"Not a real job"

[Exaspera]

Another sad example of 'criticizing things you don't know about.'

[guywithashovel]

I believe that retail is a real job and it gives people a way to earn money for the necessities like food, shelter, and bills. Also, if retail jobs didn't exist, everyone would have to fend for themselves.

I suspect many of the people who say that these things aren't "real jobs" are the same people who go to a store and literally can't find anything without the staff holding their hands and showing them everything. I used to get these types of people back at Wal-Mart. They thought my job "wasn't a real job" or (even better) was just a "kid's job," but damn it if they didn't need me to show them where everything was.

As for the thing with teaching not being a "real job," that's probably due to the lack of regard many people have for education. Many people saying that probably think school is just something to keep kids busy until they're old enough to get married and have kids. Either that, or they just think that teaching looks like an easy job. Teaching is a job that can look easier than it really is.

[Dreamstalker]

I still don't have a fulltime job, and am making ends meet with petsitting and computer gigs while trying to get into computer forensics training. My job coach doesn't think those are "real jobs" (and told me such on a few occasions--yeah I know it's not my career, but come on here, you know the economy sucks, I'm taking whatever I can get and how do you know I'm not also studying my ass off for what I really want?).

Both jobs can improve my resume, show I'm responsible, dependable and people trust me with their pet/computer/house.

[Teysa]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure my last paycheck was real, the deductions were real, and I think I send the IRS a real tax form every year. Yep, looks like a real job to me.

[Dreamstalker]

Exactly. I provide a service (or item in the case of my selling things online), and get money in return. Isn't that the basic definition?

Unless she thinks that a "real job" means 9-5 and an official payroll check (as opposed to cash/personal check/Paypal). Or any jobs that don't come through her don't count. Still, quite a bizarre thing for her to say....tis still legit income for services and goods provided.

[aurelemsrealm]

I like how a former professor of mine defined a real job for class one day. He said a real job pays the bills, preferably doing something (doesn't matter what) that makes you happy. That particular talking point has always stuck with me since. His point was that it could be digging sewer ditches all day long, so long as it pays the bills and makes you happy.

[DrFaroohk]

Where I live, its not a real job unless you're out in the woods, on the water, or walking on the surface of the sun, and doing something really, really unpleasant. If you enjoy the tiniest bit of your job, it's not a real job. REAL MEN SUFFER!!!!!

[muses_nightmare]

My dad seemed to think a "real" job had to pay you huge amounts of money. He actually suggested that I be a janitor at [Aluminum place] because they pay over $20/h, and that that should be my career. I think not. No offense to people who would enjoy being janitors, but money isn't the only thing I'm looking for in a career.

He always judged people's jobs by the amount of money they made. And he didn't think much of higher education, he still doesn't understand why I would want to go into Graphic Design, because "there are no jobs in art." I'm sorry but I'm looking to get good enough that I can charge thousands of dollars for branding and logo design, among other things.

[Boozy]

My dad seemed to think a "real" job had to pay you huge amounts of money.

There's also the opposite way of thinking, which was prevalent in the area where I grew up. It didn't matter what your job paid, but "real" jobs must involve some kind of back-breaking labour and/or making something with your hands.

So my husband, who makes about 5 times what I do in a year and supports the two of us, doesn't have a "real" job, because he works in an office and has some vague job title that doesn't really explain what he does. He's not producing anything tangible that we can see, so he's not really working.

Meanwhile, my part-time job in the wine store would be considered a "real" job, because I have to stock shelves and take payments. This is easy to understand, so it must be more valuable to the economy than what my husband does.

[smileyeagle1021]

muses, my mom has the same attitude... though not the same extreme.
Her definition of a real job is that it must be enough to pay for all of your obligations without any outside assistance, be it friends, family, church, or government. That if it doesn't make you self sufficient it isn't a real job.

I'm going into accounting, I'm not doing it for the money... yes, it is nice that I am going to be making enough to live comfortably off of, but that's not the point. The point is that I will be able to do something that I am good at and enjoy. I like numbers, they don't get emotional, they don't complain, they don't make unreasonable demands, they don't curse or make threats, they just are numbers. Yes, even in accounting there are customers, but if they are upset, my friends the numbers will be there to back me up (them and US law). I won't have to depend on spineless managers who will cave at the slightest pressure.
And, unlike customer service, it is a career that will allow me to afford getting out of Utah... I wouldn't care if I had to take a job scrubbing nuclear reactors if it got me out of Utah.

[NodmiTheSellout]

I personally don't regard my retail job as a "real job", because I hate it, it's only part time, and doesn't even pay enough that I'd be able to afford to drive, if I did. It's all I have at the moment though.

Of course, the sentiment behind nasty people saying something isn't a "real job" is just classist bullshit. There are jobs that pay more and require no real skill as well, just connections and perhaps a scrape through college.

It does get sort of irritating, thinking of it, though. . .most low-level retail jobs are such that they're only useful work if they're for teenagers or they're second jobs for people who have them outside of a retail setting. It irritates me that such low value jobs exist, but I suppose they must exist to satisfy both the company's profit desires and the customers' refusal to pay very much for products. Thing is, it wasn't that way a few decades ago. Someone could work the counter at a hardware store or something and support a family with that job (anecdotal evidence, hey!).

In general, though, the job I work fills me with hate for the human race. At the very least, I don't need some douchebag all "a trained monkey could do this!". No. A trained monkey would shit in its hand and begin throwing it at the first person to say "Oh, you put that all in plastic--I wanted paper. Do it over." (or [insert customer irritation here].) Oh God, how I long to win the lottery, or discover a rich relative who's died. . .not because I don't want to work, but because I don't want the way I behave on my last day of my current job to haunt future employment pursuits.

[blas87]

My boyfriend when he was mad at me one night for falling asleep on him, called my job a "loser job".

Now I know of at least 5 people (including myself) I work with who have had their jobs called "loser job"s.

I am fucking pissed.

[aurelemsrealm]

What few times I've encountered this type of behavior, I just comment back to the offending customer that I only pretend to work because the company pretends to pay me. Maybe if they complain, the company will pretend to be concerned about their complaint.

It seems to confuse them and make them angrier that I don't act bothered by it. I've gotten so that I really don't care what most customers think because I don't intend to be at the store forever. If they act respectful toward me, I treat them with respect. If they act like jerks, they get treated like jerks.

[Ginger Tea]

I used to say "A trained monkey could do my job," when I was doing manual labour cleaning metalwork before someone else powder coated it and finish with "but the RSPCA won't allow it"
we had a school works experience worker for a fortnight in the parent building, I said to him, unless this was something he wanted to persue and not just unskilled as his grades didnt allow for anything else, he should stay in school, go to college with a definate goal not just a fluff course.
we had all sorts of people there, one was an ex physics teacher who operated a fork lift and painted MDF counter tops for a chain of DIY stores we were refitting
I myself was only there for less than a year saving up money to move, I was willing to take a short term commitment job of any calibre as long as I had enough money to survive the move without a job should I not find one within a month or two

[protege]

I used to say "A trained monkey could do my job," when I was doing manual labour cleaning metalwork before someone else powder coated it and finish with "but the RSPCA won't allow it"

One of our interns said that a monkey could do her job. Of course, this is the same person who *got* her job simply because her daddy was one of the partners. Her entire day was spent staring at the wall, or being a bitch. But, being the smartass I am, I couldn't let the monkey comment go. After she'd said it, I was like "The monkey quit. That's why we hired you." That didn't go over well.