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As everyone here seems to recall their blue-collar jobs, let me list some of the difficult or bizarre jobs I worked: * Aluminum factory. Lots of acidic vapor f

As everyone here seems to recall their blue-collar jobs, let me list some of the difficult or bizarre jobs I worked: * Aluminum factory. Lots of acidic vapor from the bath where aluminum pieces are washed before painted. Large heaps of aluminum pieces are carried by hand between stations. Your back is breaking by the end of the day so much so it's hard to lie down straight in bed. * Roofing materials factory. I worked in the section that made and portioned sealant. The day consists of eight hours of putting a ten liter bucket on the scales, opening the faucet, waiting for the bucket to fill, and then putting it on a pallet. Add to the whole experience the fact that the factory is in the desert where heat reaches 40 degrees Celsius most days during summer. Your clothes are permanently wet and display large sediment of salt. Rephrasing WH4K, your clothes break way before than you do. Any shirt, boots, pants will disintegrate in a matter of weeks. * Bakery. I was hired to help baking doughnuts for Hanuka. 16 hour shifts. Start 5 in the morning and 9 in the evening you crawl home to try to get some sleep. If it wasn't so cold, I'd probably just sleep on the bench in front of the factory. * Walking a bear cub (it was in a circus). Not physically difficult but scary as hell. Also the smell... * Coca-Cola delivery. Hell on Earth. Worst job I ever worked. Stuff you need to haul, a lot of it by hand because the cart won't fit, or because of stairs etc. Nobody works this job for more than ten years, and you have to be exceptionally strong and healthy to get to that point. Most people start having back problems after a year or so. * Picking. Picking avocado was a fun one though. I got to climb the trees, which was fun. Most picking is miserable though.

AStonesThrow 2y ago
> Coca-Cola delivery The shipping and handling of liquid is something I've become acutely sensitive to. I must say that with Coca-Cola, it may be junk soda, but at least you weren't delivering beer or liquor. Among legal jobs it must be a moral struggle for some guys to deliver thousands of gallons of the stuff. At least bartenders and restaurants have discretion to stop serving customers, but delivery is just a middle-man, no-questions-asked thankless job. I used to shop and ride the bus home, and so instinctively I avoided large quantities of liquid because they were too heavy and the cost/weight/benefit ratios favored substantial food or everyday items I could really use. Shipping liquids seems to be a huge logistics problem overall. Instacart began charging me "heavy item fees" and a lot of drivers really hated lugging any liquids up the stairs here. And even a restaurant delivery with fountain soda[s] seemed troublesome, for many reasons! No wonder they began to steal all of my drinks! I was trying to chase down some food-grade H2O2 and realized Amazon wouldn't even ship it here because of HAZMAT regulations, and relying on taxis isn't much better. I need to be concerned about heavy glass clinking together, how to secure bottles upright in random strangers' trunks. There is a reason that "milkmen" and milk delivery services used to be ubiquitous in urban America. Solving the logistics of shipping cold, perishable liquids in bottles and bringing them direct to customers was a huge marketing and engineering win. Once I had a sizable shipment of organic juice in glass bottles which was held up at the USPS station. At the counter, they told me that the bottles broke and it was a huge mess and they had to clean it up and didn't even want to show me. I have no doubt that it may have happened that way and they were enjoying the remaining bottles on my dime... can't blame 'em!

AStonesThrow 2y ago

> Coca-Cola delivery The shipping and handling of liquid is something I've become acutely sensitive to. I must say that with Coca-Cola, it may be junk soda, but at least you weren't delivering beer or liquor. Among legal jobs it must be a moral struggle for some guys to deliver thousands of gallons of the stuff. At least bartenders and restaurants have discretion to stop serving customers, but delivery is just a middle-man, no-questions-asked thankless job. I used to shop and ride the bus home, and so instinctively I avoided large quantities of liquid because they were too heavy and the cost/weight/benefit ratios favored substantial food or everyday items I could really use. Shipping liquids seems to be a huge logistics problem overall. Instacart began charging me "heavy item fees" and a lot of drivers really hated lugging any liquids up the stairs here. And even a restaurant delivery with fountain soda[s] seemed troublesome, for many reasons! No wonder they began to steal all of my drinks! I was trying to chase down some food-grade H2O2 and realized Amazon wouldn't even ship it here because of HAZMAT regulations, and relying on taxis isn't much better. I need to be concerned about heavy glass clinking together, how to secure bottles upright in random strangers' trunks. There is a reason that "milkmen" and milk delivery services used to be ubiquitous in urban America. Solving the logistics of shipping cold, perishable liquids in bottles and bringing them direct to customers was a huge marketing and engineering win. Once I had a sizable shipment of organic juice in glass bottles which was held up at the USPS station. At the counter, they told me that the bottles broke and it was a huge mess and they had to clean it up and didn't even want to show me. I have no doubt that it may have happened that way and they were enjoying the remaining bottles on my dime... can't blame 'em!