4 ms·

Most people don’t work for fun.

EpicEng 7y ago
I imagine you understood what I meant by "not fun", but ok. I suppose my view is, if you can't plan ahead for your trivial purchases, I don't really care. I'd rather just shut the store down and let you bemoan the fact that you can't buy snacks and Tylenol at 3am.
- cryptoz 7y ago
  I personally find this a particularly cruel take. It implies that nobody is poor, nobody has accidents ever, like a spilled bottle of pills, and that there should be no capitalism at all. It's very confusing - if people are willing or want to start a business that is open at night, with a goal of supplying medicine, food, and other necessities during hours that other stores do not offer such services at all, it seems like they should be allowed to do that. Calling medicine that is potentially life-saving purchases at 3am "trivial" is unnecessarily cruel even for HN. Yes, 7-Eleven sells a lot of medicine that can save someone's life that they might not "stock up on" because they have insufficient money to stock up on every possible medicine and plan for every possible event.
  - anarchodev 7y ago
    We're almost there. In "perfect" capitalism, there would be a very hot market for employees willing to work the graveyard shift, and since there was clearly a need for those workers, they would be paid quite a lot. In reality, those who work those shifts are often people who don't have much of a choice where to work, much less which hours they're assigned. Sometimes managers will be nice and keep you on a regular shift so you develop a sane sleep schedule -- not usually. Just like working on holidays, I don't bemoan anyone who wants to eat fast food, or the workers who want to make a little more money. But let's not ignore that these workers' economic situations are different than ours and usually much more dire, so talking about what they "want" can't really be divorced from the systems that keep them in relative (and actual) poverty.
- ehnto 7y ago
  Reach outside of your bubble and realise there are likely tens of thousands of people in your city who live a different schedule to you, for work and other needs like care and support. There is room for a night time economy based around the people and services that run while you sleep in your standard schedule. Big cities wouldn't be possible without the efforts of people on AM heavy schedules.
  - carlmr 7y ago
    Also not to forget, if there are people awake at night without outside pressure, then there's probably people fine with working at night. In Germany you can't work on Sundays. I always wanted to work on Sundays as a student, Fridays and Saturdays were worse, since that's the only days where most social gatherings happen. On the news I hear people saying they don't want to force people to work on Sundays. I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, not everybody is the same. I even agree we need limits. But how about limiting it to working 5 days a week, instead of picking an arbitrary day where you can't work.
    - Moru 7y ago
      Germany is a very catholic heavy country, it's hard to do anything except church on sundays. Or fleamarkets on the now completely deserted shopping mall parking areas... Think an IKEA parking space completely empty on a sunday. They fill it up with flea markets instead :-)

I imagine you understood what I meant by "not fun", but ok. I suppose my view is, if you can't plan ahead for your trivial purchases, I don't really care. I'd rather just shut the store down and let you bemoan the fact that you can't buy snacks and Tylenol at 3am.

cryptoz 7y ago
I personally find this a particularly cruel take. It implies that nobody is poor, nobody has accidents ever, like a spilled bottle of pills, and that there should be no capitalism at all. It's very confusing - if people are willing or want to start a business that is open at night, with a goal of supplying medicine, food, and other necessities during hours that other stores do not offer such services at all, it seems like they should be allowed to do that. Calling medicine that is potentially life-saving purchases at 3am "trivial" is unnecessarily cruel even for HN. Yes, 7-Eleven sells a lot of medicine that can save someone's life that they might not "stock up on" because they have insufficient money to stock up on every possible medicine and plan for every possible event.
- anarchodev 7y ago
  We're almost there. In "perfect" capitalism, there would be a very hot market for employees willing to work the graveyard shift, and since there was clearly a need for those workers, they would be paid quite a lot. In reality, those who work those shifts are often people who don't have much of a choice where to work, much less which hours they're assigned. Sometimes managers will be nice and keep you on a regular shift so you develop a sane sleep schedule -- not usually. Just like working on holidays, I don't bemoan anyone who wants to eat fast food, or the workers who want to make a little more money. But let's not ignore that these workers' economic situations are different than ours and usually much more dire, so talking about what they "want" can't really be divorced from the systems that keep them in relative (and actual) poverty.
ehnto 7y ago
Reach outside of your bubble and realise there are likely tens of thousands of people in your city who live a different schedule to you, for work and other needs like care and support. There is room for a night time economy based around the people and services that run while you sleep in your standard schedule. Big cities wouldn't be possible without the efforts of people on AM heavy schedules.
- carlmr 7y ago
  Also not to forget, if there are people awake at night without outside pressure, then there's probably people fine with working at night. In Germany you can't work on Sundays. I always wanted to work on Sundays as a student, Fridays and Saturdays were worse, since that's the only days where most social gatherings happen. On the news I hear people saying they don't want to force people to work on Sundays. I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, not everybody is the same. I even agree we need limits. But how about limiting it to working 5 days a week, instead of picking an arbitrary day where you can't work.
  - Moru 7y ago
    Germany is a very catholic heavy country, it's hard to do anything except church on sundays. Or fleamarkets on the now completely deserted shopping mall parking areas... Think an IKEA parking space completely empty on a sunday. They fill it up with flea markets instead :-)