Work That Americans Refuse to Do

A few of the posts around here use the term "work that Americans refuse to do".

Yes, there is and always has been really ugly jobs that none of us want to do.

What ever happened to the traditional American approach to the ugly jobs, namely getting a machine to do them?

I am talking here about nasty, gross and ugly stuff.

Spreading blacktop, framing houses, trowelling concrete, digging dirt or landscaping are not ugly nasty jobs.

Or is it that we use the phrase to hide the fact that we Americans see ourselves above common ocnstruction or other manual labor?

Or is the phrase used to hind the fact that some illegal guy will dig for money paid under the table?

We have a bit of sorting out to do.

A few of the posts around here use the term "work that Americans refuse to do".

Yes, there is and always has been really ugly jobs that none of us want to do.

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Unblocking sewers springs to mind here, however once you get past the horrible smell that takes 3 showers to get rid of, its quite a fun job really

Boris

<<once spent the day cleaning fresh water filters that had been left standing for 4 months.... they were'nt fresh then

I get the feeling that a lot of Gen X'rs really wouldnt want a job that requires them to go outside, maybe that is what they are talking about. I have done a bit of roofing on a black flat roof in july, hauled a 28 ft fiberglass ladder around 8 hours in august doing cable work (30-40 poles a day.....move ladder, do work, move van and ladder, do another pole, etc.) Both of those jobs were hard, and not real secure....but I'd do either again to earn my way in the world.

Bill

The problem is these lazy a@@es get paid more on welfare than working. Since they have absolutely no respect for themselves or others, and the system caters to these mutts, why should they change their ways?


Andy

The unstated part of the sentence, which is all too often ignored is "at what we are willing to pay".

There are a lot of jobs which citizens do not wish to do at $5.15 an hour which they are quite happy to do for $8.00 - $10.00 an hour. But if the would be employer is only willing to pay...$4.00 per houre, he is 1) violating wage & hour requirements, and 2) saying "Americans won't do this work".

And welfare does set a bottom limit for acceptable wages for those with enough street smarts to get it even though they may not be legally qualified.

At one time (maybe still) Hollywood actors were considered professional successes if they worked enough to qualify for unemployment.

Charles

The unstated part of the sentence, which is all too often ignored is "at what we are willing to pay".

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Agree! But the fact that there are workers (of some nationality) lined up to take them illustrates the supply/demand part of this.

I am always very nice to my garbage and recycling pick-up guys because I think they have a rotten job. Don't know what the pay is, but it's probably ok since this is Fairfax County!

Regarding work conditions and pay, it has been forcefully pointed out to me that the manufacturing jobs whose loss we moan only became desirable when work conditions and pay were elevated. (I hate to mention that four-letter word that starts with a U**** and has 5 letters! )

I think the phrase "jobs Americans won't do" is media/political BS propaganda.


Like Railfan has already mentioned, there has to be some details about the job pay, working conditions etc. There is a huge difference in "I won't do that type of work" and a company saying "I won't pay that wage when cheap illegal labor is available".

I also think that the current generation has been raised in the get rich quick idea. Bill Gates earning billions, Trump, frivilous lawsuits and even the lottery. ( and welfare fraud). Why should someone have to break a sweat to earn a living isn't it OWED to them for being born?<sarcasm>

Poor kids- they been hornswoggled again- all those people they think "got rich quick"- well guess what, they were BORN RICH!
Trump's daddy was rich. Bill Gates was born with a trust fund.

CASE (Computer Assisted Software Engineering) and CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) have taken a lot of jobs out of the development sector.

I can do more with CASE now than two or three of me could have done even five years ago. CASE writes your code and generates documentation. You can go through cycles faster too.

Gene

Yes, there is and always has been really ugly jobs that none of us want to do.

Here's a yucky job - Reuse Technician.

A Reuse Tech takes a kidney dialyser which is still piping hot from the patient's use. No kidding, fresh ones are warm to the touch.

The tech opens the end capss of the dialyser and scoops out the clotted blood. They can use a gloved finger or a spray nozzle that shoots ultra pure water. Down the drain it goes...

They then clean out those end caps and put 'em back on.

Hook the dialyser up to a machine. The machine is either a robot or a semi automatic gadget. It removes the blood. You have to watch how the process goes, and yes there is a lot of skill to it. I could keep an urban hellhole in the black from the money I saved in reuse which is no mean feat.

Sooner or later you measure how much water you can squirt back out. Eighty percent of the original use volume, it doesn't look bad, and back into service it goes - after you fill it with sterilant.

All you have between your skin and lingering death are latex gloves, gowns, surgical masks and a face shield. Yes, sometimes the machinery fails and you get sprayed. I've also nailed people who refused to clear out in time. They got drenched.

It's pretty easy, as long as the ventilation works. One time I got a whiff of the blood and almost lost my lunch. If I didn't smell any blood, provided that something didn't explode and drench me in it, I was okay.

Of course the sterilants are pretty gross. I either used formaldehyde or a nasty chemical known as "peracetic acid" (basically it's vinegar mixed with hydrogen peroxide). Either one will damage your skin, your eyes or your clothes. I still have my work clothes and they're covered in spots.

Incidentally, this is the most important job in a dialysis clinic outside of direct patient care. You don't do it right and people die. It's by far the poorest paying job in the clinic.

I'm embarassed to say how much I got paid for risking my life and health. Sure was glad when I got to fix dialysis machines too.

Gene

Or is it that we use the phrase to hide the fact that we Americans see ourselves above common ocnstruction or other manual labor?

Or is the phrase used to hind the fact that some illegal guy will dig for money paid under the table?

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I choose to posit it's an amalgam of the two.

Done some really nasty stuff since giving up on finding any help two years ago. As a matter of fact, I smell like diesel, sweat and grease right now!

A construction company is located beside us temporarily at our shop while they widen the highway. The foreman said he has problems with what he calls "kids." He said they mainly still live at home, and their paychecks are for spending money. He's having a devil of a time finding/keeping help. Mostly young white kids, in this case, but not all.

Richard

I knew one guy who ran a landscaping co. He LIKED hiring guys on work release for DUI, because they couldnt get drunk at night, and coming to work was less boring than being in jail. It worked fine for him.

Bill

If we stopped welfare payments, and all the free handouts, the number of folks coming out of the woodwork to work would be amazing.
Paying someone 300 bucks a week unemployment means any job at 7.50 an hour or less is a pay cut..
Thats what is meant by "they won't do the work"

Media Hype !

Rich

Unsavory work should be done by convicts, not illegal aliens, forced labor is the answer.

I know how much GeneH got paid - it was the same rate as the guy scrubbing the toilets!

Ted

At the chicken plant in the next county, they have automated a lot of operations. There are machines that do most of the defeathering, cutting up and the like. Deboning breast fillets may be the main manual operation.

There is a chain that goes by with hooks on it. Someone has to hang the chicken by its feet on the hook. It goes between two metal plates that are electrified, and it electrocutes the chicken.

I have been told they have something like a vacuum cleaner that sucks out the insides. They use a lot of water, like in pressure washers, to clean with.

A friend of mine got some machine from the chicken plant as scrap metal. Most everything is stainless steel. This machine had a hugh cam made of plastic. It was like three or four feet in diameter and a couple feet tall. There was all kinds of hoses. It was a machine that did something to a chicken. Very complicated.

The pay there is about $9 an hour. I had a cousin worked there three years. I think the biggest problem working there is that they treat you like dirt. It is not the working conditions, although the place does smell terrible a mile away. Eye infections occur frequently. This is one of the main hazards from working there. They tell the workers never to touch their eye while working on chickens. They wear kelvar gloves to keep from cutting themselves, and work in rooms cooled down to 50 or so degrees.

Boredom is a problem, so they switch people frequently from one place to another.

They ran the place without any latinos for ten or fifteen years, so 'americans' must have been doing the work during that time.

On another note: Most public school teachers I have met have a socialistic lean. I think it rubs off on the students. People today have the idea that government is there to take care of you. That you are owed a living. The reality of economics escapes most people.

As posted previously; take away the welfare and see how many workers you suddenly find.

Also, many or most illegals do NOT come here to work. They come to live off of the system, the same as people already here. Most of them are getting welfare or some government assistance. The public cost of these illegals is tremendous, and never mentioned by Bush. If you took away this public support from illegals, you would find many wouldn't want to come here in the first place.

"Work that Americans refuse to do".

There are several examples of this term.

1. Those jobs that pay less than social services.
Most Americans on welfare long ago traded
their pride for a free ride. Now it is a
financial loss to take these jobs, so those
Americans rufuse to do those jobs.

2. Cash under the table jobs.
A lot of these jobs pay reasonably to very
well. I know several illegals working in
home construction getting $12.00 to $15.00
an hour cash. How does an American opt out of
the system? If I take such a job, how do I
explain to IRS no wages, yet house and car
payments made?

3. Those jobs that would pay closer to a living
wage, if not for illegals.
Agriculture jobs seem to be a huge item.
Studies have shown that in the vegetable
market, cost of labor is approx. 10% of the
cost of produce. I'll pay 10 cents more for
my salad, no problem.

No one askes how the illegals are able to
live on these wages? Yes, Americans are
unwilling to live in squallar , or 15 to a
household to survive at these wages.

Most jobs that "Americans refuse to do" are CREATED by the very fact that illegals are here.
If the illegals were not here, those jobs would pay a living wage or cease to exist.

Al

I got this a while back from a friend


YANKEE INGENUITY

I have a friend who is president of his homeowner's association in the
Washington, D.C. suburbs. They were having a terrible problem with litter
near some of his association's homes. The reason according to Wallace (my
friend) is that six very large, luxurious new houses are being built
right next to their community.

The trash was coming from the Mexican laborers working at the
construction sites and included bags from McDonalds, Burger King and
7-11, plus coffee cups, napkins, cigarette butts, coke cans, empty
bottles, etc. He went to see the site supervisor and even the general
contractor, politely urging them to get their workers not to litter the
neighborhood, to no avail. He called the city, county, and police and
got no help there either.

So here's what his community did They organized about twenty folks,
named themselves The "Inner Neighborhood Services" group, and arranged to
to go out at lunch time and "police" the trash themselves. It is what
they did while picking up the trash that is so hilarious.

They bought navy blue baseball caps and had the initials "INS"
embroidered in gold on the caps.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what they hoped people
might, mistakenly, think the letters really stand for.

After the Inner Neightborhood Services group's first lunchtime pickup
detail, with all of them wearing their caps and some carrying cameras; 46
out of the total of 68 construction workers did not show up for work the
next morning--and haven't come back yet.

It has been ten days now.

The General Contractor, I'm told, is madder than hell, but can't say
anything publicly because he could be busted for hiring illegal aliens.
Wallace and his bunch can't be accused of impersonating federal
personnel, because they have the official name of the group recorded in
their homeowner association minutes along with a notation about the vote
to approve formation of the new subcommittee--and besides, they informed
the INS in advance of their plans and according to Wallace the INS said
basically, "Have at it"!

SO FOLKS, I THINK YOU COULD SAY THAT YANKEE INGENUITY TRIUMPHS AGAIN!

Most jobs that "Americans refuse to do" are CREATED by the very fact that illegals are here.
If the illegals were not here, those jobs would pay a living wage or cease to exist.

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AMEN, brother, AMEN!

My biggest gripe with the "living wage" issue is it is more than I make as a skilled tradesman, if their gonna bump non skilled warm body jobs up to $15 an hour, then I want $30 an hour. Call it "living wage x have a brain and decided on a course for my life"


I'm only 41 but my first job paid $4 an hour in 1983

Bill