Poll of the Day > America is such a work obsessed country

(+) Yeah! (+)

working more than 40 hours a week and hardly ever getting a day off. They are too exhausted from work to clean or cook because on their days off they need to clean, do yard work, run errands, and fix stuff around the house. Less people have doing home made meals for special occasions with their families. People visit fast food and restaurants multiple times a week. During the holidays no one cooks anything and just buys premade dinners and listen to Grimes.
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You try way too hard
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This topic is weird but I agree that there is something wrong with Americans' attitudes towards work. I've also run into a lot of people who act like your job is just something you're supposed to hate and deal with it, and if you feel like you deserve a job you enjoy you're just crazy and entitled.

Automation is gonna force people reevaluate their attitudes toward work honestly

That along with family size
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Mead posted...

Automation is gonna force people reevaluate their attitudes toward work honestly

That along with family size

we won't have to worry about family size considering the amount of kids people are having is declining in the US
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japan is much more work obsessed
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

:(
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Sounds like the life of most folk who work a full time job.
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America is the most work-obsessed Western nation to my knowledge

I definitely agree that we Americans are overworked.
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Were more overworked than work obsessed. Part of that is the baby boomers were/are workaholics, the other part is that theyre usually your boss, so they expect the same.
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Can't wait for teleworking to become the norm
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wwinterj25 posted...

Sounds like the life of most folk who work a full time job.

uh no I've worked a full time job and still would have needed a dual income to save up money
amounting to 2k a year, so work six days a week to make an extra 2k a year which will probably be taxed out anyway
capitalism is a hell you can't claw out of

I do agree with this topic.


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Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

I'd say Japan is more prideful than work-obsessed. They bare many responsibilities to gain status and forever push themselves harder as not doing your best would look lazy. America expects you to work hard and be miserable, Japan expects you to put everything in to what you do or you deserve to be miserable.
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I learned about rural philipino culture from a guy. He told me a fisherman would only go work when he has no money. They fish for a day, and then take everyday off until money is needed. If you're working when you have money, you're overworking.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

I'd say Japan is more prideful than work-obsessed. They bare many responsibilities to gain status and forever push themselves harder as not doing your best would look lazy. America expects you to work hard and be miserable, Japan expects you to put everything in to what you do or you deserve to be miserable.

japanese have a nice social safety net, like five bucks to see a doctor and their houses are extremely cheap as they expect them to be renovated each time someone new moves in

so yeah japan has been like 10 years in the future for the last 30 or 40 years lol

RoboXgp89 posted...

uh no I've worked a full time job and still would have needed a dual income to save up money
amounting to 2k a year, so work six days a week to make an extra 2k a year which will probably be taxed out anyway
capitalism is a hell you can't claw out of

Oh I forgot you, yourself represent "most" people. My bad. I'll run things by you next time I talk about "most" people.
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SteamedHams posted...

This topic is weird but I agree that there is something wrong with Americans' attitudes towards work. I've also run into a lot of people who act like your job is just something you're supposed to hate and deal with it, and if you feel like you deserve a job you enjoy you're just crazy and entitled.

Because you don't deserve a job you enjoy. If you earn that job through persistence, effort, and talent, that's fine. However, when you have little more than a college education and practically no work experience, you haven't earned that yet. You may luck into one. But, yes if you feel you deserve a job that you enjoy just because you were born, that's a very entitled feeling.
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Agreed, I dont really want to spend my life working it away too stressed to live my life and by the time im old thats when I will have money? No thanks.

It's not America, but the Protestants.
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There are too many varibales that come into play with respect to this subject to have a meaningful conversation about it with a group of people like those posting in this thread.

Attitudes about work change by city and state, not just by hemisphere. Cost of living differs wildly everywhere across California so I wouldn't try to lecture someone in NorCal about something that only applies to me in socal; even making that initial supposition would show how ignorant you are.
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RoboXgp89 posted...

wwinterj25 posted...

Sounds like the life of most folk who work a full time job.

uh no I've worked a full time job and still would have needed a dual income to save up money
amounting to 2k a year, so work six days a week to make an extra 2k a year which will probably be taxed out anyway
capitalism is a hell you can't claw out of

Then get an education or learn a trade.
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kangolcone posted...

SteamedHams posted...

This topic is weird but I agree that there is something wrong with Americans' attitudes towards work. I've also run into a lot of people who act like your job is just something you're supposed to hate and deal with it, and if you feel like you deserve a job you enjoy you're just crazy and entitled.

Because you don't deserve a job you enjoy. If you earn that job through persistence, effort, and talent, that's fine. However, when you have little more than a college education and practically no work experience, you haven't earned that yet. You may luck into one. But, yes if you feel you deserve a job that you enjoy just because you were born, that's a very entitled feeling.

I have to disagree. You shouldn't have to start off miserable and 'earn' your happiness, that's a poor societal model.
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RoboXgp89 posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

I'd say Japan is more prideful than work-obsessed. They bare many responsibilities to gain status and forever push themselves harder as not doing your best would look lazy. America expects you to work hard and be miserable, Japan expects you to put everything in to what you do or you deserve to be miserable.

japanese have a nice social safety net, like five bucks to see a doctor and their houses are extremely cheap as they expect them to be renovated each time someone new moves in

so yeah japan has been like 10 years in the future for the last 30 or 40 years lol

People here still use fax machines...this is definitely not the future.
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Japan has such strict drug laws that a lot of people don't even know what marijuana looks like or how to use it or that it can be infused with food.
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The "too busy to cook and clean" has more to do with social inequality than anything. I can eat lunch at the food court every week day of the month for the money I make in 1 hour. I can get someone to clean my place twice a month for 2-3 hours of salary (my place is big. On my own it would take me several times that to keep it in shape). It's a result of how unfair wages are in America. On paper there's literally no reason for me to do these things myself, but someone always gets screwed on the other side of the deal.

The "over 40 hours a week" thing is more of an opportunity thing. I'm pretty well off and I work about 35 hours a week because I'm lazy. But if I was willing to do like some of my peers at work and do 45, 50 or 60 hours, I could get promoted several times and make waaaaay more. There's no limit (even though I'm salaried, I could just keep getting promotions and bonuses if I did more). So people who are very money driven (or less fortunate) will go pour in more time into work for monetary gains.

That furthers increase inequality and some people end up forced to do it to keep up (eg: housing cost).

Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

This. People literally kill themselves from exhaustion.
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What's up with Americans and saying that poor people don't deserve to be happy? If people can get better jobs they would. They have to put up with stressful jobs because it's the best they can do at the moment.
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Well when you have to work 2 jobs to afford basic living expenses...
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Anisoptera posted...

What's up with Americans and saying that poor people don't deserve to be happy? If people can get better jobs they would. They have to put up with stressful jobs because it's the best they can do at the moment.

There is the common misconception that because you could be a doctor, lawyer, famous actor/sportsball player, etc., being a farmer, retailer, manufacturer, tradesmen, etc., is bad. That mindset is very bad for a society.
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SteamedHams posted...

This topic is weird but I agree that there is something wrong with Americans' attitudes towards work. I've also run into a lot of people who act like your job is just something you're supposed to hate and deal with it, and if you feel like you deserve a job you enjoy you're just crazy and entitled.

Ss are a bank owned country of indentured servitude.

We have become almost everything the founders, especially jefferson, warned us about.

JFK was the last and THE last president to try fighting the banks.
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wwinterj25 posted...

RoboXgp89 posted...

uh no I've worked a full time job and still would have needed a dual income to save up money
amounting to 2k a year, so work six days a week to make an extra 2k a year which will probably be taxed out anyway
capitalism is a hell you can't claw out of

Oh I forgot you, yourself represent "most" people. My bad. I'll run things by you next time I talk about "most" people.

"most" people live in urban area's mutant

Anisoptera posted...

working more than 40 hours a week and hardly ever getting a day off. They are too exhausted from work to clean or cook because on their days off they need to clean, do yard work, run errands, and fix stuff around the house. Less people have doing home made meals for special occasions with their families. People visit fast food and restaurants multiple times a week. During the holidays no one cooks anything and just buys premade dinners and listen to Grimes.

That's not a stereotype, that's my life. The part you missed was that we have no choice.

I'm going to move to a proper first world country some day. Thinking of Toronto.

Cacciato posted...

Then get an education or learn a trade.

And get a lifetime of student debt that will rub salt in once your profession gamble doesn't work out.
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why get educated? someone from asia is ready to fill your role

Yellow posted...

The part you missed was that we have no choice.

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RoboXgp89 posted...

"most" people live in urban area's mutant

Water is wet too.
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SteamedHams posted...

This topic is weird but I agree that there is something wrong with Americans' attitudes towards work. I've also run into a lot of people who act like your job is just something you're supposed to hate and deal with it, and if you feel like you deserve a job you enjoy you're just crazy and entitled.

Getting a job you enjoy can take a lot of work. It could involve starting up and running a business yourself, or entering a field that is highly competitive. Both risky and generally not as realistic standard 9-5 job. Being American, I never had the impression that America was work obsessed. The ones that are do it out of necessity. Supposed to hate I wouldn't go that far at all. That's simply unhealthy.
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I agree with this to an extent.

Everyone should work. But it just seems wrong to have to work like a dog for little money. Like, I work my ass off (to the point of injury a couple times) and I cant even properly support myself. And thats on eight and a half hours a day during the week and usually five on Sunday. Not to mention eighty minutes of driving a day.

I dunno, it just seems wrong that someone who works full time cant even afford a good place to live.
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It just seems wrong that someone who works full time cant even afford a good place to live.

This was supposed to be the whole reasoning behind the minimum wage.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

Krazy_Kirby posted...

japan is much more work obsessed

This. People literally kill themselves from exhaustion.

Yeah the Japanese overdo it with how much they work. Not just that, but they mirror western society in how women marry later, and how their birth rates are awful. I guess that when the family unit is so thoroughly disturbed and men have no spines, you get these common statistics.
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Anisoptera posted...

working more than 40 hours a week and hardly ever getting a day off. They are too exhausted from work to clean or cook because on their days off they need to clean, do yard work, run errands, and fix stuff around the house. Less people have doing home made meals for special occasions with their families. People visit fast food and restaurants multiple times a week. During the holidays no one cooks anything and just buys premade dinners and listen to Grimes.

Its not the workers, its the higher-ups that require overtime (often without overtime pay), and and some, like retail managers, being salaried, dont get paid for it.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/05/japanese-woman-dies-overwork-159-hours-overtime

Japan takes the crown. But even 40 hours of work per week, plus the preparation, transportation, and the tiredness after work means almost 5/7 of your life is spent doing shit you hate.

yeah i'd like to point out when someone says move up in the ladder at miccyD's we're talking 50 hours of work a week that is salaried
so imagine making 12 bucks an hour and then when it comes to overtime... yeah you still make 12 bucks an hour
the starters at miccyD's 15/hrmake more then the managers at wendy's (salaried) if they work the same amount of time

so 40 hours at 15 = 600
managers at wendys work 50 hours a week and get 625$ a week

but who is going to give an hourly worker overtime?

withen years I'm positive rent will shoot up to 1600$-2k it's basically almost there right now

Kigalas posted...

It just seems wrong that someone who works full time cant even afford a good place to live.

This was supposed to be the whole reasoning behind the minimum wage.

It was reverse psychology.

Minimum wage allows companies to pay their skilled workers less to compensate for giving money to the lazy workers who wouldve received smaller paychecks.

It also allows companies to regulate and moniter their payflow to be more efficient and paying you as much as they need to keep you from looking for somewhere else to go without paying you wnough to empower you to move or find a new job in the first place.

Literally all worker laws have some ulterior motive for indentured servitude to the rich while making labor laws government regulated so its harder for unions and workers to strike or force employer to change.

Also at-will employment is terrible. Or at least it would be if you were allowed to pick and choose who you hired for your business. Its sadly necessarry to get rid of malcontents who would otherwise lie about the circumstances they were being fired to sue their employers.
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Japan loves to be employed that they even overemploy people and not cut anyone off their company to keep workers within the company. Even in bad economic times the government uses funds to support this overemployment. But then again in the history of the videogame industry the original developers have moved from gaming company to gaming company or even forming their own.

Then there were banks that were supporting keiretsu corporations in an iron triangle that caused a bubble caused initially by the real estate market bubble which gradually changed the employment system.

Employment is life there. But I wonder if they work hard and play hard like Korea or the US. I heard Korea shuts down the city once a year to hold festivities and break out the soju.

aDirtyShisno posted...

Well when you have to work 2 jobs to afford basic living expenses...

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Ranzoh posted...

Japan loves to be employed that they even overemploy people and not cut anyone off their company to keep workers within the company. Even in bad economic times the government uses funds to support this overemployment. But then again in the history of the videogame industry the original developers have moved from gaming company to gaming company or even forming their own.

That sounds great! ...for the people.