That’s not entirely true. I’ve worked many intense labor positions. I excelled in them and loved getting paid to exercise. The pay was shit and the hours were completely unreliable. I tried really hard to get another similar job with a more successful company and got basically nowhere. I now make way more than I ever have now that I work in the public sector in a DBA/development position.
I love the work and have always loved working with code, but honestly I’d prefer doing manual labor. I was in great shape, I could study audiobooks all day, and I could be high all day. Manual labor work is fucking great! The problem was I had no paid holidays, no sick time, no benefits whatsoever, the hours weren’t guaranteed, and my coworkers and boss were extremely racist and often dropped the N word out of nowhere. I’m part Mexican and often reminded them of that fact, but I know they just saw me as "“One of the good ones”. Also they made the position a 1099 position even though I worked for one company and had 0 control over anything.
I’d still switch back to manual labor if I could make the same amount I do now with the same benefits.
I agree to a point.
I love the work i do. It makes money and helps keep the family afloat, but since it is a leading role in early education with challenging kids it gives me the opportunity to do something that can help a lot of children that would otherwise be grinded down by the system.
But.
I still miss spending time with my kids. I still hate that i can’t support my wife the same way i could during our stay at home year together.
If i would be financially independent i would for sure do something beneficial to others with my time, but it would’t take up quite as much of my time and energy.
So yes, nobody has to work a white collar job. If you are privileged enough to have a choice, by all means do something that you love. But it still is something most of us have to do.
Nobody is forcing you to work a white collar 9-5. The dad was 100 percent right.
That’s not entirely true. I’ve worked many intense labor positions. I excelled in them and loved getting paid to exercise. The pay was shit and the hours were completely unreliable. I tried really hard to get another similar job with a more successful company and got basically nowhere. I now make way more than I ever have now that I work in the public sector in a DBA/development position.
I love the work and have always loved working with code, but honestly I’d prefer doing manual labor. I was in great shape, I could study audiobooks all day, and I could be high all day. Manual labor work is fucking great! The problem was I had no paid holidays, no sick time, no benefits whatsoever, the hours weren’t guaranteed, and my coworkers and boss were extremely racist and often dropped the N word out of nowhere. I’m part Mexican and often reminded them of that fact, but I know they just saw me as "“One of the good ones”. Also they made the position a 1099 position even though I worked for one company and had 0 control over anything.
I’d still switch back to manual labor if I could make the same amount I do now with the same benefits.
I agree to a point. I love the work i do. It makes money and helps keep the family afloat, but since it is a leading role in early education with challenging kids it gives me the opportunity to do something that can help a lot of children that would otherwise be grinded down by the system.
But.
I still miss spending time with my kids. I still hate that i can’t support my wife the same way i could during our stay at home year together.
If i would be financially independent i would for sure do something beneficial to others with my time, but it would’t take up quite as much of my time and energy.
So yes, nobody has to work a white collar job. If you are privileged enough to have a choice, by all means do something that you love. But it still is something most of us have to do.