Pfft... you work in fast food?

[Quintessence]

It is perhaps normal for cultures worldwide to attach certain status and prestige to certain fields of employ, as well as certain taboo and denigration to others.

In my country, the stories we tell to people are "you need to get a job that pays a lot of money and has prestige." It is a powerful cultural mythology, that sweeps my countryfolk up from young age. They aspire to be things like doctors, veterinarians, engineers, and other supposedly prestigious, money-making careers. There is another story we tell to people that goes alongside the one above: "if you don't get a prestigious job that makes a lot of money, you are a lesser person and your education was a waste." We don't just tell people to aspire for particular positions of prestige, we tell them they are failures if they don't have those supposedly powerful and worthy types of jobs. The manager of a big box store? We stare down our noses at it. The person running the sales floor? We stare down our noses at them even harder.

Why do we do this?

I find it quite bothersome. What about you?

 

[Lyndon]

Good points, as frequent restaurant diner, I have a lot of respect for waiters, waitresses, bus people, and cooks, they work hard and I respect them.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

It is perhaps normal for cultures worldwide to attach certain status and prestige to certain fields of employ, as well as certain taboo and denigration to others.

In my country, the stories we tell to people are "you need to get a job that pays a lot of money and has prestige." It is a powerful cultural mythology, that sweeps my countryfolk up from young age. They aspire to be things like doctors, veterinarians, engineers, and other supposedly prestigious, money-making careers. There is another story we tell to people that goes alongside the one above: "if you don't get a prestigious job that makes a lot of money, you are a lesser person and your education was a waste." We don't just tell people to aspire for particular positions of prestige, we tell them they are failures if they don't have those supposedly powerful and worthy types of jobs. The manager of a big box store? We stare down our noses at it. The person running the sales floor? We stare down our noses at them even harder.

Why do we do this?

I find it quite bothersome. What about you?

Very much so. And it's not just the prestige and assumed failure, but also that people assume you are stupid if you are working a "lower job." You are so far beneath them, that surely you must the product of an alcoholic mother who got pregnant by her brother, who is also her dad. It's assumed your job is easy, and that "anyone can do it," and they want to say such low wages are actually all you deserve.
Also what bothers me is the assumption that you have to have such a job to learn how to work - that they teach "job skills," as if someone has to have experience to know how to show up to work on time and clock in.
Most days, I wish every food, retail, and convenience store/gas station worker would go on a national strike. Let us see just how much things don't get done, how many lives are disrupted, because the American economic "untouchables" told everyone to flip their own damn burger.

 

[suncowiam]

Or how about folks assuming rich people are oppressors, never worked hard in their lives and didn't earn a their income.

I smell a double standard.

 

[Lyndon]

Well most rich guys HAVE NEVER worked washing dishes at Denney's, so yes, some of their work seems rather easy by comparison.

 

[Kapalika]

Or how about folks assuming rich people are oppressors, never worked hard in their lives and didn't earn a their income.

I smell a double standard.

Are you rich and did you earn your entire fortune from solely your own efforts with no help of nepatism?

Few people truly earn their income. However many also use their vast wealth to exert their will into politics.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

What counts as rich?

 

[Kuzcotopia]

I'm not sure everyone In a particular country does assume what you're arguing. It may be an over generalization.

But then again, here's the thing about some "prestigious" professions. . . You have to use your brain all the time. You have to learn, and continue to learn, all the time. The jobs you describe are are perfectly reapectable, but mentally simple.

I don't judge those who choose a position where the bar for success is just showing up on time and following instructions. I did that for a while, but it's SO boring. And if the people you answer to see you as nothing more than a warm body, interchangeable with anyone else, then you're going to feel lonely and under appreciated.

I didn't wake up to this for a long time. Blame it on my youth, and an affection for bohemian lifestyles, daydreaming, and non-practical philosophizing. I assumed I was taking a principled stand, waiting tables and working at a video store (remember those?). "I defy this corporate machine that I am forced to work for. . . My eyes are wide open." Choose your rationalization.

In the end, if you have a brain and you choose not to use it, you're going to end up bitter and paranoid. Just so. The short term benefits of being the one educated guru in the company of lesser intellects (and who doesn't love that smug big-fish-in-a-little-pond-feeling), will start to be outweighed by the aches and pains of getting older. And as your hair greys and your back starts to give, your position among the "real folks" will start to shift toward crochety old fart who's worth little more than an eye roll.

Wasted potential or not, cultural expectations or not, if your brain's abilities don't line up with your livelihood's mental requirements, the physcological dissonance is going to crush you.

 

[Father Heathen]

Or how about folks assuming rich people are oppressors, never worked hard in their lives and didn't earn a their income.

I smell a double standard.

What percentage of the upper class do you think were born into the upper class, and what percentage do you think actually earned their wealth from the ground up?

 

[Quetzal]

What percentage of the upper class do you think were born into the upper class, and what percentage do you think actually earned their wealth from the ground up?

An overwhelming minority if I had to guess.

 

[Quetzal]

Why do we do this?

I think it is rooted in what we believe to be "hard" work and has a lot to due with our own educational/training path. This is easier to explain with an example...

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf does too! I know how hard that was so I have a respect for SW because she did the same thing I did.

In another world...

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf finds a passion in general landscaping. Well... there is no way that was as difficult as what I do, therefore, it is a lesser job. Therefore, SW is a lesser person. Therefore, she is (etc etc etc).

The idea that I worked hard during my own experiences leads me to believe that those who did not work as hard as I did are inferior. This is not justifiable, but it is strictly rooted in my own ego. "I am great because I did X, @Shadow Wolf is not because she did Y, instead."

Errata: None of the above personal statements are rooted in facts.

 

[Quetzal]

Good points, as frequent restaurant diner, I have a lot of respect for waiters, waitresses, bus people, and cooks, they work hard and I respect them.

Out of curiosity, did you ever work any of those jobs? Reason I ask, is if someone works/has worked a job like that, they generally have a greater respect for others in those same positions.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I think it is rooted in what we believe to be "hard" work and has a lot to due with our own educational/training path. This is easier to explain with an example...

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf does too! I know how hard that was so I have a respect for SW because she did the same thing I did.

In another world...

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf finds a passion in general landscaping. Well... there is no way that was as difficult as what I do, therefore, it is a lesser job. Therefore, SW is a lesser person. Therefore, she is (etc etc etc).

The idea that I worked hard during my own experiences leads me to believe that those who did not work as hard as I did are inferior. This is not justifiable, but it is strictly rooted in my own ego. "I am great because I did X, @Shadow Wolf is not because she did Y, instead."

Errata: None of the above personal statements are rooted in facts.

And of course, it's entirely possible that you, as an engineer, will think that landscaping is easy..until you try to do some of it yourself...and discover that it's actually just an entirely different skill set than yours, no better, no worse, just different...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Or how about folks assuming rich people are oppressors, never worked hard in their lives and didn't earn a their income.

I smell a double standard.

I know one person who did work really hard for what he had, and he even overcame German immigrant barriers to acquire the wealth he had. His kids and grandkids, however, piggy backed off of him. And, indeed, it is much easier to acquire wealth when you come from wealth.

I don't judge those who choose a position where the bar for success is just showing up on time and following instructions.

Not everyone has the luxury of being able to choose what they do for money.

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf does too! I know how hard that was so I have a respect for SW because she did the same thing I did.

In another world...

I go to college, get a degree in Engineering.
@Shadow Wolf finds a passion in general landscaping. Well... there is no way that was as difficult as what I do, therefore, it is a lesser job. Therefore, SW is a lesser person. Therefore, she is (etc etc etc).

I see things such as construction and landscaping as much harder than engineering. You can't exactly make a conversion chart for "brain power" to "muscle power," but the brain power of engineering pales in comparison to the muscle power of doing heavy manual labor. And that is another issue, in that we don't have an understanding or appreciation of how hard certain jobs are. We like to go on about how hard work makes you successful, but if that were the case then people such as farmers and construction wokers would be running the place, rather than people who sit in a cushioned and climate-controlled offices making investment decisions.

 

[suncowiam]

What percentage of the upper class do you think were born into the upper class, and what percentage do you think actually earned their wealth from the ground up?

Does it matter what percentage if it isn't 100 percent? You're saying all poor people were born poor?

The subject IS about stereotypes based on income and skills right?

What part of double standards do you not understand or refuse to acknowledge? Its OK to assume this and that for rich folks but then its not OK to assume this and that for poor folks?

 

[suncowiam]

Are you rich and did you earn your entire fortune from solely your own efforts with no help of nepatism?

Few people truly earn their income. However many also use their vast wealth to exert their will into politics.

I'm well off but being a Vietnamese boat refuge, I like to assert that HECK yeah, I earned every part of my income and current wealth.

I'm a software engineer that consistently made good financial decisions even in the tech and housing bubble markets.

Percentage is irrelevant in a stereotype conversation.

 

[1137]

I mean, I cant really reconcile something like flipping burgers with teaching children, protecting people, saving families from burning buildings, counseling the sick, helping the ill, creating new technology, and so on. It has absolutely nothing to do with money for me, it has to do with who you are and how you contribute to our species. I can never see a Walmart greeter with no education in the same light as, say, a doctor who saves the lives of children.

 

[Quetzal]

I see things such as construction and landscaping as much harder than engineering.

How can you say that with such compelling, bullet proof evidence to the contrary? See my peer-reviewed source below:

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Does it matter what percentage if it isn't 100 percent? You're saying all poor people were born poor?

A huge percentage of them are. Of course the recession turned many middle-class people into poor people, but the general trend is that if you are born into poverty then your kids are going to die in poverty.

I'm a software engineer that consistently made good financial decisions even in the tech and housing bubble markets.

So what if you wouldn't have had the "brains" for software engineer?

I mean, I cant really reconcile something like flipping burgers with teaching children, protecting people, saving families from burning buildings, counseling the sick, helping the ill, creating new technology, and so on. It has absolutely nothing to do with money for me, it has to do with who you are and how you contribute to our species. I can never see a Walmart greeter with no education in the same light as, say, a doctor who saves the lives of children.

With many people not knowing how to cook, feeding people is indeed important. It's a consequence of our culture of convenience.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I tend to dislike most people whatever their job.

However, when I do see a capable adult working behind the counter or in a store I can't help but think "loser." Of course, this is mostly due to experience.