Being aspirational

[Doubledenimrocks]

So I keep hearing about how we should be aspirational, that we should be aiming for the higher paid jobs we deserve. I understand ambition. I'm quite ambitious myself, I strive to do well at my job but I work in the public sector. Am I not aspirational?

I also get that we want growth but it seems that the Government believe that growth has to come from the top with Investment. What about all the small/medium sized businesses - is it only large investors and rich people that have the capacity to be entrepreneurial?

If everyone goes for higher paid jobs, what happens to all the low paid jobs we require as a society to function? Do we just not value those people? I have not heard this question asked of any politician.

I genuinely feel like I'm missing something. That these things seem so utterly obvious but are never pointed out in any debates I listen to. Is it just me?

Nobody values them anyway. It’s all very well clapping and banging pots and pans, drawing rainbows and saying how wonderful our carers are but nobody gives a fuck really. A good friend of mine said “I don’t want your banging pots and spoons on your doorstep every Thursday, I want you to stop biting ducking tory”.

Why are you shocked that people who have never lived a day in the real world are clueless about real life. They’ve never driven house to house washing, clothing feeding and medicating people who can’t do it themselves in 20 mins a client, they’ve never delivered takeaways with two fighting kids in the car till 11pm. They’ve never sat on a till in Tescos till 10pm then had to go collect their kids at half ten from a gran then tried to get them back to sleep before midnight so they can get a bit kip before getting up at 8 for school. They’ve never had to leave their kids in the car outside work for an hour because mums dayshift starts an hour before dads nightshift finishes. None of these people have spent a day in the real world.
They’ve never worn a wonderbra to get their car through it’s mot cheaper, they’ve never had to ask the local shop for tick to buy nappies till Friday when you get paid. They’ve never taken someone speeding points for £100 so you can afford Christmas. They’ve never been so deep in emergency credit in their lecky meter they’ve borrowed double bubble off a local dealer to get it back on.

Lots of people can strive for better. Sadly not everyone gets there.

Whenever the media get their "Aspirational" on I like to go and look at this site to cheer myself up....joelx.com/de-motivational-posters/730/

(And low paid people don't exist in politician world. I think they all think we can just be replaced by robots and AI....you only have to look at how, post-pandemic, politicians behaved towards healthcare staff, delivery drivers and everyone else who actually kept society running...)

“If everyone goes for higher paid jobs, what happens to all the low paid jobs we require as a society to function?”

It’s a pointless hypothetical to ask, as not everyone ever will. If they did though then the wages for those jobs would have to increase in order to find anyone to do them.

Sadly this hypothetical situation seems to often be used as an excuse as to why people should not even try.

But everyone shouldn't try. We should actually value those jobs and appreciate their worth the necessary service they provide.

You seem to be conflating valuing them with paying them a higher wage. These are not the same thing.

I pay my cleaners £15 per hour. My employer pays me more like £200. I very much appreciate my cleaners, but why would that mean that I pay them more per hour?

You seem to be conflating valuing them with paying them a higher wage. These are not the same thing.

We should pay a wage that enables people to live. Someone who works full-time should not have to claim benefits. By not doing this we, as a society, are saying we don't value your contribution.

If people want to earn more then that's fine but it shouldn't mean that those who work in low paid jobs don't have the capacity to enjoy any standard of living.

If I had a cleaner I would have to pay them £15 an hour where I live although I currently earn £11 an hour in a temporary job that I’m doing to gain experience after a long time as a SAHM.

i do aspire to earn more, whether I do or not we’ll see though I might end up becoming a cleaner as that is more flexible around family etc. some jobs pay less because they take little training and knowledge to do and that will never change.

The only exception really is care where it should be a job people are highly skilled in. Care care of the elderly or disabled should require training and a certain level of intelligence, I have done care work and some of my co workers were a knife edge away from needing support themselves and were incapable of doing the job well or just wholly unsuitable for a caring job but because it is so low in requirements and high in turnover they had no trouble keeping a job they did badly.

If this relates to our government then it's just deflection tactics. Most people want to progress in life and be comfortable. In order to do so, our government is supposed to create the right environment, which it simply isn't doing. For too long we've had a situation where the taxpayer subsidises the poor via benefits. It's ridiculous that this isn't coming from the corporations/organisations that generates huge profits. The breaks should be given to smaller businesses so they can pay higher wages and grow.

Although, going against the grain somewhat, IMO aspiration needs to be balanced/tempered by contentment and happiness. Money gets you so far but happiness never gets the focus it deserves because the rat race takes precedence. Personally I think we need less tat in our lives. Buying for buyings sake.

Often aspiration comes with the big car, bigger house..... and this requires more aspiration to continue this futile cycle.

I’m not aspirational, as I am happy working part time.

It's not just you OP. But then Tories pretended to value the important but low paid jobs with 'clap for carers' but really they think that anyone poor should just 'try being richer'.

Also I don't think the measure of a 'successful' country is its GDP, I happen to think it's how good is healthcare and is it accessible for all, how good is the education system, is there a big or small wealth gap, what is social mobility like, is there a good safety net for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, how good is the social care system, does the society successfully take care of its elderly, sick and disabled, what measures are there to tackle the climate emergency....

I hear what you’re saying @Lemonyfuckit but arguably education and healthcare have to be funded somewhere, ditto the social systems so …