work snobbery?

[BackToBasics]

Do people really look down upon people who are in jobs that don't reconise you as being "educated"?

I have noticed this a few times on MN and i find really irritating. If everyone when to University and got qualifications and went on to a high paying, top job, who do they think would serve them in the shops, empty their bins, clean their drains, make their sandwich for lunch, clean their place of work etc?

People in these type of jobs are a very valuable part of our society and for people to look down on them is just plain snobbery imo. Not everyone wants to have a perfectional job believe it or not. Some people actually choose to work elsewhere and are perfectly happy with their choice. It seems the attitude of some people is that person who has served them behind the counter must somehow have failed or not tried hard enough and is stuck in this "awful" job serving the public

One quote about shop assistants from a poster last year, which is partly why i rarely come on here now is "It's hardly a career choice for the educated."

[BackToBasics]

professional

[kingprawntikka]

I don't look down on anyone because of the job they do. I am as glad of my window cleaner as I am of my doctor . I would treat both with courtesy and respect. I am degree educated but gave up work when I had my children and have been a SAHM for seventeen years, I do intend to go back to work when my youngest is older, I once said to my MIL I would maybe work at the very large supermarket ten minutes from me. She was very disapproving and said "surely you should do something better than that". I don't judge peoples jobs but I do judge people like her !!

[tethersend]

YANBU.

I love the fallacy that we live in a meritocratic society- "Work hard, and you'll get what you want"

You then get x amount of people 'proving' this notion by recounting how they worked themselves up from nothing and now they have a big house etc, and they deserve it because they have worked so hard. Like the Nurse who worked double shifts most of her working life in order to pay the rent and keep her children fed and clothed didn't work hard.

If this were possible; if everyone were able to do this, as you so rightly point out- who would empty the bins?

This does not mean that those people who made it didn't work hard, but that working hard does not necessarily yield financial reward.

Society only has room for a few people to work themselves out of poverty- and using those few people as examples of what is possible keeps everyone working hard. Not a bad idea, eh?

[compo]

Yanbu
I work in an 'unprofessional' post
people constantly ask me what I aspire to be
well actullay I just work to live , not the other way round, I enjoy talking to joe public not sitting in meetings planning things, I don't want to be developed in my appraisals, I just want to go to work, come home and get paid at the end of the month

[tethersend]

I believe it's the reason pursuing higher education has become more difficult through the introduction of fees etc- too many people were doing it.

[juneybean]

YANBU, I saw this only yesterday when someone said cleaning wasn't a profession.

[nickelbabe]

we need all types of people with all types of skills to make the world work properly.

I think the road sweeper is just as important as the teacher; i think the nurse is just as important as the postman.

everybody is good at something, and the crucial thing is working hard at the job taht you do. it really doesn't matter what job it is, but you really do have to do that job to the best of your abilities.

[insertexpletive]

YANBU

I always feel very sorry when I read what a poster wants her child to aspire to be.

I think that if you can find a job that you enjoy you are doing well, whatever the actual job is.

[goodbyesunhellomoon]

YANBU - I totally agree.

I treat everybody the same, as I would like to be treated and could never look down on anybody.

There are a couple of people I know who have made me feel worthless for my job choice (which is part time secretary). Thankfully only a couple of people, but they are out there and they are obviously horribly insecure about something in their own lives.

[Morloth]

I don't. Am very happy that there are people around who do the hard jobs. That is how the economy ticks over.

I have no fucking idea how the plumbing works, nor any interest in cleaning, I also couldn't fix any of the electricals that keep my house running, or replace a broken window pane, couldn't get out of bed in time (and in the cold) to be a bin man. I would be well and truly screwed if all the people who do do this stuff suddenly vanished one day.

I can type really fast and get things organised. No idea why this is deemed a more "useful" (and therefore better paid) job than the ones mentioned above.

[fairycake123]

Same here compo: I'm a waitress and customers often ask me what my "real job" is or whether I'm studying, etc.

It did get to me about 6 months ago and I left catering and got a "proper job" as an account manager at an educational publisher - and it was pure hell. So I quit, and my first shift back at the restaurant is tomorrow, and I can't wait! It may not be intellectually stimulating but the people are great, and being happy at work is really important to me.

[mistletoekisses]

I dont know anyone who looks down on 'non educated people'. Simply because I know some educated people who have no common sense whatsoever. And I also know people who havent been to university and who have more life skills/ common sense than those who have had 3 years at Uni.

For me isnt about the education or the job. It is about the person.

[BackToBasics]

One of dps friends was whining on the other night because he works in the planning office at the town hall and they are getting paycuts. My dp had a rant back saying the people getting the pay cuts are the ones responsible for letting (another) Greggs open up right next door to an independant sandwhich shop causing the sandwhich shop to close down.

Dp said at least the planning staff still had jobs, even if they have a pay cut. The poor people in that sandwich shop don't have jobs anymore and the owner has lost his business.

[Reallytired]

Many manual jobs are better paid than white collar jobs. Also in many jobs that appear to be manual are actually quite skilled. For example I am an IT technican and I had one lady at work asking me if I considered going to uni as I appeared to be quite bright. Erm.. I got a physics degree.

My job is fun and it fits in with the kids.

[BackToBasics]

There was a poster on here a while ago saying they thought binmen were overpayed and that they should have a pay cut

[luciemule]

On leaving school, I went to univeristy under duress. My parents were of the belife that even if I didn't want to go for the education, I should go to experience the student lifestyle and god, I wish I hadn't.
Yes, I got my degree but I've never really done a job related to it. Once I had the children I was/am a stay at home and am now a doula. I never had any ambition to be stuck on a plane travelling round europe attending meetings/planning policies etc and I am seriously considering (as the doula thing doesn't seem to be working due to no clients) applying for waitressing jobs. Throughout my school life (from 14) I was a waitress and I absolutely loved it. The fast paced world of people and good service. You get to meet lots of people and generally, people were extremely pleasant to me.
I hate job snobbery; without the service industry, the world would be at a standstill!

[displayuntilbestbefore]

YANBU

What someone does for a living shouldn't give others cause for snobbery or condescension, whatever their role.

Like compo, a lot of people have different reasons for working - some have aspirations they want to fulfill, others have lives they want to be able to pay for and others want to go to work each day, do a job they enjoy and then leave it behind when they come home to their families.

The important thing is for the individual to take pride in what they do and enjoy it. Just because one person thinks a job is worthless (is there such a thing as worthless job?) doesn't mean that other people won't find it a job that suits them.

Interesting that the jobs people most turn their noses up at are the jobs that they probably wouldn't want to do themselves because it seems like too much hard work - cleaners, supermarket shelf stackers, refuse collection workers etc.

[Morloth]

LOL Reallytired anyone who can take the back off a puter and not need a lie down must have some sort of learnings.

[tethersend]

"everybody is good at something, and the crucial thing is working hard at the job taht you do. it really doesn't matter what job it is, but you really do have to do that job to the best of your abilities."

nickelbabe, do you think that there is nobody working the bins who wouldn't have been good at brain surgery? I don't think everybody is in their perfect job, as idealistic as your post sounds...

[Hullygully]

I agree with Tether.

I know a woman who worked as a cleaner from five in the morning until seven, came home to get the kids to school, went back and cleaned all day, came home, got them fed, homeworked and bed, went back out for two hours office cleaning.

She did that for years and guess what? She's still shit poor but couldn't possibly have worked any harder.

Makes me v cross.

[BackToBasics]

You do have to be fit to work on the bins.

[Hullygully]

[BackToBasics]

That's like my mum Hully, she has done cleaning jobs for years and years, brought up 4 kids, worked really really hard and is still quite poor

[tethersend]

I find the idea that all binmen, cleaners, shelf stackers etc. do their job because it is what they're 'good at' a little patronising, TBH.

[BelleDameSansMerci]

YANBU. That attitude makes me furious.