To really dislike the expression "I've worked hard all my life"

[Kendodd]

So what, haven't most people, and what do you expect, to be able to put your feet up all your life.

[Kendodd]

I don't dispute that people do work hard (both the haves and have-nots) but working hard is the default position, it's what most people do and is not exceptional. In fact I would like to bet that for the most part it's the have-nots that work harder.

[bubblegoose]

It is said by my baby boomer relatives. They worked 9 - 5, retired early on generous pensions and were able to benefit from massive inflation in property prices.

Yup, mine too. They retired at 56 and will probably enjoy a good 30 years' retirement. Good on them but I get a bit sick of hearing how they worked hard "all their lives" when I probably WILL have to work ALL my life!

[Ragwort]

YANBU - I hate the expression, particularly when used by bankers or similar highly paid professionals (or worse their wives) when they try to 'justify' their huge salaries.

Lots of people work very, very hard, a refuse collector works just as 'hard' as a banker but doesn't get anything like the remuneration, job satisfaction or respect from society that a professional worker gets.

An even worse expression is the 'squeezed middle classes' which always makes me want to snigger .

[Pagwatch]

It depends on the context.
I've never used it but it is actually true of dh and I sometimes would like those who assume he inherited or waltzed into a cushy job to shut up. Especially those who expect him to pay for everything.

It is often used to bash those on benefits though and that pisses me off immensely

[Kendodd]

Especially those who expect him to pay for everything.

What do you mean?

[Bowlersarm]

You are only being reasonable if you want to ban everyone from saying it.

You can't pick and chose who you think has worked hard all their lives, and who hasn't. It is too personal an opinion.

So you need to ban everyone from saying it, or allow everyone to say it.

[BrianTheMole]

I've never heard it said by baby boomers. Mainly heard it by older men, who have worked crazy hours all their lives in physically demanding jobs to put food on the table and pay the bills. When I see them their bodies are ruined by the strain of years of sheer physical hard graft and industrial illness. They have worked hard all their lives and they have every right to say it.

[mrsjay]

people do work hard all their lives i know my parents have and still do work hard my dad is in his mid 60s and doing a factory job he works hardfor very little pay yabu it is a true saying

[BrianTheMole]

YANBU - I hate the expression, particularly when used by bankers or similar highly paid professionals (or worse their wives) when they try to 'justify' their huge salaries.

Well actually, I don't think being a banker is a walk in the park. My friend is a banker, and the hours she works are ridiculous, and the stress is huge. I think she does work bloody hard. Of course the money is very good, but I wouldn't to do a job as stress as that with crazy hours. Although she doesn't say she's worked hard all her life. But she does work hard.

[dollius]

YANBU. This is used by baby boomers to explain why they are hogging all the family-sized houses within commuting distance of work centres (eg London), while they watch their children slogging away to commute for hours just to pay for a tiny shoebox into which they must crowbar their family

Not sure why our generation doesn't just stage a mass exodus from the UK once and for all.

[Pagwatch]

I mean some of my extended family who expect him to pay for everything if we all go out.

[RufusTheReindeer]

I've never heard anybody say it to be honest,

But if they are saying "I have worked hard all my life " then that's fair enough, now if they were saying "I have worked harder than everyone else" then that's bang out of order.

[Electriclaundryland]

Exactly what Mintyy said. That banker's wife thought it a justification as to why her husband shouldn't pay a proposed tax on his massive pension. It really grates on me as a phrase because it is often used in this context. As if people who work two jobs on minimum wage to get by would be rich like her precious husband if only they worked harder.

[KellyElly]

Hard work is not sat in an office, tapping at a keyboard and filling out forms, it is not a job with little or no responsibility. Why could those people not say that they had worked hard all their lives if they had worked from school/uni until retirement? They haven't sat on their arses watching TV for the last x years. They will have got up, commuted to work, commuted home, probably had to work overtime, deal with crap bosses, enjoyed no perks/company benefits and all for a fairly low wage possibly while bringing up a family. That epitomises working hard all your life to me. Maybe not as hard as a CEO doing 70 hours a week, or a builder doing years of manual labour, or a factory worker doing backbreaking work and split shifts, but still applicable.

[littledrummergirl]

Yanbu. When I work hard for little money and then hear some patronising person belittling my lack of funds as not working hard enough it makes my blood boil.
Working hard does not equal great lifestyle. There is more to factor in.

[whineaholic]

Gosh yes, dollius how very dare people live in houses they own . What do you suggest they do with them? Give them away?

[whineaholic]

I admire everyone who works hard. I don't care what they do or how much they earn. I have enormous respect for grafters.

Can't bear lazy sods who think they don't have to work though.

[Skivvywoman]

Yab a bit u

Doesn't matter what job anyone does as long as they are working they are working harder than anyone sitting about jobless when they could be working!

[CPtart]

YADNBU. A phrase usually trotted out by a particular group of a certain generation in an attempt to justify claiming heating allowances, free bus passes, tv licences, prescriptions......

[JupiterGentlefly]

Ooh marking my place. I have a lot to say on this but am popping out for a few hours.

[Skivvywoman]

And why shouldn't they get these things if they have worked all their days?

[SanctiMoanyArse]

As a Carer who has to show she cares for 35 hours a day and was employed before, yes it grates, as some people use it to dismiss all people on benefits; I know it also grates on DH when used as that because after redundancy he has set up alone and is working every day for long hours to try and get it off the ground: he feels very hurt when people imply our lack of cash status is to do with laziness (and he did a decade of night shifts beforehand which was hard on him).

BUT then I see people like my Dad who started work when he was aged 5 (long story, if he wanted to eat he had to earn the cash) and whose pension collapsed being told off by housing benefits office for not having money out aside (er he did, the pension!), and get why he might say this; not that he does mind, but why he might.

[CPtart]

Because a lot of them don't need them and are very well off. Not many maybe, but some.

[Skivvywoman]

I think if they have worked hard all their days, good on them for getting something back! They have put more into the tax system than some of the lazy buggers now a days