341–350 of 496 posts
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Why are you speaking in generalities when we are discussing a specific question: this one. Your comment seems akin to saying "asking questions is suspicious, especially when I disagree with the premise."
> your question seems Well it's not.
I kept my dishwashing job on my resume for far too long under the title “hydro ceramics engineer.” It was grueling work, but I met a lot of interesting people, one in particular turned me on to studying Chinese which changed the whole path of my life. Also gave me entre into bussing then waitstaff. Paid my way through high school car insurance and college surviving. Definitely under appreciated and under paid, but I…
> Definitely under appreciated and under paid, but I learned a ton about working for a living. a lot of the discussion about wages ignores the value of experience; students pay to spend their days learning but it's somehow unfair for someone to get paid to learn job skills that transfer to other jobs
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The other option is trying to fight a bigger opponent as an individual - what do you recommend, changing all the laws by yourself?
> changing all the laws by yourself? Laws change every day. There must be a working process for that.
1. A comment about how in general there should be a way to do that, but not engaging in the topic, ceding all power to the corporations which would be glad to take it, giving none back, and just mildly sneering at anyone foolish enough to join such a basal endeavor as a union.
2. A comment about how we would need to accomplish that goal and that establishing the working process should come before unionizing as it is the proper solution to the problem, ceding all power to the corporations which would be glad to take it until we solved the problem that is effectively created by corporations to be unsolveable.
Collective action works, it solves problems, it gives workers space to live and have basic rights, and we don't have to throw up our hands and say "there must be a better way!"
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> nobody has to work to make ends meet Which means that other people who do go to work support those who sit around and do nothing. As someone who works, I have no desire to support people who don't work because they don't have to.
Please notice that you are responding to a position the GP did not take. He said > people can choose whether they work or stay home raising a family, and nobody _has_ to work to make ends meet. Parents who leave paid employment to raise children are far from "sit[ing] around and do[ing] nothing". If we value future conditions (even restricting that calculation only to economic productivity, though I'd argue other con…
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Honest question, what should they be paid? Its purely manual labor, there is not much if anything to innovate or be creative. The output is fairly binary, clean or not clean. I am all for fair wages but how do we know if $10 is the right price or too low? Interesting how serious questions get so quickly downvoted. I am genuinely curious how you would price a dishwasher when the output is important but the work itself…
If the full time wage can't result in a decent living (housing, food, medical expenses, clothes, feed and clothe a kid or two, and put away a little on the side) then it clearly is too little. Edit: Check out https://livingwage.mit.edu/ for examples based on real-world data.
I was kinda upset today that my raise I just found out I was getting will barely beat inflation, but according to this MIT site, I make enough, by myself, to support another adult and 3 children, based on where I live.
Thats a very different perspective for me today.
I have a PhD in Physics from Berkeley. Still, in the strictest real estate sense, my best and highest use is as a dishwasher. I was managing a small optics factory in Livermore. We made laser mirrors to order there — any wavelength, any reflectivity, any angle, any polarization, you name it. I was working my ass off and was unmarried at the time. Thanksgiving came around and I had nowhere to go. But I hooked up with…
Loved reading this. I admire your courage and ingenuity to dress as a poor person. If you haven’t already read it you might enjoy Orwell’s autobiographical Down and Out in Paris and London, your story tangentially reminded me of it.
I have a PhD in Physics from Berkeley. Still, in the strictest real estate sense, my best and highest use is as a dishwasher. I was managing a small optics factory in Livermore. We made laser mirrors to order there — any wavelength, any reflectivity, any angle, any polarization, you name it. I was working my ass off and was unmarried at the time. Thanksgiving came around and I had nowhere to go. But I hooked up with…
Hungry people tend to not care at all who smiles for show and who actually cares, as long as the food is served. Just my 2 cents, but I get where you're coming from.
I've searched 'Orwell' on this page with no results. Feel like someone should mention the first half of Down and Out in Paris and London. His first book about life as a 'plongeur' in twenties Paris is very memorable.
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That's not a meaningful difference from the employee's perspective. If you mess up in either job then the worst that they can do is fire you (unless you engage in some sort of malicious sabotage that could be proven in court).
> That's not a meaningful difference from the employee's perspective. Perhaps for certain types of employees. I know that if the cost of my mistake is much higher then the level of preparation and study I'm going to do before committing to action is going to be greater. I guess some people just can't be made to work that way. > the worst that they can do is fire you If I lose a job in a kitchen, I can find work tomor…
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You joined a union workforce as a temporary employee and were shocked to find that you didn't benefit? Who do you think the union is there to benefit? It is there to protect the people working there for their living wage, and one of the biggest threats to that is replacing them with younger workers more willing to be exploited. A good union is acting in their interests, not yours, so it sounds like it was working as…
I think you misunderstood the parent: they were paying into the union.