Thought provoking quote from Mike Rowe "Dirty Jobs"

[doitmyself]

Streaming. Limited commercials. No News and no Tabloids.

No news? You don't follow local, state, national, and world events that might affect you or that you might contribute to/have influence on (i.e., voting, contributions, assistance, etc.)? I value getting your perspective. Please elaborate.

 

[samven]

Its a problem every generation faces. I started to realize exactly how bad it was getting when people started complaining that a job at McD's was not enough to live on and people were afraid to hire the kid down the street to cut their lawn because if he got hurt they could be sued.

 

[Nick1994]

No news? You don't follow local, state, national, and world events that might affect you or that you might contribute to (i.e., voting, contributions, assistance, etc.)? Please elaborate.

We read articles on social media of current events.

But not sitting there mindlessly zoned out watching 2 hours of newscasters talk about the new Panda baby born at the zoo and all that nonsense.

 

[GON]

I couldn't disagree more. The current generation are literally far more educated, and I've seen great work ethics with them. I think they're going to be great.

It's just grumpy old fogies like you who had a great economy spoon fed to you. Sad that there's so much negativity.

Nick,

You may be right. Only time will tell. Bookmark your post and come look at it when you are in your 50's. See how the USA is doing, how entitlement programs have worked out, national deficits and nation debt. Let's see how healthy the USA is with 40 continual years of importing more than in exports.

And I understand the chicken little syndrome. In 1978, as a Freshman in high school, my wresting coach and geography teacher taught in class Florida was at huge risk to running out of fresh water due to the draining of the everglades and converting that land into housing, roads, commercial properties, etc. Florida's population has likely grown 500 percent since the late 1970s, but I have not read of any macro water restrictions in Florida, or people avoiding moving to Florida because of a lack of fresh water.

Meanwhile, here is a national debt chart that keeps me up at night. Not for my sake, but for the sake of the future generations of Americans to include my Grandchildren. I don't believe this chart encompasses USA liabilities like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal pensions, etc.

Public debt of the United States from 1990 to 2021 (in billion U.S. dollars)​

 

[53' Stude]

Streaming. Limited commercials. No News and no Tabloids.

Nick: I’m the same. Don’t follow sports much.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Work smart, not hard.

 

[PimTac]

Nick: I’m the same. Don’t follow sports much.

I’m much older than Nick and I don’t watch news either on television. In fact I don’t watch a whole lot of tv except in the evening when we can watch what we want including overseas shows on AppleTV.

Every year one of our friends who has some acreage would get the local kids from the high school to come out and help put up the hay. In return they were fed quite well with grilled foods and other potluck. In the last several years he cannot get anyone to do it so he has let the field go.

It’s not just the work but the reward of helping someone and being appreciated for that work. One builds relationships and respect in the process.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Here are my thoughts which were provoked by the caption and thread ... The following are my opinions based on my experiences, and probably won't align with everyone else.

I agree with Rowe. Not 100% though. My kids (in their 20s) are not lazy, don't live at home; one did college education and one did not, both have good jobs, etc. We didn't coddle them, and made them earn their way, just the way we were raised. We gave them opportunities, not hand-outs. We gave them encouragement (and some tough love), not unwarranted compliments for mediocre efforts. Most of my friends' kids are also held to a high expecation standard.

I lay the blame at my generation though. Too many parents in my generation do/did coddle their kids, assure them they're not losers, tell them they can do "anything they want", etc .... Not ALL parents are like this, but IMO, enough now that it's caused a significant societal problem.

Also, I believe that while college is important for some, it's not necessary for all. Many people can be successful without college. All manner of skilled trades are very necessary, and require something other than "book learning" at a high level. If EVERYONE was a college-grad desk-jockey, there'd be no one to build stuff, maintain stuff, clean stuff, etc. But college is being shoved down our kids throats like it's the solution for everything, but obviously it's not. We want our doctors, laywers, engineers, and all careers which need higher learning to have the right credentials. But it seems as though every kid is looked down upon if they don't go to college. We're shoving so many kids into higher-learning that the supply/demand curve is bent. Colleges raise tuition at rates far above inflation, to "attract" the best teachers, gather donor money, and then bring in kids, all in the promise that their degree will assure them succss in life. That's good marketing but bad advice. College is a choice; it's the right choice for some, but not all. And we're cheating ourselves in the long run because so many other necessary jobs are going unfilled.
Q: what's a room full of surgeons gonna do when the electricty goes out?
A: not a darn thing until the electrican shows up!


We need a balanced, broad workforce, combined with a good work ethic. We're losing both, quickly, and it's showing.

Thus endeth my rant.

Pretty much spot on. And you post seemed like an analysis; not a rant. Just my opinion.
I am pro education, as it saved my bacon. That includes trade schools and apprenticeships. As long as students do the work, JCs should be free; when I need a nurse to help me, I hope there is one.

I work with younger people all the time; I welcome the opportunity. I dangle the carrot by offering the tools, should they choose to pick them up and use them. And yes, taking them for a ride in the Tesla gets their attention.
Unfortunately, it seems many parents want ther kids to have everything. "Wouldn't it be nice if I could buy all my kids a house?" Man did that rub me the wrong way! I said, "Absolutely not! Give them the tools to buy their own." And let them fall down and fail. Learn to get up off the mat and continue the fight.

Another parent sent 2 of his children to a private, accelerated school. Guess what; they flunked out and are now behind a year. Luckily they are starting to flurish, due to some better circumstances.

Silicon Valley is the worst; out of 10 workers, it seems 1 or 2 do all the work and the rest feel entitled, are off doing whatever and complaining.
Worker bees rock! And guess who are the hardest workers and appreciate their incredible opportunity? It ain't the native born Americans.

 

[AZjeff]

Streaming. Limited commercials. No News and no Tabloids

You said you don't watch TV. Apparently I misunderstood that to mean you don't use the television at all. You use the word "TV" to describe network programming apparently.

 

[PandaBear]

There is nothing new under the sun. Mike Rowe's observation is real but it is not the entire picture of the whole story. We have a combination of:

1) Some jobs pay way more than the others and you cannot work your way up to get them. Think of those 120-200K salary software jobs that you need to study 4 years in a reasonable college for and have 2-4 years of work experience to get that. You cannot work your way up from a McDonald's to that no matter your work ethics or how hard you work.

2) Our society has always been trying to find ways to cut out the labor intensive work, via automation or consumer behavior changes. You know those old days you can work at a travel agency or general store, or gas station pumping gas while you are a teen, those jobs are now disappearing and if you have a kid you probably want to steer them away from them.

3) Due to inflation and commoditization of many things, you will never be able to do the same kind of jobs your parents have a good life raising a family with. Dairy farming? mom and pop auto repair? working for your local government? those jobs are going to quickly disappear these days. You are probably going to run a risk of having your kids work part time during school to "pay for their own education" rather than finish school asap and find a first real job.

I do agree that we should limit the amount college should charge on useless degree, especially if it means handing out forever debt on those student loans. We should not set a not yet adult into a debt trap that they will have no way of paying off in a reasonable time, and most importantly, there are so many jobs we should not require degrees on (most business jobs don't really need degree, nor government workers). Open those jobs up to people not having degree and let them apply to them after public K-12.

You want parents to have the feeling of prestige if their kids do blue collar jobs? Make those blue collar jobs secure and pay well, not $20/hr for life and you are constantly watching your back for automation taking them away, or outsourcing to a cheaper country. General contractor makes quite a bit, but they probably relies on cheap labor as well, or some union seniority, or some license to get, etc. Make them easy to get and make them secure and pay well, then people will apply for them.

 

[PandaBear]

Here are my thoughts which were provoked by the caption and thread ... The following are my opinions based on my experiences, and probably won't align with everyone else.

I agree with Rowe. Not 100% though. My kids (in their 20s) are not lazy, don't live at home; one did college education and one did not, both have good jobs, etc. We didn't coddle them, and made them earn their way, just the way we were raised. We gave them opportunities, not hand-outs. We gave them encouragement (and some tough love), not unwarranted compliments for mediocre efforts. Most of my friends' kids are also held to a high expecation standard.

I lay the blame at my generation though. Too many parents in my generation do/did coddle their kids, assure them they're not losers, tell them they can do "anything they want", etc .... Not ALL parents are like this, but IMO, enough now that it's caused a significant societal problem.

Also, I believe that while college is important for some, it's not necessary for all. Many people can be successful without college. All manner of skilled trades are very necessary, and require something other than "book learning" at a high level. If EVERYONE was a college-grad desk-jockey, there'd be no one to build stuff, maintain stuff, clean stuff, etc. But college is being shoved down our kids throats like it's the solution for everything, but obviously it's not. We want our doctors, laywers, engineers, and all careers which need higher learning to have the right credentials. But it seems as though every kid is looked down upon if they don't go to college. We're shoving so many kids into higher-learning that the supply/demand curve is bent. Colleges raise tuition at rates far above inflation, to "attract" the best teachers, gather donor money, and then bring in kids, all in the promise that their degree will assure them succss in life. That's good marketing but bad advice. College is a choice; it's the right choice for some, but not all. And we're cheating ourselves in the long run because so many other necessary jobs are going unfilled.
Q: what's a room full of surgeons gonna do when the electricty goes out?
A: not a darn thing until the electrican shows up!


We need a balanced, broad workforce, combined with a good work ethic. We're losing both, quickly, and it's showing.

Thus endeth my rant.

Everyone wants a balanced and well rounded work force, until they open the wallet.

We all want the cheapest labor from someone else and we complain a $400 visit a plumber charges even if he doesn't fix anything, or a $10 McDonald's happy meal because a balanced workforce will require paying someone substantially more. Then we all want our kids to be a real estate agents making $400k a year or a doctor making 1M a year or an analyst on Wall Street making 500K a year, and someone else to do those dirty job and we pay them what we think is "fair".

This is everywhere in the world, from US to Europe to Asia to probably Africa. In a way it is a sign that a society is getting wealthier than the previous generation, and in a way it also means we are losing "skills" and "work ethics" because they don't pay enough that people want to do those jobs.

 

[Pew]

We make life easier for every new generation just to complain about how easy they got it.

The good ones are too busy to be on social media, complaining about their life.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Everyone wants a balanced and well rounded work force, until they open the wallet.

We all want the cheapest labor from someone else and we complain a $400 visit a plumber charges even if he doesn't fix anything, or a $10 McDonald's happy meal because a balanced workforce will require paying someone substantially more. Then we all want our kids to be a real estate agents making $400k a year or a doctor making 1M a year or an analyst on Wall Street making 500K a year, and someone else to do those dirty job and we pay them what we think is "fair".

This is everywhere in the world, from US to Europe to Asia to probably Africa. In a way it is a sign that a society is getting wealthier than the previous generation, and in a way it also means we are losing "skills" and "work ethics" because they don't pay enough that people want to do those jobs.

This is true. I firmly believe all work is honorable. Having said that, we tend to minimize the employees at Mickey D's, retail and even school teachers.

And every one of them work harder than I did at my IT Solution Architect job.

 

[ATex7239]

I’m amazed at how that non working segment has a place to live, food to eat, and healthcare benefits. They are pretty darn smart to know how to live without working. I’ve been at it since I was 16. I’m now 64. Haven’t figured out to make it without working… so whose smartest here.

The folks who abuse the laws and system call the good little worker bees paying into the system “suckers” and “squares.” I could never be one of them (abuser.) But they’re not necessarily wrong.

 

[Koainn]

View attachment 105422

Every generation says that. I'm sure all of your grandparents said the same thing about you all. LOL

 

[53' Stude]

I’m much older than Nick and I don’t watch news either on television. In fact I don’t watch a whole lot of tv except in the evening when we can watch what we want including overseas shows on AppleTV.

Every year one of our friends who has some acreage would get the local kids from the high school to come out and help put up the hay. In return they were fed quite well with grilled foods and other potluck. In the last several years he cannot get anyone to do it so he has let the field go.

It’s not just the work but the reward of helping someone and being appreciated for that work. One builds relationships and respect in the process.

I still listen to quite a few records on my 1964 Zenith player. To me vinyl sounds better than cassette or CD

 

[E365]

So, the US is near record low unemployment claims and a near record low unemployment rate (many states are at record lows), yet the narrative is still, “nobody wants to work anymore”? C’mon….

This is classic “kids these days” nonsense.

 

[wag123]

Silicon Valley is the worst; out of 10 workers, it seems 1 or 2 do all the work and the rest feel entitled, are off doing whatever and complaining.
Worker bees rock! And guess who are the hardest workers and appreciate their incredible opportunity? It ain't the native born Americans.

I should add that in many/most cases the 1 or 2 people who are doing all of the work are not appreciated by the 8 or 9 slackers, or the people above all of them. In some cases these hard workers are even chastised for "working too hard". I have seen the people who are doing the really hard work, and you are right, "it ain't the native born Americans".

 

[PimTac]

I still listen to quite a few records on my 1964 Zenith player. To me vinyl sounds better than cassette or CD

Those Zenith stereos were great. My first stereo system was one of the Allegro Wedges. The folks had one of those Magnavox consoles.

 

[53' Stude]

Those Zenith stereos were great. My first stereo system was one of the Allegro Wedges. The folks had one of those Magnavox consoles.

I put a new power cord on it. In high school I bought records at yard sales cheap. Even found a CREAM record that I still listen to. Eric Clapton is great