workers vs consumers

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workers vs consumers
Topic Started: Sep 3 2013, 02:49 AM (641 Views)
angora	Sep 3 2013, 02:49 AM Post #1
WWS Book Club Coordinator Posts: 14,494 Group: Member Member #717 Joined: March 31, 2010	A thoughtful article on the decreasing respect for work .. and thus, workers. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/09/02/work_is_undervalued_in_societys_obsession_with_stuff.html



Darcie	Sep 3 2013, 03:01 AM Post #2
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	Have always thought that there is a great divide in society, those that live by giving up part of their lives so that others can live watching them make their money roll in. The capitalist system is set up that way, and it makes the worker think that he is lucky when he can save part of the proceeds of the hours of his life so he can look at the workers and think how smart he is. I have always thought it was the great joke played on the workers in our society. Edited by Darcie, Sep 3 2013, 03:02 AM.



Trotsky	Sep 3 2013, 03:12 AM Post #3
Big City Boy Posts: 38,319 Group: Member Member #79 Joined: September 8, 2005	House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on LABOR DAY: Quote: Consider, for example, how Eric Cantor, the House Republican majority leader, marked Labor Day last year: with a Twitter post declaring �Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.� Yep, he saw Labor Day as an occasion to honor business owners. Edited by Trotsky, Sep 3 2013, 03:12 AM.



heatseeker	Sep 3 2013, 03:49 AM Post #4
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	I'm not so sure it's the case that people don't respect skilled workers. All of the competent people in the trades make at least a respectable living, and some of them pull down a pile of money. Called a plumber lately? My son and his partner in their restoration masonry company, have, after considerably less than a year, more work than they and three employees can handle. Their biggest problem is finding good help. And because their work has great visual appeal and can't be done well if at all by the average person, their customers are usually in awe of the final result, and happy to pay up.



Darcie	Sep 3 2013, 03:51 AM Post #5
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	Heatseeker, I do agree that other workers respect skilled workers. But the silver spoons really do not in my experience, no matter how skilled they are.



angora	Sep 3 2013, 05:27 AM Post #6
WWS Book Club Coordinator Posts: 14,494 Group: Member Member #717 Joined: March 31, 2010	Do they respect the janitors? The guys who man the ticket booth, the women who pour the coffee in grungy restaurants. I think not.



Delphi51	Sep 3 2013, 05:46 AM Post #7
Member title Posts: 13,967 Group: Administration Member #441 Joined: October 10, 2006	I probably have a different take on this after spending most of my life in small towns. I feel that I know most of the people who work in the businesses, hospital, schools - despite being unable to remember most of the names. There are a few fairly well off people but they seem just like everyone else. We are aware that those who work in the oil industry make a lot more money than others but they, too, are regular people when you meet on the street or at community events. I regularly curl with farmers, a bankers, oil people, teachers and so on - the whole spectrum. We had a plumber who only charged $80 an hour but he has just moved to greener pastures despite being kept busy here.



angora	Sep 3 2013, 05:51 AM Post #8
WWS Book Club Coordinator Posts: 14,494 Group: Member Member #717 Joined: March 31, 2010	I guess you didn't grw up in the kind of small town I knew. The railroad track really did divide it. And the real outcasts lived around the lake. Even someone who moved in new was soon aware of whom one associated with and whom they didn't. That was just the kids. Imagine the parents attitudes. We hadn't been living there long when my father - who worked in the city and didn't socialize - had a list of boys I was allowed to date and those I wasn't. Needless to say, our lists were different.



Darcie	Sep 3 2013, 06:07 AM Post #9
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	I guess from what people are saying, that the workers seem to set up classes within their group. All the while the people who do not need to work because they have the workers making more for them are sitting there watching the struggles of the workers. When you have workers spending their time slaving away to be better than another worker they are too busy to see the 'overseers' who rake in the profits and sit there doing no work, or only what they darn well want to do.



heatseeker	Sep 3 2013, 07:08 AM Post #10
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	Darcie, I don't think most workers spend a second worrying what some bigoted snob thinks of them, or anything else. My son does get attitude from time to time. But he and his partner find it more amusing than annoying. They have a lot more education usually than the people giving them attitude, and are certainly more open minded and cosmopolitan. Most of the people they work for are very respectful of their work and their ability to do it. Those who aren't get referred to cheaper hacks who will do half assed work at a lower price.



Dana	Sep 3 2013, 08:47 AM Post #11
WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire Posts: 13,054 Group: Member Member #830 Joined: March 23, 2011	Happy Labour Day! :ciao:



Darcie	Sep 3 2013, 09:45 AM Post #12
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	heatseeker Sep 3 2013, 07:08 AM Darcie, I don't think most workers spend a second worrying what some bigoted snob thinks of them, or anything else. My son does get attitude from time to time. But he and his partner find it more amusing than annoying. They have a lot more education usually than the people giving them attitude, and are certainly more open minded and cosmopolitan. Most of the people they work for are very respectful of their work and their ability to do it. Those who aren't get referred to cheaper hacks who will do half assed work at a lower price. Of course they don't, they are mostly not even aware, they are the worker bees in the hive and just do their jobs. Aren't most of us? I do find that the attitude you encounter when doing work for someone tells a lot about their character. I guess most of us work for other workers. Meeting the non-working elite is an eye opener, guess many strive to become as close to them as they can.



heatseeker	Sep 3 2013, 10:36 AM Post #13
Veteran Member Posts: 10,320 Group: Member Member #713 Joined: March 30, 2010	Do you think so? Most people I know enjoy working, even if not for pay, sometimes especially if not for pay. I'm sure Canada has some idle rich. But few family fortunes survive past three or four generations. Edgar Bronfman Junior has managed to lose many of the billions his grandfather accumulated, and no longer controls Seagrams. A surprising number of people from wealthy families wind up in the working classes. I expect to see Edgar junior on the street in a piss stained Armani suit begging for fifty bucks to buy a bowl of pasta. Edited by heatseeker, Sep 3 2013, 10:38 AM.



Trotsky	Sep 3 2013, 10:48 AM Post #14
Big City Boy Posts: 38,319 Group: Member Member #79 Joined: September 8, 2005	Quote: Most people I know enjoy working I've never met any of them.



campy	Sep 3 2013, 10:48 AM Post #15
Handyman Extraordinaire Posts: 28,720 Group: no politics Member #204 Joined: February 2, 2006	I have the greatest respect for people that clean. Can you imagine how grungy this world would be without them, and for low pay?



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