The value of hard work


Posted On: Monday - December 11th 2017 6:33PM MST
In Topics: 
  General Stupidity

I don't have a topic key "Self Stupidity", but it would have definitely applied for this writer today and for this post. I reckon I won't add it either as I don't experience a whole lot of it.

The curmudgeonry has been attached to many Peak Stupidity posts, as that is my thing, though not the whole theme of this website. Lots of curmudgeonry posts have to do with customer service, now called "customer care", due to the plain fact that dealing with that now is a chore for about anyone. This is only occasionally due to the people that work in these call centers, but more to the bureaucracy, the waiting, and the voice-activated menu trees, especially the ones that act like you will be connected to a human, but then proceed to ask you more questions. Hey, anyone could write posts with customer service stories - that's kid stuff.

Today, however, I had thought the lady on the phone just did not get this thing we were trying to figure out, even though the call started out good. I was on my best behavior, but at one point, when it seemed like she just didn't want to get my question, and we were going round and round, I got rude to the point that I really regretted it later on in the day. It's not just the choice bad words that came out, but the fact that I think she wasn't stupid after all - it was me this time (at least, I had missed something).

In the meantime, before calling back to apologize, what made me feel so much better was getting outside to finish some manual work around the house. It makes all the mental BS go away so fast. (I get lots of post ideas too then, while doing work that doesn't require too much thinking, though that's not all manual labor by any means). As I worked in the front yard, a man that came by said "you're working too hard", basically, just to be friendly. "You should have seen me 10 minutes ago, sitting on my ass." would have been an appropriate honest reply, but the point here is that people appreciate others doing hard work.



(not me, just some guy raking the yard)


Sure, engineers and doctors can work hard to where it's mentally exhausting, but people appreciate the manual labor because it is obviously honest work. Much of white collar labor is too, but then, some trial lawyer can "work hard" at suing poeple's asses off for 15 hours a day, but most of us do not appreciate that at all.

What I've noticed also is even city workers, not known to be the hard-charging types, are easy to deal with when they are the ones doing the actual physical hard work. The guys doing the paving, or grabbing the leaf piles with the hydraulic machines (yes, it's hard work, as they have to rake too) may be tired, but I find them easier to deal with than some lady in the office downtown.

None of this is to say a full-time manual labor job is something I'm looking for now. As you get older, it's not a good thing to NEED to do for a living. However, sometimes you've just got to get out and dig or pound some nails to clear your head. It relieves the stupidity.

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