Happy Labor Day!

Two of our three summer holidays, and Veterans Day, rightly remember the folks who have served in our armed forces to ensure our freedom. But I'm willing to bet most don't know that folks died so we could be off today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_day

 

Ditto from me!
There are no 'low jobs'
I know, I've done just about all of the job categories, other than fast food, and I appreciate those people, too.

Saturday I dealt with a sewage backup in an Apt house. If it had been an easy case, I would have done it myself.
I called in a Professional and assisted him.
He was easy to get along with, proud of his skills and doing a job right. And I cleaned up the sewage mess so he didnt have to.

There are no LOW JOBS! Only low class people, and I've found those types to be distributed widely over education, ethnic and income strata.

 

This and your signature line is why I love you 'fog. Should've been able to come up with something witty here but I opted for what I said instead.

Happy Labor Day everyone.

 

Imagine the 'tickle pink' feeling I got when I found out the KING of all jobs has started a web site on the same theme.
mikeroweWORKS

And I gotta say this.. every speech we hear, it's about 'raising productivity' through higher education. 'Send more kids to college'! 'Job Training'
To do WHAT?
If you dont read the blogs I do, then you still know about all the grads that cant find work.
What you probably DONT know, when you ignore all but lefty sites, is that Academia is about to implode, throwing thousands of liberal arts and administration drones into the unemployed ranks. It will not happen overnight but it will happen.

'Net Academia is about to take off big time and the smart Universities are getting ahead of the curve. Thing is though.. how many Poli-Sci majors do we need? I say we already have way too many but some think it's the perfect panacea.. let em work in the government.
And you know exactly what they'll do there. Make and enforce EPA / OSHA / HHS policy.

 

Thanks for posting the Mike Rowe site. Cool that he has done that

Yes, I never agreed with the idea that everyone should go to college. What is wrong with vocational training and skilled labor. Chefs are celebrities now, that is skilled labor. And the people that went to college 50 yrs ago, now have to get masters and Phd's to do a job that only requires a bachelors. It's created a university industry and "thinking for yourself" is not what it's about. Students at for Profit colleges like the University of Pheonix receive a disproportional percentage of Pell grants from the federal government, yet the graduation rate at those schools is around 22%. There is what that money was intended to do and this bscene-tolietpush:

And unlike 50 years ago, every major college now has a big building that houses a bloated School of Education. To train the teachers of tomorrow? Yes, but they have always done that. You have that new building to hold all the Phd's so they can do their research on how to teach 3rd graders. That way they can figure out what happened to Johnny in third grade that made him end up as an auto mechanic rather than go to college. Meanwhile, the Chinese dont seem too confused about how to teach third graders, neither do the French for that matter.

 

Hi Don :greetings-waveyellow:

I actually havent told them what they will be doing. One doesnt know what he wants to do so I've told him he needs to get good grades to keep his options open, not to prevent him from being a bricklayer. If he told me he wants to be a bricklayer so he could build or even repair stuff like this,



I would honestly be quite proud of him. It's not a matter of what you do, it's how you go about doing it, but I dont think I need to tell that to you do I.

My other son wants to go to the University of Akron on a soccer scholarship and then be a professional soccer player, which I consider skilled labor. I havent told him "no" you cant do that despite what I think.

Do I have to go on about how my kids are different from some kids. They have parents who have been to college, know what it takes, value a college education, can help them with their studies and help them pay for it. Plenty of kids have none of that and they shouldnt be told there is no future for them if they dont go to college. They shouldnt be made to feel like a failure if they dont go to college. Plenty of kids just dont like studying books, they want to do and create. Their choices shouldnt be portrayed as inferior to going to college.

 

And again, for The Year Of Our Lord 2013! Somehow I missed Mo's picture last year. Is that part of the Kremlin? I don't recognize the locale, but that's my guess. Anyway, happy, happy everyone. And yes, I'll be working Monday, the night shift, no less.

REMEMBER MATEWAN!

 

Well, Don, how interesting that you know exactly what my views are on unions. I've carried 4 different union cards as one of the exploited line workers at 'Big Corp's.'
And my dad and 2 brothers all retired from GM. Guess what they thought of their unions.

IIRC, in the old FUSA days I did venture 'nuanced' opinions on them. In themselves, they are neither good or bad in the big picture. Like all constructs of man, however they are subject to the foibles and corruptions of man.

Perhaps you would like to commemorate the elder Henry Ford as worker advocate in your observances... or do you only recall the union terrorism of Ford in the '30's? {That he was a fascist sympathizer is beside the point in this.}
And since I've participated in a wide range of 'vocation', from leading Telecom Projects for 5th Ave Law Firms to snaking toilet drains, and cleaning up messes from backed up sewer lines, I know for a fact that there are no bad jobs.. in fact wrote a piece long ago stating that. There are only people unsuited to those jobs because they cannot appreciate the contribution they make by a job well done.
Thus my admiration of the Mike Rowe program.
And why cant they appreciate them? Because perhaps the educated and informed believe they are incapable of reaching higher pursuits and thus must be protected in their serfdom. Thus the left always agitating to increase their wage to the point where they can be replaced by automation... you think MacD's cant do that in a few years, think again.
When they arent advocating FOR MacD's workers, they are of course denigrating and making fun of them as 'Losers'.

Winding up:
1. work at what you love, or close to it as you can get - find a point to your work in big picture, if only solving problems.
2. in a company you like
3. With people you like working where and at what they like.

Do for 2 out of 3 of those points and you'll get close to all three.

Sidenote: I was amused to find that the guy I count on to roto-root sewer mains used a smart phone app to schedule apppts and time per job. And of course, when he did a job for me, he tried his best to make sure it wouldnt happen again in a month or so. He actually LIKED unplugging sewers.

Enjoy the burgers, ribs/ beers, my friends!