Poll of the Day > Is working fast food harder than a office job?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not talking skill wise, but physical and mental wise. I understand that working hard at certain jobs can make you tired all the time, such as fast food jobs. But what about office jobs, or any other job that requires a college degree. Because I'm thinking: if all jobs are exhausting like fastvfood, then I might as well just live off of welfare :/
---

physical, likely not.

mentally it depends on the office job. if there is a lot of thinking involved in the job it's probably mentally harder. my job is pretty mentally taxing.
---

I can't work fast food 'cuz of all the noise and beeping and noise.... I can't even usually go in to order, I gotta use the kiosk
---

You cant really make a direct comparison between the two

Im sure neither is easy
---

Mead posted...

You cant really make a direct comparison between the two

Im sure neither is easy

This

I have worked both types of jobs. I worked fast food during high school and the freshman year of college. Now I am an accountant.

Fast food is not difficult really. It's just physically demanding because you have to be fast enough to keep up with the orders. Management is also usually pretty strict in fast food type jobs. You have to deal with rude customers constantly, many of which don't understand what its like to actually work in fast food. You're on your feet constantly, so your legs and feet get really tired by the end of the day.

An office job is nowhere near as physically demanding, but it can be mentally exhausting depending on what it is you do. As an accountant, I am staring at numbers on spreadsheets all day long, and that can indeed be mentally exhausting. I don't have nearly as much interaction with customers as I did working in fast food, and the customers generally aren't as rude to an accountant as they are to a fast food employee. Management is generally more laid back in an office setting. If i need to leave work to do something in the middle of the day, management generally allows me to do that. A fast food manager would NEVER allow fast food employees to do something like that. As long as I get my work done on time, then management really doesn't care if I need to leave.

Another big positive about an office job is that most of them can be worked from home. I generally prefer to work in the office so I can interact with my co-workers easier, but if i am sick or if there is bad weather or whatever, then I can work from home. You can't do that with a manual labor job like fast food. In fact, last year I broke my ankle, so I worked from home for three weeks. If I worked fast food, then I would have simply had to take three weeks off work period and not get paid. With an office job, I was still able to keep working and keep getting a paycheck.

It really depends on the jobs. Which fast food place, or what they do at the office. Some office jobs can be super easy, while others make you hate life...
---

LinkPizza posted...

It really depends on the jobs. Which fast food place, or what they do at the office. Some office jobs can be super easy, while others make you hate life...

Also management and customers.
---

Being a successful child actor, I wouldn't know, ok?
---

Physically? Probably as you're on your feet all day.
Mentally? Depends the individual.

thedeerzord posted...

Because I'm thinking: if all jobs are exhausting like fastvfood, then I might as well just live off of welfare :/

All jobs have their tough moments I'd imagine. One things for sure though I wouldn't want to live off welfare or as us brits call it dole money all my life. It's a miserable existence. Although with that said I suppose it depends what you're claiming for and how much you get.
---

thedeerzord posted...

but physical and mental wise.

If you're standing, it's going to be more physically intensive (although honestly not as intensive as stocking shelves at retail because there's a wider range of movement) but it's certainly not mentally draining when compared to a lot of pink and white collar jobs. As far as emotionally and mentally draining work goes, something like a call center certainly stands out. Call centers in general are scummy, though. The one I worked while in college would force you to show up 15 minutes before your shift to set up before making calls -- unpaid, of course, which is probably illegal -- and would time your bathroom breaks.
---

Also it's worth noting that your job itself will impact the demands. Some fast food workers just work register, so their physical activity is on the lower end. On the other hand, some low-end office jobs might have workers on their feet and running most of the day.
---

not unless you're dealing with customers all the time like customer service
---

Certainly. My bank job took three months of training before I could even start but the day to day work is easy. Just annoying. Food service left me sore, miserable, flustered, overwhelmed, messy.... no wonder people don't want to do it for less than fifteen an hour.
---

BADoglick posted...

no wonder people don't want to do it for less than fifteen an hour.

Not how that works.
---

Let's see.. organizing paper clips vs taking and fulfilling orders in a micromanaged environment...

Sitting in meeting vs shedding tears over a hot fryer...

Drinking coffee and browsing Facebook vs actually doing work...

Fast food isn't hard work at all. I'd argue the only "hard" element of it is standing up all day-- simply because it takes a toll on your knees over time. You get the occasional customer who is rude or weird af, but other than that it's not hard at all.
---

dedbus posted...

Let's see.. organizing paper clips vs taking and fulfilling orders in a micromanaged environment...

Sitting in meeting vs shedding tears over a hot fryer...

Drinking coffee and browsing Facebook vs actually doing work...

This person has never worked in an office. His only knowledge of office work comes from sitcoms like The Office.

rogerskg1979 posted...

dedbus posted...

Let's see.. organizing paper clips vs taking and fulfilling orders in a micromanaged environment...

Sitting in meeting vs shedding tears over a hot fryer...

Drinking coffee and browsing Facebook vs actually doing work...

This person has never worked in an office. His only knowledge of office work comes from sitcoms like The Office.

---

Zeus posted...

BADoglick posted...

no wonder people don't want to do it for less than fifteen an hour.

Not how that works.

How does it work
---

I stand for 6-8 hours a day in front of a 400f grill. I'm constantly using my arms. During rushes, I'm juggling 6-8 dishes I'm preparing in various states of readiness, while planning the next 6-8. I'm also talking to customers and being watched constantly by those whose food I'm cooking.

I don't work in fast food but I do prepare fresh food quickly and yes, it is more demanding, physically and mentally, than office work.
---

SunWuKung420 posted...

I stand for 6-8 hours a day in front of a 400f grill. I'm constantly using my arms and bending, kneeling, crouching. During rushes, I'm juggling 6-8 dishes I'm preparing in various states of readiness, while planning the next 6-8. I'm also talking to customers and being watched constantly by those whose food I'm cooking.

I don't work in fast food but I do prepare fresh food quickly and yes, it is more demanding, physically and mentally, than office work.

Not to mention, who would be willing to work in an office with you?
---

I never worked fast food but I did work in food service (a deli) and I would say it was pretty taxing just because when you're working with food there's a lot of sanitary things you can't really mess around with. Closing the place up was usually a 1-2 hour process if I was alone. And tbh being on your feet all day is going to be more difficult by default physically.
---

Zeus posted...

If you're standing, it's going to be more physically intensive (although honestly not as intensive as stocking shelves at retail because there's a wider range of movement) but it's certainly not mentally draining when compared to a lot of pink and white collar jobs. As far as emotionally and mentally draining work goes, something like a call center certainly stands out. Call centers in general are scummy, though. The one I worked while in college would force you to show up 15 minutes before your shift to set up before making calls -- unpaid, of course, which is probably illegal -- and would time your bathroom breaks.

I worked at a call center for 2 year and fast food for a little less than one. I'd take call center work over fast food any day of the week and I am a guy who gets anxious talking to people over the phone.
---

Mead posted...

Zeus posted...

BADoglick posted...

no wonder people don't want to do it for less than fifteen an hour.

Not how that works.

How does it work

Well, for starters, the Fight for Fifteen is about a $15 minimum wage, not a $15 wage just for fast food workers. It's not an industry issue and, more importantly, countless people currently do the job for less than $15 (literally including advocates for it) and most of the people who don't work in fast food wouldn't want to work there even if they did raise the wage. Because, in general, although fast food isn't particularly difficult work -- hence why it's performed by high school dropouts, etc -- it's not exactly fulfilling work.

SunWuKung420 posted...

I stand for 6-8 hours a day in front of a 400f grill. I'm constantly using my arms and bending, kneeling, crouching. During rushes, I'm juggling 6-8 dishes I'm preparing in various states of readiness, while planning the next 6-8. I'm also talking to customers and being watched constantly by those whose food I'm cooking.

I don't work in fast food but I do prepare fresh food quickly and yes, it is more demanding, physically and mentally, than office work.

So basically you're arguing that fast food is more demanding than office work when you've neither worked in fast food nor an office job? >_> If you were arguing that being a short order cook is harder than working in fast food, that seems pretty obvious. However, when I was in school I did occasional stints in food service between other stuff and not once did it come close to being anywhere near as awful as working in a call center or working data entry.

slacker03150 posted...

Zeus posted...

If you're standing, it's going to be more physically intensive (although honestly not as intensive as stocking shelves at retail because there's a wider range of movement) but it's certainly not mentally draining when compared to a lot of pink and white collar jobs. As far as emotionally and mentally draining work goes, something like a call center certainly stands out. Call centers in general are scummy, though. The one I worked while in college would force you to show up 15 minutes before your shift to set up before making calls -- unpaid, of course, which is probably illegal -- and would time your bathroom breaks.

I worked at a call center for 2 year and fast food for a little less than one. I'd take call center work over fast food any day of the week and I am a guy who gets anxious talking to people over the phone.

I would take most jobs over a call center. Even door-to-door sales was a fuckload less terrible than a call center. Hell, even canvassing was paradise compared to a call center, and canvassing is a *lot* more physically demanding than food service(well, other than the lack of lifting) and you're out in the sun the whole time, usually at the most unseasonable times of the year.
---

I forgot the fully stocked snack bars, nap rooms, fitness centers for blowing off steam from all that stressful work. My bad.

Let's see...

I've worked Marco's Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, Arby's and Taco Bel and all I can say is, I'll never work Fast Food again in my life.

I'd rather do office work.
---

My first thought of an office job is a person sitting at their computer and typing or talking on the phone for most of the day.

My first thought of a fast food job is a person being on their feet for basically their entire shift.

So I would believe the fast food job would be more physical.

Both are mentally taxing, but for different reasons.

dedbus posted...

I forgot the fully stocked snack bars, nap rooms, fitness centers for blowing off steam from all that stressful work. My bad.

If you think the typical office has a nap room and/or fitness center, then like I said earlier in the thread, you know absolutely nothing about office work and all your so-called knowledge of office work comes from comedy movies. Comedy movies are not an accurate portrayal of real life at all.

dedbus posted...

I forgot the fully stocked snack bars, nap rooms, fitness centers for blowing off steam from all that stressful work. My bad.

...what? Have you ever even seen an office? While some Silicon Valley startups can be generous, that "snack bar" usually consists of a vending machine (and not even a free one) if even that. However, if you want free food and drinks, you could try working fast food. Most of them will give you at least one meal per shift and you can get whatever else you can sneak >_>

The only freebies at most offices is the water cooler or, if you're working in a call center, just a water fountain. (Seriously, fuck call centers.)
---

dedbus probably saw that movie with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as interns at Google and thought it was a real documentary about real offices. LOL

Depends on the person, there is no definitive answer. For me, I prefered an average day at my fast food job vs an average day at my desk job, but hey, you gotta go to where those benefits and potentials are.

Okay I guess some junkyard has offices that make you pick out the grape Skittles from the candy bowl and that can be a challenging project.