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The best work experience I ever had was working in a warehouse where I just unpacked and repacked lumber all day. It was a lot of nonstop lifting. I felt happy
by PakG1 4y ago
The best work experience I ever had was working in a warehouse where I just unpacked and repacked lumber all day. It was a lot of nonstop lifting. I felt happy when I went home because I felt like I worked hard and got stuff done and it was really good exercise too. I did that work because I didn't know what I REALLY wanted to do after quitting my job (disillusionment and naive startup dreams without knowing what it took to succeed) and I wanted to experience hard work that wasn't in an office (i.e. work in the trenches).
Someone I knew told me I could work in his warehouse. It's too bad that it was so low pay. If the pay wasn't the issue, I wonder if staying at that kind of job would actually be really good for me. I would be physically healthy, my mind would be clear and refreshed all the time, and I would feel good about having worked hard every day. Would the positive effect still last if I did that work for years, or was the positive effect only temporary because it was a novel experience to me at the time (and I didn't care about the low pay at the time)? Interesting to consider.
- mattmanser 4y agoI did a bunch of warehouse jobs when I was at uni. Some of the most depressing and soul crushing jobs I've ever had. The worst ever one I had was pulling a massive roll of sandpaper to a line and then another guy pressed a button to cut it. Then we lifted the cut sandpaper on to a pile. Repeat for 8 hours. I didn't stay in that one past one day, far too boring. Let's not romanticise these jobs. I think you're confusing the endorphins from exercise, which most warehouse jobs don't need, with the job. Most warehouse jobs completely suck.
- reanimus 4y agoI think you can both have true experiences when it comes to this. Some people enjoy the monotony of repetitive tasks, whereas others want to gargle glass after 10 minutes of it. I certainly know I don't want to work a job that physically exhausts me every day, but some people do enjoy that. I don't think it's romanticizing to say that good-paying warehouse work with proper benefits would be a boon to a LOT of people.
- laverix 4y agoThe thing with hard working jobs is that you need to consider pension. Probably you wont bei able to do heavy lifting stuff fulltime in your sixties. What then?
- kamaal 4y agoI think their point is about rich people who don't need a job or money, but now treat hard labor jobs as gym work. These sort of people can always go back to what they were doing after they got fit from the gym work, and of course they can always do another gym work sort of job at will. This is far different than somebody working these jobs to put food on the table.
- ProZsolt 4y agoI'm a software developer, but I did these kind of jobs when I moved to New Zealand under the Working Holiday Scheme. The minimum wage what I got for these jobs was more than what I earned as a software developer back in Hungary. It wasn't just free gym as we needed the money to support ourself, but it was still relaxing to not care about the big picture and only do what I was told to do without any responsibility.
- pak9rabid 4y agoI had a similar experience in my teenage years working in Dell factories (back when they still ran them out of Austin/Round Rock). One of the jobs they had me do for a week was to simply unload trucks that came in and put the computers/monitors/whatever onto a conveyor than sent them on their way. It was surprisingly satisfying, not to mention some of the guys I worked with were absolute riots. Kinda miss those days...
- edpichler 4y agoInteresting. Were you paid by production or you have a fixed salary?
- edpichler 4y agoInteresting. And did you have a fixed salary? The dopamine released by the physical work was your main motivation?
- PakG1 4y agoIt was pay by the hour. No, the main motivation was being able to feel like I reliably accomplished something each day and hung out with a nice group of guys throughout the process. Hard work, visceral daily achievement, and camaraderie. The physical work was a part of it, but I wouldn't say it was the core thing.
- edpichler 4y agoThanks for replying me. Did you have autonomy (like did you feel you could execute your job in the way you think it was right)? Did you have a mission (the feeling that your job was part of something bigger) ?
- PakG1 4y agoNope and nope. Just clear instructions, clear tasks, and clear outcomes. Monotonous work and no sense of vision at all. No sense of responsibility either.