Do you think your job is valuable

[Jeff]

apparently this is now a thread about "Hey how many of you would rather work at home indefinitely, wwhere there is an option? Say Wednesdays are office day the rest is in your home."

[ExtremeDrinker]

I've seen a lot of people I've worked with over the years in the news after being arrested or murdered.

[Megatron]

I think about this now and then as what is work even, sheesh

I'm coming close to having had 50 jobs now, so some useless ones in factories or call centres, some nice ones like teaching or community arts and some horrible ones like working at a solicitors

the conclusion I have come to is capitalism sucks tha big 1

[Jeff]

f*ck capitalism for sure it's the worst

I'm coming close to having had 50 jobs now, so some useless ones in factories or call centres, some nice ones like teaching or community arts and some horrible ones like working at a solicitors

Is there any sort of correlation between the enjoyability/tolerability of the job and its social value for you? I was always just looking for something where I don't want to blow my brains out that's about it

[Stainless]

So I did health and safety within a University (I'm now doing Facilities because $$$). Sometimes it sucks because I have to make people do a lot of pointless shit - but enjoy teaching a lot of the younger chemists proper chemical management / industrial handling which isn't something they get from their lectures and professors usually.

Anyway - there's a monthly newsletter done by the central University health and safety department (I work in a department, so more in the dirt and less in the office than the Faculty or University people) and it made me feel pretty proud of the work I put in.

Dear All,

Close your eyes, imagine me dolled up heading out to a warehouse party in some gentrified inner northern suburb on a cold Saturday night. Saturday nights are sacred in my life – no thoughts of work or study are allowed. It’s glorified ‘me time’ surrounded by 100s of peers jamming out to Donna Summer, getting sweaty and watching some messy drag show. I thought I had escaped safety. Not even a phone call from the director of health and safety could ruin my vibe. But on the dancefloor I bumped into an old friend who is now doing their PhD in chemistry. What ensued was not me time but Stainless time (business partner for Chemistry). My friend proceeded to lecture me about how great Stainless was and kept telling me stories about how he is changing the safety culture within the School of Chemistry. They kept going on and on and on about how well Stainless communicates the importance of safety, chemical storage and destruction and does it in such a friendly yet effectual way.

Stainless you are so good at your job that you somehow managed to weave your way into my sacred Saturday night antics. Thank you Stainless for being awesome and to the rest of you safety professionals across the University – keep on being ace. You never know when you might end up featuring in my random dancefloor conversations… Let’s get on and boogie with this newsletter already…

[Jeff]

Wow that made me feel pretty proud of you too, that's very sweet. Indirect positive feedback like that is so great, feels more honest.

[Megatron]

f*ck capitalism for sure it's the worst

I'm coming close to having had 50 jobs now, so some useless ones in factories or call centres, some nice ones like teaching or community arts and some horrible ones like working at a solicitors

Is there any sort of correlation between the enjoyability/tolerability of the job and its social value for you? I was always just looking for something where I don't want to blow my brains out that's about it

sometimes when a day has been shit I think, at least I made a difference to that one bozo - but then is that enouh? has me going to work already set the overall 'good day counter' to -1 so I need to have helped 2 bozos just to catch a frikkin break?

I dont get much satisfaction from work - or much really. I've accomplished things I set out to do years ago and just feel 'is that it?' at the end. Even helping people in a big way, life changing style, I just think good for them, but not much else

I think its just one measure - social value - theres also stuff like self value and money value or even extra value, like all the perks and expense accounts you can rinse.

all I really want to do is work in a woodland or something but I'm too far along this stupid career path now and cant re-spec like a game :9

So I did health and safety within a University (I'm now doing Facilities because $$$). Sometimes it sucks because I have to make people do a lot of pointless shit - but enjoy teaching a lot of the younger chemists proper chemical management / industrial handling which isn't something they get from their lectures and professors usually.

this is good and you are a good egg

[Jeff]

I think its just one measure - social value - theres also stuff like self value and money value or even extra value, like all the perks and expense accounts you can rinse.

Ya that's true, random thoughts just enter my head and sometimes I post them on DAC. I don't really care much about the society and all that anyway, hashtag outsider, but can't be bothered living in a cave and do spearfishing and shit like that either so here we are, my job pays the bills and I can work as little as I want to. But every now and then it feels even more meaningless than usual and I want to do something else even though I know it would probably change nothing

[Hyacinth]

Hey how many of you would rather work at home indefinitely, wwhere there is an option? Say Wednesdays are office day the rest is in your home.

[Megatron]

I would love to work from home forever, but I have a whole 'office' room to myself thats in the attic thats basically my teenage room from Classic DAC 1.4 days.

Hate commuting, hate shit fast food, hate colleagues talking about rubbish.

Ya that's true, random thoughts just enter my head and sometimes I post them on DAC. I don't really care much about the society and all that anyway, hashtag outsider, but can't be bothered living in a cave and do spearfishing and shit like that either so here we are, my job pays the bills and I can work as little as I want to. But every now and then it feels even more meaningless than usual and I want to do something else even though I know it would probably change nothing

Maybe you should make stickers and decals for cars, like a car tattoo, the car with the dragon tattoo etc.

[munchkin]

Hey how many of you would rather work at home indefinitely, wwhere there is an option? Say Wednesdays are office day the rest is in your home.

With my line of work, yes, I'd probably like that kind of schedule, some days at the office, some days wfh. I find wfh really boring because I don't have anyone to talk with but it really saves you a lot of time without spending it preparing, driving to work and going back home.

[Hyacinth]

But you have us to talk to

[munchkin]

Yes, of course!

[Stainless]

Wow that made me feel pretty proud of you too, that's very sweet. Indirect positive feedback like that is so great, feels more honest.

Yeah, it was a weird way to get feedback, but made me feel better after getting "Stainless is a bit arrogant" as feedback on training presentations. In general I usually get good feedback from the professors, etc. but sometimes feels like they're just blowing smoke up my arse so I don't shut their labs down.

I found how who the feedback came from and thanked them (and the guy who wrote the newsletter).

Hey how many of you would rather work at home indefinitely, wwhere there is an option? Say Wednesdays are office day the rest is in your home.

I hate wfh - it greatly impacts my ability to be the Safety Boggyman that just randomly appears in people's labs to catch them not wearing their PPE.

[Hyacinth]

Any interesting accidents happened?

[SenisterDenister]

I fell down a hill once. About three years ago now. We were working for some rich dyke whose father owned a jewelry chain and were putting in an irrigation system along the back of her property to prevent erosion of the steep hillside. It was like over 55 degrees in terms of the angle of the hill, and then about 20 yards down it dropped off in a sheer cliff for about twenty feet and then kept going into a valley below. This is in the mountains if you haven't gathered.

We had a rope. A single rope between the four of us, and with picks, shovels, and mattocks we had to lay pipe and mesh over the hillside overlooking this valley. We also had to carry in 80 lb bags of concrete to mix because it was too narrow to get a wheelbarrow back there.

I don't like heights, I'm carrying a bag of concrete on each shoulder, and as far as it seems to me I have 60 feet between solid ground and broken bones. I was on the hill digging a trench and my feet lose purchase on the hill. I faceplanted and in the loose dirt started to shoot down the hill as I was stabbing frantically into the ground with my shovel. By the grace of god my shovel held in the soil long enough for someone to get down to me using the lone rope and get me back on my feet and back up the hill.

Illegal as fuck. No OSHA approved anything, when we worked with chainsaws and other stuff we had zero safety equipment, no helmets or leather chaps, nothing. Me nearly going off a cliff is what made me quit. A single fucking nylon rope tied to a back deck support. No harnesses, hooks, nothing.

No, the work I do is not important, and I don't think any job I take ever will. The lady was a cunt, too. She complained to my boss if we looked at her, or were heard talking. She thought we were subhumans and my boss was a cheapskate that suckled at her teat and gave us jack shit for the trouble. A single goddamn rope and broken equipment.

[Jeff]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that, thanks Denister

[Kashluk]

Valuable, as in make plenty of money... yeah, sure.

Valuable, as in value for society and such. Not much, I guess.

[SenisterDenister]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that, thanks Denister

I've had lots of shady and shitty jobs over the years. Probably the most important work I've done was spending a year as a police dispatcher for a small town. That was okay I guess but the guy training me didn't like me and would whisper "Don't fuck up" in my ear while I was training on calls.

[Jeff]

So I'm watching this documentary about black holes right, and I realize that there are people who spend their entire lives studying physics and doing all sorts of science shit just so that we might understand some space anomalies that are beyond our reach a tiny bit better. Interesting but utter nonsense.

I feel pretty good about the value of my job again