Why do people look down in those with low skilled jobs?

[GenuineMan90]

Why are people like this towards them? I get the impression that they think they're too dumb to do anything else. Most people I've seen are quite clever and could much better jobs.

I wish that was true!

Fairly recently, I was at work and a woman with two daughters came in. She had a bit of trouble ordering on the touchscreens so I helped her, gave the girls balloons/colouring/a hat and yet on the way out, she said to the girls "this is the sort of place you'll end up working if you don't do well in school."

It didn't go down well when I told her I'd just finished my MA with distinction!

@Gwenhwyfar no it’s an addition to her role, she was never doing this job she’s had added on to her role.
Previously it was held in a completely different department.

@QuestionableMouse customers can be delightful can’t they? 😬 I had a man in our shop one day who bought a few items. I (manager) was standing at the till with one of my sales advisors as she totalled up his sale and said to him “thats £39.97 please” or whatever it was. He snapped back “really?! I have a PHD and YOU work in a place like this for a living and you’re going to insult me by implying that I can’t work out the value my own purchases?!” 🤯🤣🤣

Like I said in a PP, I worked as a cleaner in a hospital.

I was giving a door in a public area a wipe over. I held the door open for a mum and her kids and heard her say "if you don't do well at school, you will end up doing that as a job".
I was working weekends and doing a degree in biomedical science at the time. I bit my tongue and said nothing. I really wish I had, so absolute fair play for you defending yourself and saying something.

I got chatting to a fair few HCAs that worked on the words for a pittance, that were also medical students.

The people who clean toilets at festivals. Specially when it's raining and people get mud everywhere on top of the toilet mess (why do people think it's OK to leave toilets unflushed, wee or even poo on the seat, paper strewn everywhere?).

These cleaning people are absolute saints. And miracle workers. I always thank them if I catch them.

Because the class system has taught us that those without education, money or social status are lesser.

The class system is outdated.

Going off on a tangent but genuinely, out of interest, why aren't they then?

-They're a student or graduate
-Recently unemployed and need to pay the bills
-Chose the wrong job path early on and limited their choices
-Need to get formal qualifications after emigrating here

Even if none of these are the case, I'd never lol down on someone for their job. The only thing that would make me think poorly of them is lack of manners and rudeness in customer service.

But you yourself have done it by using the term "better". What makes one job better than another?

Or, they just want a stress free job, and an easy life.

Yep,

This is me. Currently work in a call centre and get called thick/stupid etc on a regular basis.

Lack of ambition and not knowing what I wanted to do has been my problem throughout my working life.

I often think about going back to uni/college to retrain. However, can work from home and love the fact I can switch my laptop off at the end of the day and work takes up absolutely 0% of my free time .

I have worked low skilled jobs, so I am always polite etc.
But I think I must ‘look down’ on the jobs (not the people) because I wouldn’t want to still be doing them, but more than that I hope my DC don’t end up stuck in them, I do hope they ‘do better’.
So I guess I am a bit of snob, but I’m ok with it.

And why ever not? Those were just the examples that came to mind, but I bet there are people who wanted something more flexible or chilled out, too.

Honestly i’m not a good person. Sometime i do. Not to all people but if there is someone who really push my button.

if you ask why. Because maybe i really work hard to be where i am now. I have six digit salary and have houses. I dont get it out of lucky. My parents are lower income family.

i work really hard. When they got out and play and study. When they go out dating. I study. I study hard. I cannot afford to do bad choices. Since my childhood i only remember studying. Study its part of my routine everyday. Even on weekend. I have scholarship. Go to uni. Got a degree. Got my master and phd. Then i got good job. Its all because of trying hard and not do any bad choices when i was young.

i have a friend with low paying jobs who think i just get here easy. I’m sure her teenage life is much happier than me. That kind of people who i despise the most. They keep moaning about their income and think that high earner got it easy.

It's mostly the "disposable " element of it. If you drop dead there are 100 more people able to take your place because (officially) there's not specific skills required. Anyone can do it kind of thing. Hence the low wages,lack of respect and sneering and assumptions about intelligence,work ethic etc.

I work such a job. In theory, anyone can do it. In practice, it's quite different, especially if you want the job done well ,to high standards and actually have an impact and not just an extra body in the room.

I should have been capable of getting a much better job but my life path took me a different way. I had children young so missed getting a degree and many jobs I would now enjoy doing need a degree. I became a single parent so needed a job around my children. I’ve ended up in a role that is considered low status, although it shouldn’t be.

I could do a degree now I guess but not sure it’s worth it at 46.

Childcare issues/ costs. I have a law degree from a decent uni. I clean loos for a living. It’s easy, flexible and local. No childcare costs generally and I get back 85 per cent of summer holiday camps. I get UC top up. For a more professsional job I’d need to travel further and use wrap around care. UC taper means I’d be worse off as my costs would be higher than my gains overall.

I'm an NHS domestic, and often get "looked down" on. On my ward I rarely get spoken to by physio's or clinician's, they tend to look straight through me. Most of the HCA's are okay as they will sometimes do domestic roles on bank shift so at least have some understanding of what is involved.

I always say that the ward couldn't function without cleaners. Just because I am a cleaner doesn't make others "better" than me.

There's a huge amount of this on MN. It really winds me up.

I also know of a person who was upset about not getting their way about exchanging an item in a shop and said something like, 'oh, they're only a shop assistant' . So rude! We're no longer friends.

People should stop looking down their noses at other people's jobs (unless they're literally immoral, like a call centre scammer). We realised during lockdown how vital many of the jobs were that people look down on!!!!

I remembered when a relative was terminally unwell @Londonnight and it was the NHS domestic worker that was bothered to get them a pillow that made them comfortable. I'll always remember that person's kindness with great fondness. It made a very sick person's life much more bearable.

Also when I have been unwell myself in hospital, it was really unpleasant when bathrooms etc were unclean, as I already felt vulnerable, and on one occasion I ended up getting quite sick with a bug. The work you do is invaluable. Clinicians who look through you are unbelievably rude. They should be aware of the implications of infection control and how important hygiene is (their own but also the ward's) and how valuable your work is.

@Vampirethriller I'm so sorry you had such an awful experience .

Your past experiences show that there are reasons why people don't want responsibility or stress in their work. Because we never know anyone's past we shouldn't judge them just by their jobs or at all really if they're not hurting others.

I currently have an office job which i despise so trying my hardest to get into a different industry entirely, think ‘logistics/transport’ type role. Cannot wait to make the switch! But my parents actually said ‘but what are you going to talk about with those people’ meaning new work colleagues. I was floored by their comments. Both have always held professional/office jobs. But what is so great about being glued to a screen and simply sending out emails and attending calls where people love the sound of their own voices! No skill involved their whatsoever in comparison to sooo many supposedly ‘low-skilled’ jobs. It is so backwards the difference in pay where physical jobs vs non-physical are concerned.

Ok, but that’s very different then why you were implying that random pe9ple look down socially on people working in different fields to them. what you’re taking about is people in same professional field looking down on people with more low paid roles - those doing the looking down have some knowledge about what that lower role. Some of that is to do with culture of protecting the higher paid jobs- if anyone could do those roles then the pay would be the same …mystify it, add qualification to it etc and you can bump up pay scales.

Imho of nearly 60 years, I don’t think joe public generally looks down on jobs that they don’t know anything about or are using as service. Generally most people are glad someone is willing to be a cleaner, carer or brickie. Right now those skills are in such short supply you’d be a nob for talking down to them.

I had a degree and professional qualification and worked in management roles in manufacturing sites. The shop floor was full of people doing lower paid roles but highly skilled and in most cases with apprenticeships under their belts. I’d have been given pretty short shrift if I’d walked onto shop floor being snobbish about what they did vs me.

I do think some people who could have got into more highly paid roles, didn’t do so because that expectation was never set in the society they mixed in as young people. My parents always assumed I’d go to university - ours was really first generation of free uni places and girls going into STEM subjects as relatively “normal”. But many people don’t have parents who think that is possible or something that their child should aim for - just outside their experience. U less you’ve got role models as a kid you don’t develop that expectation.

Maybe think about it from pension perspective? That certainly may make it worth while….

Because they are unpleasant, snobbish people. They still want a low paid cleaner/ironing person/street sweeper/Waitrose shelf stacker though.

What do you classify as unskilled/low skilled? There are many jobs done traditionally by women which are classified and paid as low skilled but which actually require a high component of skill and experience to do well (eg carers).

Which are the jobs you have in mind?