I don't see any dignity in a useless job. Better to pay someone a wage for doing community service
I was going to say, 'define useless' but I see that you already have. I don't agree.
It's useless. You can do it yourself.
As Lexicus pointed out, not everyone can. I don't drive, but if I did, I'd have a hell of a time trying to do that, especially in winter.
You know what'd be a good job, have a park attendant in every park in the country. Can chat w frazzled parents bringing their 2yos to play, can listen to a lonely old person sitting on the bench. Don't need to have any childcare or mental health training just be decent company and a good listener.
Yeah... but in a park? Park employees don't just stand around in a uniform explaining what birds you're looking at.
There's a computer game series called
Vacation Adventures: Park Ranger that I've been playing for many years (to the point that I've started a NaNoWriMo project to novelize them as the recurring characters and the additions to Pine Creek Hills park do add up to story potential for players who pay attention to that sort of thing; #15 should be out later this year). Part of the games is showing just how many people it takes to run one park and the many jobs they do. Nobody has time to stop and listen to a lonely old person sitting on a bench. They're busy running programs, searching for lost people, taking care of sick or injured people, catching poachers, fighting fires, shooing bears out of cabins where the guest was stupid enough to leave food out and the window open when they left, and so on. This game series prompted me to do some research about how national parks work and how many and varied people it takes to operate them. Of course there are differences between Canadian and American park systems, but they're both complex operations.
Pumping gas takes about 1 minute & requires zero skill.
Have you ever done a job that requires zero skill all day (plus breathing in exhaust & in an ugly environment)? It's not empowering or enriching, it just makes you miserable. Better to just give people free money than give them a token nonsense job.
Again, with a bit of creativity we could pay people to do something useful like hang out w old ladies or at risk kids that actually helps them feel useful & helps society rather than stick a nozzle in a car all day. Only more useless job I can think of off the top of my head is a bathroom attendant that you'd see in some fancy hotel to hand you a towel to dry your hands.
As an "old lady" (I turned 60 three weeks ago, which puts me in one of the lower tiers for senior citizen status here), I'd prefer someone to visit me because they wanted to, not because they were paid to.
During the pandemic, someone at the seniors' centre asked if I'd like to be part of the program they have where they do phone visits. Someone would phone me on a schedule and we'd have a conversation.
What kind of conversation could I have with someone who doesn't share common interests? There really aren't that many people there who are into SF/F, gaming, astronomy, history that happened pre-20th century, Shakespeare, and conversations about cats and the weather peter out fairly quickly. Politics would be a disaster since I have definite views that aren't in line with most people here (an NDP voter in a conservative province), not that politics would be an approved topic anyway.
So I said thank you, but I would not like to be part of such a program. It's not that I can't have a conversation about other things - it's that I find a lot of other things uninteresting after a few minutes.
Handouts can sometimes make people feel degraded and or condescended, as if they have no value to society and/or that they are just a parasite or burden. Having a task to do, no matter how small, mundane, or insignificant can sometimes help people to feel useful and worthy as a person, because they can feel that they are supporting themselves rather than being wholly supported by others. That feeling can really improve a person's self-esteem.
Yep, no-value, parasite, burden... that's how some people here (RL-here) feel about people like me.
Well, I wasn't always disabled. I used to have 3 home businesses, worked for Elections Canada, and did a lot of volunteer work. I didn't suddenly stop having "value" when my medical situation crashed around me, bringing down the rest of my life with it. The way I see it, I am part of the reason that other people have jobs in nursing, home care, and other disability-related professions.
Volunteer work isn't something I do anymore, but I do share my experiences online. There are people who have questions and concerns about elections - I know how they're supposed to work and can explain the voting process and what a voter's rights are.
Btw there are also people (disabled, elderly etc) who cannot pump their own gas and New Jersey (also Oregon, fyi) system of having attendants pump all the gas is much better for those folks, since in pump-your-own-gas states it is typically quite a hassle to get an attendant out to pump your gas for you.
Again tho it is fascinating to see the level of contempt some posters have for their fellow human beings.
If you aren't a secret policeman or a torturer then your work is valid and there is dignity and honor in it, and the problem with it is probably that you are not paid what you're worth or treated with the dignity and respect you deserve.
Having to wait for someone to pump my gas in Oregon sucks. Having that “service” gives me negative utility.
I would rather we pay people to work out and do art, pay people to take better care of kids, pay people to make our infrastructure more beautiful, there’s a million things. If we’re going to have a jobs guarantee let’s make the jobs either actually benefit society and give people a step in self actualizing.
Art is seen as being frivolous and unnecessary these days. When I asked someone if he liked to watch TV or movies, read books, or liked to look at pictures, or listen to music, he couldn't see the connection between that and funding art classes and programs in elementary schools.
Granted, I hated art classes in school because I wasn't particularly artistic as a child, other than in music. It wasn't until I got into doing musical theatre that my interest and abilities in art-related things took off.
There are kids who absolutely blossom when art is one of the ways they can express themselves. For some, it may be the only way that really works for them.
). I was able to have a job that was third shift, so I could attend classes during the day, and I was able to have some money in my pocket so I could go out and get some entertainment on my days off. I also learned a lot about the operations of gas stations, convenience stores, fuel transportation/delivery, the lottery, the cigarette company marketing strategies, cigarette addiction, cctv surveillance, security, cash/money storage/safety... not to mention so much about human psychology. I learned a lot from working that job, lessons I use even to this day, so the job was enriching and empowering. Having money in your pocket is quite empowering, even when its a relatively small amount.
