Forum Post: How many here are willing to work over 40 hours a week to make ends meet?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 18, 2011, 4:13 p.m. EST by inearth
(96)
from Tulelake, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Honestly, show of hands... I just want to get a sense of whether part of the people protesting are protesting because they are having to work over 40 hours a week.
I've been told by some people that it is "unamerican" to work more than 40 hours a week, and it isn't the "american dream".. And while I don't agree, I'd like to see how many people do agree with this?
I apologize if this offends some people, but... If I was an employer (not saying I am or am not) and someone wanted to work 40 hours a week.. just do their job and go home... I wouldn't hire them. I'd hire the guy that wanted to work their hardest and reward them for their work ethic..
Working more than 40 hours per week is bad for your health, scientists say:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008486/Burnout-risk-working-40-hours.html
and
http://www.naturalnews.com/020234.html
Read the links, please.
I have been through burnout many times... yeah it sucks.. but here I am.. continuing to work 90 - 100+ hours a week... but I enjoy what I do.
you are a masochist. you don't know, but you actually hate yourself and that's why you do this.
"I like to suffer, I like to have health problems because of excessive work".
Typical masochist. Needs psychiatric treatment.
My husband works around 50 hours a week, and it sucks. He's an electrician, but because unions have been destroyed, he's making about half of a union (aka living) wage. He also attends college part time. I work about 20 hours a week and take care of our kids the rest of the time. I have no health insurance because we can't afford the $500 a month it costs to add a spouse to my husband's police. Hope I don't get sick.
People aren't struggling because they won't work "enough."
What kind of society, btw, do we really want? One where people have to make 50 or 60 hour weeks to show that they're "hard workers?" Will these people be paid a living wage? What sucks is that a lot of us out here are ALREADY working more than 40 hours a week and still aren't making a living wage. And I don't understand why some people think this is a good thing.
Union (aka living wage). HAHAHA. I know plenty of union workers who make $40k a year... working 3-4 months out of the year. Average UAW worker made $140k (including benefits). Tell me that's just a living wage? Unions went out of control. Too much political power.
In the NY area, 140K including benefits just gives you the basics of a home, utilities and food and clothing for a family of four. Remember the rent is really too damn high!
Many people would be happy for half of that... Count your blessings. The best way to appreciate a job is to imagine yourself without one.
I personally don't have this amount of money, not even close to it. I have no children. I'm just stating the facts.
No, I understand that, but I'm just saying union wages are quite high. And they are tearing themselves apart. No one can afford to have unions build anything anymore. It took bankruptcy at GM and Chrysler for the UAW to realize that.
Well like a lot of organizations, there is a ton of bureaucracy. It's always the little people at the bottom, the worker drones, that get screwed. This movement is for them, myself included.
Two thumbs up for you!!!
Is the reason your husband is making less money really because the union has been weakened? In otherwords, if only we had super strong unions that made businesses pay workers really good wages (whatever that is) then our workforce would move up the income ladder and be happy? I think this is not fair. Our business climate has changed and globalized. We, as a country, have to compete harder and therefore our costs are very important to control. Unions often curtail things other than just salary and this can cost a company. I'm not saying your husband doesn't deserve more money, but it is a tough market out there and we can't always compete if we do what the unions tell us to do. Having a lower paying job is better than none at all, and jobs are lost when companies can't compete in the global market because their unions have them tied down to certain work rules and certain benefit costs.
To answer your question about what kind of society we want, I want a society in which I can choose to work without being in a union. I want a society in which I can teach math for many years because I am good at teaching math, not because I am in the union and unable to be fired. Unions don't necessarily make it better for workers. In some cases, like teaching, I think they make it worse for everyone. Teachers can't change districts easily because of the tenure rules, for example, because they lose their seniority when they transfer in many situations. Also, many laid off teachers can't find jobs right now because the union says they can't move down on the salary ladder and take a job designated for a cheaper newer teacher.
I told you the reason my husband is making less money than he should. It is the direct result of most electricians no longer having unions. Companies in the nonunionized construction fields are now able to hire immigrants for less. This has nothing to do with global competition - these are jobs that can't be outsourced to other countries. So in the 70's, 80's and 90's, anti-union groups lobbied for more and more antiunion legislation - and got it. Now, most of the construction field employers are no longer unionized. As a result, they hire skilled people from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, even places like Bosnia - and pay them around $10 less an hour than american workers. This is universally true for skilled trade fields. Most skilled trade workers now are underpaid, receive absolutely no paid sick or personal time, little vacation, and have shoddy, super expensive health care. My husband is literally terrified to take a day off work when he is seriously ill. He's seen guys fired for it - and they just replace them with a Dominican.
Also, I don't think you really understand what american workers are competing with. Getting rid of all unions wouldn't bring back jobs. We are not competing with workers who are getting even a dollar or two less an hour - we are competing with people who MAKE A DOLLAR A DAY. Are we supposed to become a third world country because we're competing with them? Does it even make sense for american workers to compete with abused third world workers who breathe smoke and are chained to sewing machines? Some factories in China actually installed nets outside their windows so that workers couldn't commit suicide - THIS is what you think we should compete against?
"Are we supposed to become a third world country because we're competing with them?" I love that line...They call it a "race to the bottom" and that is where they will have us go if we let them. I have so much hope with this movement, a lot more than I have with Obama. I can honestly say, that he is one of them just caught up in the moment. If we have labor laws in this country then we should consider our stance on trading with other countries that don't employ the same standards. As for immigration, those workers wouldn't work for less if there were more jobs and opportunities as it really is an employer's market. I feel your pain. My husband lost a very successful business that employed 25 workers due to outsourcing. He is highly skilled and I wonder what will happen when a generation of these skilled people are unavailable to pass down the skills to the next generation.
great point, great post. i wholly understand your frustration. employers prefer to employ an undocumented childcare provider as well and pay them 5-8 bucks an hour, instead of 15+. nanny wages went down approx. 50% in the past three years. there should be regulations regarding employment of undocumented emigrants. but there are none and so employers do whatever they want. there are masses of undocumented immigrants in this country, def more than the reported 11mln.
i think majority of ppl who seek change don't see the full picture of the problem.
Working more than 40 hours per week is bad for your health, scientists say:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008486/Burnout-risk-working-40-hours.html
and
http://www.naturalnews.com/020234.html
Read the links, please.
So true. It used to be worse. My husband used to work 50 hrs a week night shift, and after a few months he was white as a sheet with dark circles under his eyes. Thank the mother he finally got shifted back to days.
sorry to hear that how much does he and you make? do you spend less than you earn?
I don't really want to disclose my income here, but we are constantly worrying about money. We've gotten by by renting a house with my mother. If we didn't have her here, we would constantly be worrying about the electricity being turned off, not being able to afford heating oil, etc. I am an excellent budgeter - I use coupons for everything, buy clothes at the thrift store, we don't eat meat and make our own food (no packaged stuff), etc.
What sucks is that my husband is the hardest worker I have ever known in my life. But the non-union contractors (electric and every other area of construction) have been able to bring in legal (and undocumented, for that matter) immigrants to do this skilled electrical work for about $10 an hour less than US electricians. So the US electricians are forced to take a way lower wage than they did before most of the electrical unions were ruined. Most of these construction employers also offer absolutely no paid sick days, so my husband has had to work with a temp of 102 at times. Like I said, we can't afford anything but basic health insurance for my husband, so all our kids are on medicaid. And we go on and off of food stamps depending on whether we're a little above or below the income line. We have no desire to be involved with state assistance. We just want to make a decent amount of money. And we deserve it. My husband especially - his coworkers even make fun of him and call him "Diesel" because he works harder than everyone else. But in this modern economy, it means absolutely nothing. It really really sucks. And I think that we are one of millions of families that would be on the front lines of this movement if we could take time off from working! This is what gets me - this movement is portrayed as a movement of unemployed college kids - but that's party because so many of us CAN'T STOP WORKING long enough to get out there!!! But we are here! We are here! Hopefully we'll change things.
This is the reason you struggle. I wish the best for your family Watch on you tube: http://youtu.be/AzULm4d8h8w
Educate yourself and spread the word.
After lots of "jobs," (working for others) where I found it nearly intolerable to work more than 40 or 50 hours a week, I finally owned up to the fact that I am not a good employee. I need to be able to reap the benefits of my hard work so I started a business and right now it's crunch time and I'm working 60 or 70 hours a week, and I don't mind it at all. Ownership is where it's at and I could never summon that motivation when I was working for others.
Not me, I work hard and get shit. I'd like to word hard and get a lot of things that show I work as hard as I do.
Ok and in my book you'd be very employable.. I believe in working hard too...
but yet I still can't find that job willing to give what I ask. The most I have ever been paid is 10.00 and hour... pretty much nothing.
Crystal, where are you from? I would love to try and help you out. Would you be willing to drive a car for work?
yeah... St. Louis...
Wish it was SF.. I'd be able to get you work right away..
I already pull 50 a week and earn under 30k a year. Still debating a second job.
I dont mind working 60-70 hours a week if i can live off of what i earn and support my family and their needs. I have had jobs where i have worked 90+ hours a week and still not earned enough to provide health insurance and barely sustain us. It's not all about how many hours you are willing to work, its about how well you are willing to work and if you are going to be rewarded for it. who wants to work themselves to death just to find they can't even afford basic necessities?
My husband and I are self employed. For the last 25 years we have worked around 60+ hours a week. We are not the average age of the protesters so we can say from experience that the issues at stake are real and they are not about the amount of hours worked or that Americans feel overworked. Working hard for opportunity is very American! What I see is that our jobs continue to be exported, there is corruption in government and business. As our nation evolves we will continue to lower our standard of living to compete with the human resources outsourced abroad. Our government doesn't represent the people, only short sighted capitalism. I am not against capitalism- just corporatocracy in it's unethical element. I think if you work hard, are innovative and persevere that you should be allowed to earn more. That goes for everyone abroad. But buying government officials, stealing, earning without valuable production and taking advantage of human resources abroad is wrong, Trickle down economics never works, it must trickle up.
Are we talking getting paid for more than forty hours of work or being forced to work beyond the lawful minimum number of hours and not getting paid for it?
It seems like working more than 40 hours is the new American way. All the currently employed Americans don't have it easy at all. When people get laid off their work doesn't disappear. The bosses put more and more positions on one persons shoulders! Weeks drag out to about 60 just to get all that work done.
It really depends on the work you do and the enviorment you work in. Is 40 hours a week too much, hell no. But thinking everyone should contribute 80 hours a week is a little extreme. You should get rewarded for what you do, how you contribute, with buying power of personal property. But the system should be fair, where if your stuck with a McDonalds job, you should be able to live asnd save for a house, not live check to check and still get behind on bills.
Unions were a very good thing but then they got greedy too. I will never forgive the MTA for going on strike at christmas time with total disregard for the entire population of new york city. They got more money and benefits AND WE PAID - and its all as crappy as it ever was. Doormen, handymen, porters etc. get extremely good benefits and salaries and they have also gone on strike for increases with total disregard for the people they're looking in the face every day, who depend on them.
For about 4 yrs I worked 2 full time jobs - thank God for my mother who helped me with my daughter. For about 2 yrs I had mac n cheese for dinner every night to feed my daughters well. For another year we lived on rice and beans to save to move.
As an office worker I never had anyone to defend my wages, etc. At 47 I got to make 47K salary. I had a boss try to convince me that a 1% raise was very good when I told him to shove it.
The american dream is yours and yours alone. It's not what somebody says it is. I made it, am making it. You don't have to be a kardashian or a trump.
Healthcare-home attendant workers are getting paid 7.00/hr. and they want to get you in the union - the union doesn't cover you for anything unless you work 40hrs/wk - [but they do take their dues] the agencies only give you 4 hrs/day and if you want more they let you go saying that they're cutting back.
There are a billion people around the world willing to work 80 hrs per week to make their ends meet. I guess you can employ any of them.
Between jobs and labor there is demand/supply mismatch. There is more labor and less jobs around the world, so of course some people will be willing to do anything to make their ends meet. It doesn't mean that you expect everybody to work like they do !
As an employer it's your responsibility to get productive work only for the hours you pay. Not more, not less.
To work for someone else is to sacrifice your various freedoms. If you own your own bizz or work in a family bizz, work can seem exhilarating because you feel like you have a purpose and have respect beyond your position. If you are highly talented you may also feel these ways about work plus people like to do what they are good at, but talent is on a relative scale. Even if the overall talent pool were dramatically increased some people would still have more then others. Creating the same dynamic of some people being relegated to servitude. Wealth stratification kills the ambition in people because they don't believe they will be or can be rewarded in a system so big that you become a number and never even meet your real employer. If the system were fair and consistent with common morality their would be a greater desire to participate. That wont happen though, doing the right thing is always harder and the people running the show don't want to be slave to their business either. They will do whats easy and what gets the results they can live with. The system as it is has disenfranchised the middle and lower class and ensnared by their own imperfect nature with a system of complicated slavery.
I do work over 40 hours a week since I have two jobs. I also take four graduate classes. But I am in full support of OWS, we shouldn't have to work over 40 hours a week. We should all be granted a quality of life. Less stress = happier people.
I work far more than 40 I work 84hrs a week sometimes for 3 months at a time without a rest. I would say I work 84hrs per week for about 9months of the year.
I would not work over 40 hours a week. I am a single parent of two children. They come first.
Work with dignity, a pretty simple concept.
i had a 118-hour week once, followed by 92 hours the next week.
investment banking is a tough life.
what am i a horse, excuse me? don't i have the right to have a life because you and ppl like you are unwilling to pay a fair wage and employ more people so that the job can be done? my mother worked herself to death, she was so exhausted with your bloody 60hrs workweeks that when cancer arrived her body just gave in. sorry, but to me you and ppl like you are just blood suckers and you fucking parasite on human lives. while your profits soar, of course. shame!
i'd rather starve and die than sell out to the devil. and no, I DON'T WANT YOUR CHARITY. on a side note, i always wonder who is buying that pizza and donating the money to keep this movement "peaceful".
ALSO there are studies that show 40 wk now is more stressful than same wk 50 years ago. And when we consider work time historicallu, it INCLUDED family and community (I cooking teaching etc) so if I added that then I work double.
Who wouldn't be?
If you are paid hourly, you'll probably end up working 40 hours a week. Taking a salary job is like committing yourself to 50 hours a week without any extra pay. A lot of engineers I worked with at GM worked 50-70hour weeks.
I already do.
I work 100+ hrs a week if the work is there and available... But it's not always there... And I have to to make ends meet, or at this point, you have to kill yourself to just survive.
I work over 60 hours a week. And have been forced to about 70 hours a week for almost every week for the past 2 months due to alleged "state of emergency". While I don't mind getting the overtime pay, I've been extremely burned out and without much time for a social life.
To be honest, I would not want to work for you. It seems like you don't understand that some people have other obligations sometimes and the only thing you're rewarding is availability.
i've owned my own business therefore i work every waking hour.. ive only recently stumbled upon the idea of a resource based economy.. and i am all in on this concept..
why aren't more of ows people advocating the zietgeist movement??
I routinely work 50 or more hours a week and am not displeased by it. I need to do a job and I think a lot of people my age have a false sense of self-worth that they think precludes them from hard labor. I have a BS and work a job that is well below my pay grade, but I am happy to have a position in this terrible economy. I believe you have to stand on your own two feet and survive and that no one owes anyone anything!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saturday-Night-Politics/194650163906116
NO! Is what everyone should say. In NYC, everyone works more than 40hrs a week in the corp world. This is UNHEALTHY. Personally, I remember working 60-70hr weeks. I not only had no time for my personal life, but no time to go to grad school and bearly any time to apply for other jobs. I got sick so often that all of my "generous" 16 days of vacation were taken as sick days. I dropped down to 93lbs because I didn't have enough time to finish my food and because stress burns calories. Is this what you want for humanity?
This may help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q&feature=related
Naturally you feel that way. Every employer wants a worker who put his boss before his family. I do well for myself and I never work overtime, I look forward to spending time with my family. That my friend is the secret to life. I work with a man who actually missed his sons soap box derby race so he could work a Saturday because the boss really needed him. Is this the kind of jellyfish slave you admire? I told four companies to go f* themselves since the collapse, and I still bring home six figures. My family loves me. GOD BLESS MY LOCAL UNION FOR PROTECTING MY RIGHT TO A 40 HOUR WEEK WITHOUT FORCED OVERTIME.
No, I wouldn't expect someone to put their family before the company.. there's always exceptions... but not every saturday is a soap box derby, and well, sometimes product has to ship... No worries, I wouldn't ever hire you.
Yes you would because they beg for me my friend. I'm just that good ;-) Truth be told I don't need your job anyway. Theres nothing I love more than shocking the hell out of my employer by telling him I quit. I once negotiated a management position with a well known company in the tri state area. $144000 a year. I specifically told the VP I don't want to be part of your bonus program. a few days later when I went to seal the deal, he snuck in $134000 a year with a $100000 bonus. " No thanks I'm all set with you" I said "Wa wa wa what do you mean aren't you going to negotiate first?" He replied. "We negotiated three days ago, you might wanna look into that stuttering problem too" Thats the power I wish for my fellow working man. Too many times have I seen injustice. Middle class men treating each other like slaves to get a better bottom line for their boss. Working men at the end of a crane cable in lightning storms, unsafe conditions, forced overtime, pitting one against another, cutting lunch hours short, starting them before start time, manipulating pay, I've seen bodies twisted, mangled even killed because someone wanted to save a nickel. It has got to stop. I left a management position and took a pay cut to become a union representative for the very men who worked for me. It got exhausting trying to do the right thing by people while your corporate slave master is relentlessly squeezing you to get more out of your men. After seeing so many injustices I jumped the fence now I'm on the side of the people. All this without a high school diploma. So please do me a favor don't preach your corporate BS to me.
Steve.. I'm also a very highly sought after engineer.. and I get offers that are higher than you've got... but I'm comfortable running my own software company for now.. I'm just saying, I wouldn't hire you... it isn't corporate BS.. I was an engineer for 8 years before starting my own company, and I always worked incredibly hard and long hours.. I give tons of speeches at dev conferences...
That's good that you don't need my job.. and it is good you're employed and you're earning well..
Sorry for being hostile.This is a very sensitive issue with me as you can tell. Good luck with your endeavor. When you get all you're after please remember the little guy.
What's this a poll? Whats the point? Everyone is willing to work at least that, for a fair wage. Especially if its satisfying work. In fact, when you love what you do, you often find yourself working all kinds of extra hours, just because the time passes so quickly.
There's your problem. If you feel overworked, you're probably in the wrong field. Thats the problem, I guess, for most of us. We are losing our careers, and being forced to take whatever job you can, just to survive. It feels like hell, and it likely doesn't pay enough to justify the misery of working at a job that sucks. Or a job that you're really not very good at, and therefore hate.
No no, it is just a poll to see how many are protesting because they don't want to work more than 40 hours a week and have a great life...
I work 100+ hours a week and actually I'm quite happy doing it.. although I own my own company, but still.
People aren't protesting because they don't "want" work. They're frustrated at the loss of opportunities. As I was saying, nobody wants a job that sucks. But most people would be thrilled to find satisfying work, even when it pays less than something else, in a lot of cases. If they can afford to chose.
The thing is, when you're older, you worry about your bills and your future. Losing your job is seriously scary. With the republicans threatening to take away the social safety net, we've got not only ourselves to worry about, but probably older loved ones too.
On the other hand, being young, you might have your whole life ahead of you, but if you're saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and nothing but internships to compete over, you've got stuff to worry about too. And what if your folks can't help you?
Maybe the things we all used to take for granted, like there being enough work for anyone who wants it, no longer holds true?
Yeah, those points you bring up are different points.. totally worth fighting and protesting over.. I'm with you all the way on that.
I want the job that pays the most for the least amount of work. Why? Because there are so many other things I want to do with my life rather than work for someone else. If I'm working 60 hours a week for someone else, when do I have time to start my own business, or act in the local community theater, or get more education to look for new job opportunities. I don't mind putting in extra hours occasionally, but when I walk into an interview where the employer seems so self-important that he thinks he's regularly owed more than the 40 hours a week that he's paying for, then quite frankly I'm only taking that job if I'm desperate.
I think there is a small problem with the question. The words "ends meet". The question is not only about if people are ready to work hard, it's about what they're ready to work hard for. You can't ask that question meaningfully by cutting the second part or leaving it vague and open. People are not and should not be willing to work over 40 hours a week to live barely above the poverty level. They might, if they don't have a choice, and because they have a duty to their family, but it is not an acceptable state of affairs in a rich, decent society.
"Making ends meet" is vague. Strictly speaking, it simply means affording your particular living conditions, which could be very good. And the answer to that will vary by person and conditions. But the connotation is affording basic quality of life, "barely making it", and the answer to that is rightfully no.
Besides, if all that comes out of this is a new jobs bill, it is not enough! Just a start. However it is a great pacifier to people hurting who need the jobs. You can't solve the system by just looking at unemployment and work hours.
I worked for a large software entertainment company for 10 years averaging over 15 hours a day 7 days a week. I was forced to Sign an NDA about why I left the company, and I was threatened with a lawsuit for over 20k in moving expenses so they could force me to sign it, they knew as a father of 2 who just lost his job I was unable to afford it.
This is Corporate America. I am tired of working my ass off to pay for wars. So no. If they want to end the wars, end the FED and stop messing with inflation. If they remove market trending and forecasting as a viable way to "future" stock maybe. But I already did, and all it got me was a small ass apartment, and some heavy mental issues to work through.
Yep, these are all reasons to protest... I hate the war too.. I hate how the country is abusing the tax money it gets.. the inflation.. all that...
40 hours a week is a lot. I've had a job since I was 13 years old washing dishes in restaurants to babysitting. There is more to life than work, but I'm not afraid of hard work. Don't abuse the worker just because you have the power to decide who gets a job and who doesn't. That ideology just makes people lie in interviews about their 'work ethic' i.e.- work until you're too tired to do anything else...?
Many of us do. I like working ot because I get more money out of it.
People have children to raise, elderly parents to take care of as well as (god forbid) interests and goals outside of just making ends meet. People in most of the "first world" don't work more than 40 hours a week, and though they are also struggling with a stalled economy, they are no worse off then we are. From what I understand, in th U.S. productivity is up. Because of layoffs, 1 person is doing the job that 2-3 people used to do, and wages are stagnant. This seems unhealthy to me, for individuals and communities. If someone has ideas about how the 40 hour work week (or less) can remain the standard and still have a thriving economy, I don't see why would shouldn't try to preserve it.
I honestly wouldn't mind working 70-80 hours a week if that's what it took to get ahead. In fact, I spent the second half of my high school career putting in 60-hour weeks physically in school, research, or extracurriculars and at least 20-25 more hours per week on homework and longer-term projects. I'm currently at MIT and putting in closer to 60-hour weeks thus far in my freshman year (pass/no record for the first term), and I would have no problem working 60-80 hours to get ahead.
I doubt many people would mind putting in extra hours to get ahead, or even putting in extra hours on OT or straight time if that's what they have to do. In fact, there are a number of people on here with two or more jobs doing just that. I think part of the backlash you're hearing about it being "un-American" to work more than 40 hours per week has to do with the manner in which it is done. Nobody should have to work 60-80 hours per week just to survive, and the problem is that whatever everyone agrees they're willing to do now too often becomes the new industry and national standards.
People would have no problem with an arrangement like that as either an attempt to get ahead or as a temporary strategy to make ends meet. The problem is when it is postulated that 60-hour-per-week minimum wage jobs without chances of advancement such as a raise or a promotion should be the new American standard. Even though you didn't mean the question as such, people will read it that way because sooner or later someone will propose it in that light.
If I wanted to work 70-80 hour weeks I'd go live in China.
this country is becoming china. soon, you wont have to go that far to have the pleasure to kill yourself for nothing.
I think it's a duplicitous statement.
Salaried employees are now expected to work, as many hours as required, by their corporate masters. Meanwhile these people ships support jobs overseas or drop them entirely. Thus creating more work for those that are still on board.
In a broken economy, there is no where to run to. You can't leave your job because there are no places to go.
As a manager and someone who has run successful companies - It has been my experience that any filled position that is working consistently over 40-hours a week has one of three root causes: 1) Too much work for the position (regardless of employee); 2) The wrong employee; 3) The wrong manager (either when it comes to hiring or motivating or delegating).
I have also found that in the right environments, where workers and customers take priority over the bottom line -- these issues never arise.
With that said, I work more than 40 hours per week but I run my own business and am happy to do so.
I agree.
The reason why there's high unemployment is because the people who are employed are being worked like dogs.
I would, but I can still be mad at the system that makes me have to.
Why work when I can sit home, playing my wee while smoking weed? I want a "Life-wage" so I can pursue my dreams! Let the rich pay me, and my healthcare, I jsut want to get high. Whats wrong with that?
I'm with you Che!
I'm not against the protests... I do think a change NEEDS to happen, but I'm wondering what the motives are of some people.
I personally believe the "American dream" is to work hard to get ahead... To be honest, if I was an employer and was looking to hire someone, I wouldn't pick the guy that was more interested in vacation days and 40 hour weeks. I would pick the guy that wanted to be part of a team to work hard.
Couldn't agree more but I don't want to work 40 hour work weeks and I don't. However, if my company was busy enough to require 40+ I'd do it because I'm a loyal employee who knows what work ethic is, thanks to my parents.
btw, watch Woody Allen's "Match Point" - a great movie. And there's a great line about this "hard work" of yours.
And "Wall Street" (Oliver Stone).
And also look around...
Well, you'll change your opinion when you get 20.
That's another problem.. and yes that's a damn good reason to protest... but I asked if people were willing to work over 40 hours.
For "Friedman's-free-market" $10 a day or union wage $20/hour? Or at KPMG consultants' $500/hour? And how much of the bonus and stock? With health insurance or without?
Why work when I can sit home, playing my wee while smoking weed? I want a "Life-wage" so I can pursue my dreams! Let the rich pay me, and my healthcare, I jsut want to get high. Whats wrong with that?
The rich aren't paying you. People like me are paying for your cheetos and weed.