Antick Musing's Fridays, Black and Otherwise

[james_davis_nicoll]

[...] [M]odern Westerners can be separated by the work they did when they were young and unskilled. One great mass worked in retail, selling goods of one kind or another. A second cohort worked in food service, waiting tables or working a grill. And the third group, seemingly the luck ones, were those rich or privileged enough not to have to work at all -- the ones who were children, then entirely students, and then set off on their careers, without ever having had "just a job."

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely certain this sort of broad humor is supposed to be analyzed this way.

[rosefox]

I need an XKCD-style "MY HOBBY: Taking joking people seriously".

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It seems to me the objections would vanish like Bob Stanfield's chances at becoming Prime Minister [1] if in the phrase "And the third group" "the" was replaced with "a".


1: Americans may substitute "Michael Dukakis' chances at becoming President".

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

You know, I was just thinking the same thing. He meant it lightly, and I really took no offense to what he said or didn't say. He seems like a nice guy, and I hope all of this isn't distressing him; I certainly meant no criticism.

But I'm glad that we can sit here and pull it apart a bit, because I think that deconstructing our assumptions is a good thing.

[andrewwheeler.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure -- it's not even my formulation to begin with. It was really designed, as I recall, to explain late '80s college students.

And the one thing underlying it is the gulf between people who need to get "a job" -- just something they can get to make some money -- and people who have something else (whatever that is) that they're going to do for specific reasons.

But I do think there's something valuable in having had "just a job" -- something that didn't lead anywhere, and never was going to lead anywhere -- in one's past.