To wonder if you judge people who work in "crap" jobs, and if so why?

[ReallyThough100]

So, cleaners, dishwashers, fast food workers. Jobs seen as "dead end" and a bit shit. I have a job people think this about, and it often shows unfortunately (outside of work more than in it).
Aibu to ask, do you judge people who do this and what's the reasoning behind it?

No I don't. I admire them. It is hard work, and work frankly most people don't want to do but need.

I judge them.
I judge them to be a whole lot more honest, hardworking, community and family minded than the load of tosh sitting in the Houses of Parliament.
Up the bin men!

No I hold them in the highest regard as they probably don't earn much more than they would sitting in their arses claiming benefits, yet they choose to work and support themselves and their families rather than being a drain on society .Now those people I judge (not people who can't work due to valid medical reasons)

People work in these ‘menial’ jobs for all sorts of reasons it’s not a measure of their intelligence or worth as a person. Not everyone wants the stress of climbing the career ladder some people just want to go to work and do a job and then go home and not have to worry about it. These jobs tend to be relatively low stress roles (although obviously every job has some stresses) and money isn’t the biggest driver for a lot of people.

No, I don’t.

I work in McDonalds, but I don’t consider it a “crap job”. I absolutely love it. Every day is different, I have great managers, wonderful colleagues and several regular customers that I enjoy seeing.

I look forward to every shift and I’m always happy to go out of my way for both my colleagues and customers.

For me, all I want out of life is to be happy and relatively stress-free; I’m not interested in a career. If people want to judge me for enjoying my life they are free to go ahead and do so.

I used to work in retail and at a friends wedding had someone be a judgy cow to me over it.

A few weeks later she came into the shop I worked in, clearly remembered me and was clearly very embarrassed as she had to ask for my help.

I was very polite and helpful. If working in retail teaches you one thing, it's how to be incredibly polite to people who are complete twats.

Never. I respect all who go out and do these jobs. Someone has to put the cherries on the cakes, right? (Cherries probably a machine I know!)

I've worked in a bar, bookies and waited tables. A lot of service jobs are stepping stones and work experience for the next step and should never be sneered at! Even when the job is a persons career then that's their choice and they have a work ethic which I believe to be the most important thing.

People who are rude to cleaners, waiting staff etc are just showing themselves to be utter dicks anyway. You can tell a lot about person by how they treat a waiter!

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue

You are living the dream. 🌷

I'm in the NHS so I get extra unsocial hours payments for doing night shifts; I don't know (but doubt) the workers in McDs do.

I can confirm that we do get paid extra for unsociable hours; anything after midnight until six in the morning

I love working for McDonalds; I think they’re a great company that really looks after their staff. I definitely feel valued.

Harvestmoonsobig Thank you; I like to think so

In my teenage years I had wanted to be a teacher, but I became virtually housebound with severe anxiety for many years and so my plans had to change. I definitely think I’m a lot happier (and a much stronger person now having recovered) than I would ever have been had I followed what was once my dream.

I work as a cook in a school and people can just assume I'm just "the dinner lady" at lunchtime in a dead end job. Actually I had to have a certain level of experience in catering, GCSEs in Maths and English and I have NVQ level 3 in catering because running a kitchen is like running a small business and you need to keep to budgets and meal plan. So the "dinner lady" wiping the tables is actually quite qualified and experienced in catering.

No, I don't judge shop assistants, waitresses, etc. I've done plenty of those jobs in the past and expect to have to do them again.

I liked reading your posts, WhatToDo. I’m glad you have such a positive experience of working for McDonalds.

I've done jobs where people have shouted at me, assaulted me and robbed me. It says more about them than it does about me quite honestly. I find the people who are rude to people they assume are "lower" than them, tend to be abusive in other ways as well. I always go by how nice people are, the people who take the time to be nice without any reward are the superstars, regardless of class, religion, age or sex.

Sorry to digress a bit, but all this reminds me of a wonderful book called "The Temp", by Serena Mackesy. It had echoes of this: she felt that as a "temp", although working very hard for peanuts and no employee rights, she was held in very low esteem by everyone else in every office she worked in. It had some fantastic lines, some of them pure Mumsnet fodder:

"I go to a different place where I'm known behind my back as 'the temp' and to my face as 'um, hi.' I've been counting, and do you know how many people have called me by my name since I started temping? None, not one."

"Lucy (I'll believe in the classless society when City executives are called Kylie) purses her lip before saying: 'you're late'."

"One boss of mine awkwardly shook my hand, then wiped his hands on a sterile wipe, before dropping it, two-fingered, into the bin. I'm so used to odd reactions from new bosses that I thought this was a new imaginative way of making me feel unwelcome; but it seems he's terrified of germs. He must get through more of these wipes than the average surgical unit; he uses them for everything, paying special attention to the crevices around the drawer handles."

There's a wonderfully gratifying scene in which "the temp" uses her anonymity to help her friends get revenge on a violent rapist. "He's done it before. The social services know who he is, the police know who he is, and twice a jury has found him so plausible with his classical good looks, his well-cut suits, that they've let him off without a blemish to his name."

OK. I'm "super". I've just saved them from building their oil rig upside down, and I'm "super" like a member of a hockey team. But I'm going to make the woman from HR who's firing me actually work a bit for her salary and space in the car park for her air-conditioned Vectra.

There was also a chapter comparing office stereotypes to characters in children's books. One of the best ones was: The White Witch. A woman of a certain age, who fought her way up when the system was much tougher on women, and has developed an icy personality. Great clothes, no sense of humour.

No, as long as they are earning so that they are covering their costs the job doesn't matter.

I do judge non working people or those that do the magic number of hours (usually sixteen) and let others keep them instead of doing more.

No. Their jobs make the world a nicer place for me. I also include cashiers and forecourt attendants in this - it's amazing how a smile and some civil chatter helps with the transaction. They are people and respect is a two-way street.

I don't think anyone judges people in "crap" jobs. It won't bother me at all if my friend worked as a cleaner, however I am not sure I could date a man that works as a cleaner. I don't think I could be attracted to him even if he was a sex God.

It wouldn't occur to me to judge anyone for their job, hopefully because I'm not a twat.

No, I don’t puke never judge anyone in a job like that. One of the first people I speak to every day is the barista in my local coffee shop. She’s lovely, very friendly, and makes a brilliant coffee.

Our office cleaner is an utter delight. Very funny, good fun, and brings us chocolates in her birthday!

Two hard working women, helping to support their families. Nothing but respect for them. I work in a pretty well paid professional job. While it’s stressful, so is being on your feet al day, and dealing with the public.

I can confirm that we do get paid extra for unsociable hours; anything after midnight until six in the morning

That's really good to hear, and makes me feel a bit less ashamed of giving them work to do at 3am I was desperate for a chicken wrap

Nope. And I have friends working in bars who earn more than I do in my "good" job. Some people want their work to be their life, others just see it as a wage.

LoveInTokyo Thank you We’ve got Monopoly starting next week so it’ll be mad; just how I like it

YassQueen No need to feel guilty! If they’re cooking your food and serving you you’re giving them a break from a cleaning job

The extent of my judging is 'thank god I don't have to do that job again!'. I've done cleaning, call centre and shop work. They are truly shit jobs and I hated them. One was bad enough I'd cry on my way to work daily and during my break.

No, life is hard and money is right - people do their best, and every job is ‘valid’.
We need those types of jobs to function as a society, my only criticism is that I think most of them are underpaid for the hard work they do.