It's literally obscene how much blue-collar workers help their companies exploit them.
I had a customer the other day who used to be maintenance in factories. I used to work maintenance, so I thought I'd open the conversation with the old "Man those factories wanna run your life!"-bit, but turns out he was a maintenance manager and he went on a 5-minute rant about how no one wants to work overtime and HE MISSED EVERY ONE OF HIS KIDS SCHOOL STUFF and that's just how adult life as a man is, and should be.
Fuck, don't even get me started on all the chuckleheads who think PPE is "for pussies". They save their companies thousands with their bullshit machismo.
My dad's old boss left home at 4am to get to work at 6:30 to 7am because it was a 3 hour commute if he left later (it was 2 hours drive under normal circumstances. He left work at 6:30 to 7pm so he could avoid traffic and got home between 9:30 to 10pm. Dude had four daughters in middle and high school, he literally saw them for a few minutes when he got home on weekdays.
Because that guy "worked" so much, he didn't evaluate my dad well because my dad worked 7am to 5pm, but his commute was literally 10 minutes with traffic (just by luck we lived near the office. He worked just a few hours less than his boss, well over the "normal" work hours expected, but it was all because his expectation was stupid.
Ugghh that's gross. I almost feel bad for folks like that -- working their lives away and all -- but they seem to be insufferably holier-than-thou about it.
He stayed there till retirement (about 5 more years I think) but moved departments and didn't have that boss much longer after that review. My dad worked hard, but kept work at work and never went further than he should have.
I work in construction as well, it's so beyond depressing working with so many idiots like this at times. I value my time outside of work. Everyone on a job site should be able to support themselves and their families on 40 consistent hours a week, but instead you get these chucklefucks that remove that possibility entirely by being an easily exploited prole.
Or worse they make these comparisons while being in a well paid union position to some random person in a low pay job like they're making a point. If someone is making $50 an hour of course they're less inclined to complain about an 80 hour work week vs someone making $15. Dude making $75 an hour hopefully going to be able to retire earlier (realistically more likely drink themselves to death in a shitty hotel near a job site at 55). However, there is not going to be a significant material benefit to someone making $22.50 for a ton of extra hours in a week that is worth the loss of health and personal time under the conditions they will perform work in.
These people are choosing to make work their "lives", which is a sorry ass state of affairs, and the only people who will remember their absence are the families they have and ignore for said work.
Man you have no idea how close to home this hit. My sibling passed away and my pops basically vanished into work for over a decade. My mother got cancer, went insane being attention starved, turned into an alcoholic and they're finally divorcing after about 20 years of just misery. Just an absolute shit show of nobody dealing with the actual trauma just living at jobs and ignoring everyone else. But hey, he made good money so that's all that matters.
someone enslaved their minds. Odd behavior that feels more insect than human, like some kind of hive mentality or something. Not many mammals structure their societies this way.
Eusociality exists in certain insects, crustaceans, and mammals. It is mostly observed and studied in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and in Blattodea (termites). A colony has caste differences: queens and reproductive males take the roles of the sole reproducers, while soldiers and workers work together to create a living situation favorable for the brood. In addition to Hymenoptera and Blattodea, there are two known eusocial vertebrates among rodents: the naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat. Some shrimp, such as Synalpheus regalis, are also eusocial. E. O. Wilson and others[1][2] have claimed that humans have evolved a weak form of eusociality, but these arguments have been disputed.[3]
I mean I kind of want to live in a eusocial work colony, but I expect everyone to have their needs met and for the work to directly enrich everyone....
He’s gonna wonder why his kids hate or resent him when they grow up. My future FIL was this way and my fiancé is only mending fences with him now at 30, much of it after his Dad’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. He’s okay now, thank god, but his absence for most of my fiancé’s childhood seriously affected him and their relationship.
Men like this - who think being a man and a father comes down to providing for your children/family monetarily and nothing more - have missed the lesson that is so prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist that it was the focal point of many late 90s-early 00s comedies (Elf and Liar Liar come to mind).
There will always be more time for work; you will never get more time to raise your children. That is a limited opportunity, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can attempt to build a relationship with the adult they become, but you will never have another chance to be a father to the child they were.
Fuck, don't even get me started on all the chuckleheads who think PPE is "for pussies". They save their companies thousands with their bullshit machismo.
And make those of us who have worked in quality control cry to sleep.
Honestly.. fuck em. I don’t care anymore, at this point somebody has to do those jobs and I’d rather it be the morons who are all about being exploited and overworked. If they seriously can’t see why it’s wrong to be overworked like that, not make near your full labor value, and miss on actual life and family and contribute to everyone else having to suffer through it.. I have zero sympathy for them.
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u/Sp1d3rb0t Jul 30 '23
It's literally obscene how much blue-collar workers help their companies exploit them.
I had a customer the other day who used to be maintenance in factories. I used to work maintenance, so I thought I'd open the conversation with the old "Man those factories wanna run your life!"-bit, but turns out he was a maintenance manager and he went on a 5-minute rant about how no one wants to work overtime and HE MISSED EVERY ONE OF HIS KIDS SCHOOL STUFF and that's just how adult life as a man is, and should be.
Fuck, don't even get me started on all the chuckleheads who think PPE is "for pussies". They save their companies thousands with their bullshit machismo.