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men not working - 7/31/2006 3:58:22 AM

pahunkboy

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/31men.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

compelling peice-

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 4:13:59 AM

meatcleaver

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/business/31men.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

compelling peice-

They do right. The work ethic at any price is for suckers. I didn't get laid off, I walked out of my job and out of my old life and said I wouldn't go back to it and never did. I'm happier now than I have ever been. Instaed of trying to teach people that don't want to learn or getting stressed with colleagues because they have tunnel vision, I now relax and have breakfast on my balcony while I watch the pretty ladies go by. I'll work several hours in the afternoon and then go to the bar in the evening and chat about my two passions, art and poetry. I make enough to get by from what I do and even get flights paid to various parts of the world through my work. None of this was achieved by ambition but by just doing what I enjoy.

Leave the wage slavery to others, get off the treadmill and live a little before you die.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 5:34:23 AM

mnottertail

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Well, I guess my 'Men at Work' CDs are worthless now........Dammit!

Ron

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 5:37:43 AM

pahunkboy

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after letting the article digest an hour- im now thinking it is some sort of propaganda.

globaliztion has squeezed alot of people. i think thier stats are off.

seems to me the underutilized talent the refer to- would be grabbed up in a minute.

(in reply to meatcleaver)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 6:23:45 AM

justheather

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quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

Well, I guess my 'Men at Work' CDs are worthless now........Dammit!

Ron

"I said do you speak-a my language...
He just smiled and gave me a vegamite sandwich..."

Ron, that kind of poetry is priceless.

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 6:52:08 AM

IronBear

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From: Beenleigh, Qld, Australia
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quote:

ORIGINAL: justheather

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

Well, I guess my 'Men at Work' CDs are worthless now........Dammit!

Ron

"I said do you speak-a my language...
He just smiled and gave me a vegamite sandwich..."

Ron, that kind of poetry is priceless.

Just good Aussie song writing combined with an Aussie SoH... Vegimite sanga, snags on the barbi and an iced can of Fosters.... Well maybe a shiela or two and a game of Aussie Rules on the TV (Go Brissie Lions)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 6:56:42 AM

justheather

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Like I said, IB....poetry.
:-)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 7:38:18 AM

Lordandmaster

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My favorite line is:

Traveling in a fried-out combi, on a hippy trail, head full of zombie.

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 7:42:03 AM

mnottertail

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I see you are taken, I could show you that american..'women glow and men thunder' as well........and would love to shred your stockings at least. But I suppose I must retire to the barbi and fosters with my good friend IB.

Not a bad way to go, all in all.

LOL,
Ron

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 9:05:43 AM

Dauric

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Yeah, did some freelance web design here. Pulling 16 hour days out of a home office, then spending all my time looking for a contract when I didnt' have one. I either didn't have time for a life, or I didn't have money for a life.

$0.02

Dauric.

(in reply to meatcleaver)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 11:36:01 AM

meatcleaver

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It's so easy to get sucked into working 24 hours a day when you work for yourself and under price jobs thinking you need to undercut the opposition. When I have a design commission I try not to work more than four hours a day and I charge so I have a decent income and if the client doesn't want to pay, there are plenty of other people that will work for nothing but I'm going to do nothing for nothing. Luckily I have built up a reputation in what I do so my clients don't mind paying. However, I got that reputation because I love what I do, not because I was ambitious. There is no wy I'm going back to being a wage slave after experiencing the alternative, which is sitting with a good book and a beer on the terrace by the local haven when the weather here allows.

< Message edited by meatcleaver -- 7/31/2006 11:37:27 AM >

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 12:49:40 PM

popeye1250

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I worked 80-100 hour weeks gone for months at a time in the USCG. for many years.
Now I'm "retired" and enjoying all the fruits of those labors.
Wage slave? I'd rather take my chances in my own Business.

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 3:14:03 PM

WyrdRich

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I heard about this on the radio this morning, while making my insane commute. In the last year I've taken better than a 50% pay cut (still doing the same job for the same company mind you) and instead of working 2 miles from the house, I now travel either 44 or 100 miles (one-way), depending on where I'm needed. I could be kicking back on unemployment but I'd rather work. Basically, I'm giving it some time, hoping circumstances will change. I can keep doing it for a while.

It seems to me, these are the guys who have given up. For myself, I can't see it.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 3:33:32 PM

gooddogbenji

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Yano, I find it kind of scary. Tne article presented a few options how to finance this idea:

Live off of saved money, or severance package - Great. You earned the money, you get to spend it now. However, when that runs out.........

Live off your spouse or S.O. - If they play along, more power to you.

Take out a second mortgage, or otherwise borrow money - Fine, but how will you pay it back? Especially if you don't really plan on going back to work.

Live off of disability - This is the one that really gets me. Everyone pays into disability - the hardworking, the not so hard working, the lazy (Managers) So how is it fair that because I don't want to work, I say "my back hurts" and I get money for that????? If you break your spine at work, or lose a spleen, that's when you should get disability, but people who CAN work, should not make the rest of us pay more into that.

If anything, it's propaganda to make people say "Hey, you could work, stop taking my fucking money!"

Which I think we should do more often.

Work hard, retire early = good.
Work hard, fake disability = bad.

Yours,

benji

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 5:10:22 PM

IronBear

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quote:

ORIGINAL: justheather

Like I said, IB....poetry.
:-)

Perhaps you would enjoy John Williamsons song True Blue it makes a wonderfull point these days....

quote:

True Blue - John Williamson What is "True Blue"? Well that's the question I had to answer really when John Singleton asked me to write a theme for his "True Blue Aussies" TV program in the early 80's. Hence the words "Is it me and you? Is it Mum and Dad" etc... A Pom in Coventry reckons the saying came from a mulberry orchard in his town. (Mulberries apparently were used in the old days to dye the blue coats of British Soldiers). And it was this one particular orchard that had the "true blue" colour that the army preferred. Well, perhaps this is why in the USA "True Blue" is more connected to the armed forces and their patriotism. In Australia, however, it has come to mean the cream of "fair dinkums". I receive many letters from bereaved families telling me how they used this song to bury their "True Blue" Dad or Mum, Son or Daughter. And this helps me explain that it means all of the following: 1. An honest person to be trusted
2. His/her word is his/her bond
3. The person loves Australia and respects the nature of the land
4. Feels Australian and is proud of it
5. Cares about others. A really good mate
6. Something that is truly, unmistakably Australian. (Like "shouting" a beer in a pub or a kelpie dog) The list could go on. I guess the same principles apply to any nation. But we happened to coin the phrase first.

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Your attitude, words & actions are yours. Take responsibility for them and the consequences they incur.

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 5:37:22 PM

popeye1250

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Gee, isn't this "Global Economy" great?

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 7:03:29 PM

gardenbluebird

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As one who brought herself out of poverty through lots of hard work I find the idea of someone who is capable of working, but choses to live off the hard work of others offensive. It is one thing to work hard and leave the workforce with a plan, it is entirely another to decide that you are "too good" to accept the jobs that are available. It is especially bad when people expect others to work and support them, but they themselves don't want to get off the sofa. Don't even get me started on having kids and not supporting them because the jobs available are not to one's liking.

My husband is disabled (really - heart condition, in a wheelchair, hands so bad he can no longer even write his own name) and hasn't worked for years. But he had the good sense to have insurance for the unexpected. Still he contributes to the household and does what he can to make life easier for me now that I am the primary breadwinner.

I have one word for someone who doesn't pull their weight in this world - dishonorable.

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 8:59:03 PM

FangsNfeet

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If you don't need the money, then why work?

Unfortunatly, I've always needed the money and found myself working many under paid jobs to get it untill things got better. Even after having experiene and training in EKG/Telemetry, EMT, CNA, Rehab, and Pharmacy Tech, I found myself waiting for jobs to open up. While waiting, I did day work for Ready Labor and was a kids leader at the YMCA working for minimum wage.

But if you have the funds to pay bills, buy gas, and live good, then why work? Would you really be so bored that you just needed to work? Back in college, I had a crapy job where you mailed videos out to people. The order came in and you walked all around the place picking up the videos and then stacking them to ship out. An English Professor decided to take a part time job doing this because "I just need a little exercise."

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RE: men not working - 7/31/2006 9:20:37 PM

gooddogbenji

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I was actually just talking to a friend tonight about this.

I am lucky enough that, if I chose not to, I could live well without ever going to work for a single day. I do not rely on my paycheck at all. I mean, it's nice to have, but if I got fired tomorrow, I would not be worried financially.

That having been said, my friend commented on how I quit my last job, took 2 months off, and then looked for a job at least 8 hours per day. I could not imagine spending a month without work without a game plan (travel, other projects, etc)

So why work if you don't have to? To pass the time, to feel useful, to get rid of excess energy, and to make those extra bucks to go drinking with.

Yours,

benji

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RE: men not working - 8/2/2006 2:57:10 PM

LadyEllen

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Hmmm! Seems to be the people not working in my neighbourhood do alright for themselves - a house, food, clothing, beer and cigarette money, a car - all paid for by the taxes on my work. They have children - and get more money for that, so end up having 6, 7, 8 children for the extra cash. Then the poor dears complain about their ill treatment from the social security at having such a large family in a small house - and get given the sort of house that ordinary working people couldnt ever possibly afford to rent or buy - along with a grant for a few thousand pounds to furnish it.

I have no objection to paying tax to support the ill, the aged and the disabled. My problem is with paying tax to support the kind of scrounging scumbags amongst whom I live here. People of my age, who have lived off my efforts for the last twenty years, and who regardless of their actual status as beggars have a standard of living equal to mine. It could make me cynical and go for the same lifestyle...... except that I have too much honour to do that.

However, I have escaped the 9 to 5 nonetheless. I started my own business. OK at the start, and from time time even now, it requires me to put in some serious hours - but most of the time I have little that I have to do compared to when I worked for others, and am free to decide my day.

E

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