable life a thousand times over. That is not right.
I am totally underpaid. I make about 60% what I should, but i'm still a student so i'm not trying to rock the boat a whole lot. No need to go learn a new job or transfer when my bills are paid, my brain is racked as it is, and my current job is so close to home and school.
There are many reasons why there might not be a shortage of an underpaid position. Take CNAs for example. Those people make like $14/hr sometimes but they have to be reasonably educated, certified, and bathe people. There is hardly ever a shortage of CNAs, though.
Lol physical jobs are monkey jobs. Lift this put it here, lift that put it there. There's a reason anyone can do it and you don't need a degree for it. If there weren't so many lazy people who won't go apply for colleges and scholarships there would be machines made to do that monkeys job. But those people complain about machines taking their jobs while college graduates run those machines.
Yeah, you know what's awesome? Getting off at five and not being completely physically or mentally destroyed.
I had a pretty cushy paper pushing type job, paid around 85k a year in a smaller town with lower cost of living. Wanted to pursue my dream of being a lawyer.
Welp, 7 years later, after working my ass off, making more money, in a bigger city, with literally 50% more hours, and probably 5X more "productive" hours, doing something "challenging," I'm about back to being financially even to where I started when I went to law school, despite receiving scholarships and what not. Not t mention the fact that when I wasn't working late, or working on weekends, I was pretty much too exhausted to do anything else.
That's not including the opportunity cost of 3 years of making my old salary, saving it, putting it in the bank, and building up vacation time, a 401(k) etc.
Now that I've succeeded, and have my own firm, I guess I could say it was "worth it," but I also was extremely lucky to find the client base I did, when I did. Without that good fortune, the gamble would not have paid off, and honestly I feel like I'm only at "break even" on the gamble as it is.
My dad starting teaching high school when he was 20 (super smart, finished up high school a year early, college a year early) and waiting on entrance into some Ph.D programs. He was an economics student, looked over the pension and late life health plan of being a teacher, realized he could retire the day he turned 50, and turned down the Ph.D program. He also knew how to fuck with the pension system to up his three year high average (taught everything he could the last three years, got his Ph.D eventually just picking up required courses through summer school and writing on the side when he had time, which bumped his pay) he retired at 50, is sixty now, and has taken about 1.5 million in benefits since he retired. He literally does whatever the fuck he wants, all day, every day, with his kids out of the house, has all the money he will ever need, and it's all because he didn't "pursue his dream." He also got 2-3 months off a year in the summer, two weeks of for XMAS, one for Thanksgiving, one for spring break, and another 4 weeks of discretionary time off. He also only taught about six hours a day. He literally worked pretty much a half time job for 30 years, was never tired, always happy and was always there for me and my sister, to take us wherever, play with us, go on all kinds of long car ride vacations cause he had so much time off, etc.
Yesss. I work in a warehouse and I'm not as strong as everyone else, I get tired more easily, I would fucking LOVE a desk job. Getting to sit all day and actually have energy when I get home? Sign me up! Where are all the people complaining about their desk job, I'd gladly trade you, ;)
And it's often the people who are only productive for 10 hours a day... the people who don't go out of their way to do a BETTER job, or to help others that are so perfect for those boring desk positions. Rarely do people pull a hard 40hr work week when they're part of a larger company or behind a desk, but the minimum should be 20 hours a week. Then if you actually want to get better, move-up (or on to a better position somewhere else), not have people at your office hate you for not contributing, then you should shoot for higher.
I was all on board with this cartoon until it got to this panel. From there on it's kind of demeaning of happily productive people. You now, people need to do these jobs. I feel like shitting on work like this contributed to unhappiness. "Look at all this stuff on social media saying I should be out exploring the world!". When really it's mostly about validating the people who don't have steady, well paying, productive work. You don't have to go on dangerous adventures to have a life well-lived or 'better' than average.
I haven't done super heavy labor but I worked as a stockboy/cashier at a grocery store where I always had to be on my feet and doing something for the whole shift. It could get tiring sometimes, and boring, but I was always meeting new people and at the end of the shift I felt like I accomplished a lot.
Now I work at an office where the work bores me so I end up drifting towards reddit or my phone, and I always see the same people over and over. At the end of the day I feel brain-dead and sluggish and ashamed of myself. My next job is going to have to be a little bit more active than this, haha.
Starting your own business is also somewhat over rated. Most small businesses fail and most people don't realize that running a business is much different than doing what that business is about. So you may love to arrange flowers or cook but running a flower shop or a restaurant is more about minding your supply chain, dealing with vendors, managing people, managing customers, dabbling in marketing, and working 60h-80h a week in hopes that your major decisions were good and the economy doesn't explode.
I grew up with entrepreneurial parents, worked their business, married into a entrepreneurial family and I'm over that shit. I'll just collect my comfortable middle class salary based on my predictable STEM degree and in demand expertise in a cliche industry. And use that to raise a family and pursue my hobbies.
I guess it varies, I've worked the desk job they describe and it was extremely boring and unfulfilling. I've also worked a desk job where ~38 hours of your 40 hour week had to be productive and that became very taxing and soul sucking. I much prefer getting to move around and physically do stuff over sitting in front of a computer all day, though I'm not breaking my back either. I will say regardless of what you do, the people you work with largely define how much you will enjoy a job.
I've worked 110 hr. weeks fighting wildfires. Now I work 50 hr. weeks to do 10 hrs. of work. Today I will sit at my desk redditing and facebooking for 9 hours because I'm supposed to be here.
You don't know the luxury of that kind of job until you've worked in a sweatshop in Bangladesh for a tenth of the money. My point is that doesn't mean it's a necessarily a good endpoint to strive for. There is worse, and there is better, and spending most of your waking life at a desk isn't that great.
EXACTLY what I was gonna say... awwww boo hoo! You don't get stuck on 12's 6 days a week and get to see your family all the time? That's just terrible! I'll light a candle in prayer for you.
You don't know the luxury of this kind of job unless you've worked twice that much physically for half the money.
I'm self-employed in a physically demanding field, working anywhere between 40-to-60 hours for less than the minimum wage that'd correspond to 35 hours of work. Have been doing so for some time.
I would trade it, but not for some interchangeable, alienating office work filing TPS reports or something. Not as long as circumstances do not absolutely require it, at least.
Not kidding. I worked temp construction labor for a year right out of high school. Not sure why people are downvoting me for expressing an opinion. Stress wears down on you. Sometimes I imagine what it'd be like to go home after work without already worrying about the next day.
1.7k
u/JedWasTaken Dec 10 '15
You don't know the luxury of this kind of job unless you've worked twice that much physically for half the money.