5 ms·

It's not a false dichotomy. It's not true to say that life is too short to spend doing crap work because some people don't have the choice to make a living in a

It's not a false dichotomy. It's not true to say that life is too short to spend doing crap work because some people don't have the choice to make a living in any other way, no matter how reluctant their decision is and no matter how much it cuts against their dreams.

ThomPete 16y ago
I don't buy that. Have you ever read Fish? http://www.charthouse.com/productdetail.aspx?nodeid=11010 http://www.charthouse.com/productdetail.aspx?nodeid=11010 There is an art to everything it's just a matter of finding it and you can learn a great deal from even the most tedious work.
- toxicflavor 16y ago
  "There is an art to everything it's just a matter of finding it and you can learn a great deal from even the most tedious work." Go down to your local sweatshop and try telling that to some of the people working there. See what they have to say about it.
  - ThomPete 16y ago
    I think you are missing the point here. I am talking about an opportunity to turn crap work into at least challenging work. I have worked some pretty crappy jobs myself from packaging crab cakes to cleaning at 3 in the morning to sorting packages. There is always things to focus on that will make it worthwhile. When I was 22 I was head of sales for a small telemarketing business. The people working there where young and the job pretty freaking boring but hard as hell. The average number of individual orders that people would accomplish in a day ranged from 5 to 40. Which meant that I had some frequency to play with. So I invented a bunch of games that had bonuses attached to them. Sales went up 200% and that is for the people on canvas. You might not choose your own job, but you do choose how you approach it.
mahmud 16y ago
It pains me to extrapolate data from an anecdote, really, but I think it's just something worth sharing. Few years ago there was a lady from East Africa who walked around my work building and sold canned beverages out of a picnic cooler. I have watched her come pester us during our lunch breaks and sell us coke for a $1. The vending machine sold it for $1.25, but the lady had more variety in beverages. If you said you didn't have change, she would put a cold drink on your desk and was happy to collect her money the next day. She then moved on to homemade sandwiches and coffee, eventually graduating to a folding trolley. I went to visit the building a few days ago to see the people I knew. She no longer sells quick meals, but has her own office in the building where she runs a convenience store / clothing store / dollar store. She will sell you food, socks, deodorant, cigarettes and printer ink cartridges. Her son, now in his teens, doubles as a delivery boy and runs errands for the whole building. Everyday success story that you wont see in Mixergy (unless Andrew wants an interview, and I will happily put my home-girl in the spot :-)
- toxicflavor 16y ago
  Nice story. However, I think you are mistaken if you somehow believe this anecdote somehow disproves the idea that some people don't have the choice to make a living in any other way except through crap work, no matter how reluctant their decision is and no matter how much it cuts against their dreams. If we are to believe the statistics on small business failures then for every enterpreneur who succeeds like the woman you have described, there are dozens of others who fail. So I don't hold it against someone when they choose not to gamble with their livelihood for a slim chance of success.
  - starkfist 16y ago
    What are you going on about? If someone's choice is to sell soda to nerds on their lunch break or be unemployed, what are they gambling? Or do you mean the soda lady should have been more realistic and taken a job in the salt mines, because the snack business is too risky?
    - dhume 16y ago

ThomPete 16y ago

I don't buy that. Have you ever read Fish? http://www.charthouse.com/productdetail.aspx?nodeid=11010 http://www.charthouse.com/productdetail.aspx?nodeid=11010 There is an art to everything it's just a matter of finding it and you can learn a great deal from even the most tedious work.

toxicflavor 16y ago
"There is an art to everything it's just a matter of finding it and you can learn a great deal from even the most tedious work." Go down to your local sweatshop and try telling that to some of the people working there. See what they have to say about it.
- ThomPete 16y ago
  I think you are missing the point here. I am talking about an opportunity to turn crap work into at least challenging work. I have worked some pretty crappy jobs myself from packaging crab cakes to cleaning at 3 in the morning to sorting packages. There is always things to focus on that will make it worthwhile. When I was 22 I was head of sales for a small telemarketing business. The people working there where young and the job pretty freaking boring but hard as hell. The average number of individual orders that people would accomplish in a day ranged from 5 to 40. Which meant that I had some frequency to play with. So I invented a bunch of games that had bonuses attached to them. Sales went up 200% and that is for the people on canvas. You might not choose your own job, but you do choose how you approach it.

mahmud 16y ago

It pains me to extrapolate data from an anecdote, really, but I think it's just something worth sharing. Few years ago there was a lady from East Africa who walked around my work building and sold canned beverages out of a picnic cooler. I have watched her come pester us during our lunch breaks and sell us coke for a $1. The vending machine sold it for $1.25, but the lady had more variety in beverages. If you said you didn't have change, she would put a cold drink on your desk and was happy to collect her money the next day. She then moved on to homemade sandwiches and coffee, eventually graduating to a folding trolley. I went to visit the building a few days ago to see the people I knew. She no longer sells quick meals, but has her own office in the building where she runs a convenience store / clothing store / dollar store. She will sell you food, socks, deodorant, cigarettes and printer ink cartridges. Her son, now in his teens, doubles as a delivery boy and runs errands for the whole building. Everyday success story that you wont see in Mixergy (unless Andrew wants an interview, and I will happily put my home-girl in the spot :-)

toxicflavor 16y ago
Nice story. However, I think you are mistaken if you somehow believe this anecdote somehow disproves the idea that some people don't have the choice to make a living in any other way except through crap work, no matter how reluctant their decision is and no matter how much it cuts against their dreams. If we are to believe the statistics on small business failures then for every enterpreneur who succeeds like the woman you have described, there are dozens of others who fail. So I don't hold it against someone when they choose not to gamble with their livelihood for a slim chance of success.
- starkfist 16y ago
  What are you going on about? If someone's choice is to sell soda to nerds on their lunch break or be unemployed, what are they gambling? Or do you mean the soda lady should have been more realistic and taken a job in the salt mines, because the snack business is too risky?
  - dhume 16y ago