Cultural Effects of Loss of Labor

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

What is this 'bookstore' of which you speak, and how do I download the app to my phone?

[Speaker to Animals]

What is this 'bookstore' of which you speak, and how do I download the app to my phone?

Download the app called grindr and have at it.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

What is this 'bookstore' of which you speak, and how do I download the app to my phone?

Download the app called grindr and have at it.

Yeah right! I barely have time to bang all the dudes I know now. Another godamn chore in my life.

[Speaker to Animals]

[apeman]

[BjornP]

Bjorne, the theory being presented here is that the loss of low skill jobs makes people ill suited for the higher skill jobs even if they learn the skills. The benefit of manual labor jobs was that you don't need deep skills to do many of them. So a high school student could get a manual labor job, learn to work hard at a young age, then later complete college and go on to work hard at a high skill job. What is being suggested here is that the lack of demanding low skill jobs will mean that by the time someone learns higher skills they will have missed some essential developmental window to learn a strong work ethic. To look at your brother's case, did he engage in demanding work while in high school and college before getting the opportunity to do the kind of work he does now? Or was he allowed to do what he wanted through most of high school and college until he had high end skills to enter the workforce?

The question presented is whether it is POSSIBLE for someone whose first job is a highly skilled position they get after years of education to be able to exhibit what was once a normative work ethic. I'd say that determining the accuracy and ubiquity of apeman's anecdote is precisely the question for this thread:

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed the issue was more how physically hard the work that US youth worked on. What you're presenting is obviously more complex than that.

My brother, like the rest of us growing up, had to work if we wanted anything other than handout clothes and toys. I think the answer to the question you're posing, then, is no. The nature of the work can be different. You can work hard and dedicated, in any number of sectors, but the important part is at the end of the day, a job well done's greatest reward is not really the money. It's not really even a moralistic sense of doing good work - though I do sort of like that aspect personally. It's the reputation. Being seen as reliable. Trustworthy. Someone the boss will call in another time. Which will affect your paycheck, of course. I don't know how different usage of references is in the States, but say you're education is digital archivist: Even if your last job was packing fish, the reference from your fish packing job is still a good thing to send to a potential employer who's looking for an archivist. Because a reference - at least here - goes into detail precisely about work ethic, how well one works in a team (if relevant, ofc), all sorts of general impressions about the employee's level of dedication. Professional jobs will add professional impressions, as well. Point being that if you don't familarize yourself with that sort of... need, and the awareness that it is a need, before adulthood... that's a potentially unprepared generation.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I don't know how different usage of references is in the States, but say you're education is digital archivist: Even if your last job was packing fish, the reference from your fish packing job is still a good thing to send to a potential employer who's looking for an archivist. Because a reference - at least here - goes into detail precisely about work ethic, how well one works in a team (if relevant, ofc), all sorts of general impressions about the employee's level of dedication. Professional jobs will add professional impressions, as well. Point being that if you don't familarize yourself with that sort of... need, and the awareness that it is a need, before adulthood... that's a potentially unprepared generation.

We don't take references very seriously at all - mostly because nobody knows anyone else in their industry below executive-level. I can get anyone to say nice things about me, but it doesn't mean much.

the important part is at the end of the day, a job well done's greatest reward is not really the money.

LOL whatever, man. Let's just say that most of us in the Great Corporatocracy have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[Speaker to Animals]

For many, the corporate world does not reward hard work at all. It rewards a lot of political maneuvering, backstabbing, blame shifting, and credit stealing. But hard work? Not really. Not for most people.

[apeman]

We don't take references very seriously at all

You can be sued for giving a bad reference, doesn't mean the plaintiff will win, but when you get sued, you pay $$$ for an attorney, so you lose regardless.

Best way to give a negative reference:

"I can't not recommend him/her"

[TheReal_ND]

*legally

preferred pronoun ze, zir and hir please