(Edit: Looks like… my Firefox is blocking this image from just loading (it thinks it’s a “tracker”, I guess… which maybe it is) even though it’s a valid image tag. Not sure how many viewers are affected. I’ll just link to the image instead.)
It’s not even about the task. I sure there is some one who would like to do the task but it’s never just that simple. You can’t just be an astronaut, you have to; goto school; be exceptional; etc.
I could work on veer-coolers, I guess. Do I want to do it 40 hrs a wk, until the day I die? No. Do I want to do anything 40 hours a week till the day I die? Not really.
But really…. Do you, or annyone else, really want to be doing it? If you had the resources not to be and could do anything else like travel, spending time with loved ones, or even just sitting in your own filth, would you choose to do it?
Let me just quit my day job and learn the electrical code to install that new breaker panel I need. Gotta brush up on the gas fitting code too cause my furnace needs work. Then ill drive myself to the hospital where i will be my own nurse and my own surgeon.
The ability to learn is also linked with time, energy, and accessibility to resources.
There are so many things you want to do or know that you are incapable of knowing or doing because you are too stupid to learn it. No amount of trying will be enough. Your specific brain is incapable. Not everyone has the same abilities to do or learn, but may want to if they could.
Things, not jobs. Job’s are things people have and are capable of doing.
You’re sitting over here telling me you don’t want to learn to be a plumber, a pipe fitter, a doctor or a lawyer. Then you’re saying you’re not capable. But it’s not just about you. Anyone can do the job, the job exists, just no one wants to do that specific task. UNLESS, they are paid for it.
Not everyone is capable of doing every job. The tasks of a recptionist are far different than those of a roofer. Jobs like emergency services can be high stress positions, jobs like assembly work can be rather dull sometimes. Everyone and every job is different.
You’re telling me a roofer could never learn to be a receptionist or receptionist could never learn to be a roofer.
I’m telling you no one wants to work 40 hrs a week diving 200ft with an oxygen tank strapped to their back and a welding torch in their hand to make underwater repairs on an oil rig.
Great, you want to weld. Great, you want scuba. You don’t want that fucking job, no one does.
Either way you’re not hearing me. Jobs are real things. No one wants to spend 40 hours a week climbing on roofs in the hot summer sun. They could want to know that stuff and they could want a baked in tan for all I care but they don’t want to exhaust their time and effort for nothing in return.
In my case, I get the impression that it’s both.
Once during 2020 I got a phone call out of the blue from the technical manager. “Hey, would you like to be our new <first name of the one who used to hold that position>?”. Turns out my predecessor was looking for greener pastures.
When I told some coworkers about this, their reaction was “And you said yes??”
It’s been four years now. Changed to a new employer last month, but I’m doing the exact same stuff, and I enjoy it.