Black Friday - Exposing Americas Class system

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 22 2006, 11:49 AM) [snapback]353154[/snapback]</div>

My conclusion is you reap what you sow:

Cashier class = screwed around and dropped out of HS or never went to college, therefore has a minimum wage job.
Office class = worked hard, got good grades in HS and went on to college or more and now are getting a much deserved day off.

Sure there are exceptions (recent immigrants working their way up the ladder, those who grew up with mom on crack, etc.). But on the whole, I'm not sure the system is so screwed up, but rather the decisions of a lot of people within the system are screwed up. Just my 2 cents. I'm sure it will provoke howls of protest.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 22 2006, 02:49 PM) [snapback]353154[/snapback]</div>

This has got to be one of the dumber posts I have yet seen on PC. Maybe you should go back and retract your post...

What's your point? And just how do you propose to fix the "screwed up system"? I'll get you started with my great idea; how about the Feds send everyone $5,000/month (even those evil office workers) and then we ALL could have everyday off and not work... Everyday would be a shopping day!!! I can't wait!!!!

Rick
#4 2006

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Nov 22 2006, 03:15 PM) [snapback]353165[/snapback]</div>

Looks like the turkey arrived a day early :lol: Just a joke.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Nov 22 2006, 03:33 PM) [snapback]353177[/snapback]</div>

Looking back I think I need to fix that hole in my cheek the hook left in it. I can even remember hearing the reel "zinging" as I took out the line.

Should have listened to my intuition, it WAS too dumb to be true... ARRGGGHHH...Maybe I should retract MY post!!!!

Rick
#4 2006

 

in some ways i agree with daron o) and in some ways i agree with tim.

i've been through the cashier class. i was the cashier class in high school and in college. i never got a single holiday off until my first year of graduate school. (and we're still expected to work most holidays except the major ones around here)

it sucked. no simpler way to state it. but it showed me what i didn't want to do for the rest of my life. it made me push that much harder to move up in life.

however, lots of people that i worked with didn't have the resources to go any further than that retail job they had. some due to their own poor decisions, and some due to circumstances in their lives. some due to both, no doubt.

motivation alone is not enough to get people into the more desirable job sectors, and that's how i can't agree completely with either argument.

 

I really don't think it's a great idea to make this sort of generalization.

Folks end up where they end up for all sorts of reasons...things that may seem controllable to us may not be to them (and vice versa).

I happened to be able to lift myself "above" (if you'll pardon the use of the word) this "class" through a tremendous amount of effort and sacrifice...but it's just as likely that I might not have been able to...I would humbly suggest that most people who say that "poor people need to work harder" or somesuch are the ones who were never faced with this sort of challenge in the first place.

It's lots more difficult than it appears; there are all sorts of basic obstacles that folks with access to even moderate resources would never imagine.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(viking31 @ Nov 22 2006, 04:05 PM) [snapback]353202[/snapback]</div>

I was referring to the original post - not you. I agree with you.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Nov 22 2006, 04:19 PM) [snapback]353213[/snapback]</div>

Are you pointing out another one othe the multiple functional utilities of WalMart?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Nov 22 2006, 06:05 PM) [snapback]353256[/snapback]</div>

how do you mean?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 22 2006, 11:49 AM) [snapback]353154[/snapback]</div>

Strange that this post was written by the same person who wrote this one:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 21 2006, 10:39 AM) [snapback]352599[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TimBikes @ Nov 22 2006, 02:59 PM) [snapback]353158[/snapback]</div>

My wife is a Pharmacist. She went grad school and has a Pharm.D. She had good grades. She has risen to levels of management that I will never see. She works for large retail chain.

I have MS in computer science. I had good grades. I have started 3 companies, sold 2 of them. I am active software developer, architect, and sometimes artist. I presently work out of the house, have a 13 step commute to the office.

We both are working Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday. Which "class" would this thread generalize us into?

 

Back when I was on salary, I used to LOVE coming into the office on Sundays and holidays because it meant I basically not only had the network to myself but wasn't being constantly interrupted and could get twice as much work done in the time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bigdaddy @ Nov 22 2006, 06:58 PM) [snapback]353277[/snapback]</div>

Many PC'ers would classify you in the "evil" class. Never mind your education and long hours. Those are inconsequential. The fact that you make more money than most automatically puts you in that class. You don't pay your "fair share" in taxes (you never will), most likely have a larger house than most, pay for your own health insurance, and might even have (horrors) and SUV or a pickup truck.

Oh, and displaying capitalistic qualities such as starting, buying, running, and selling companies, well that makes you extra "evil". ;-)

Rick
#4 2006
a super "evil" capitalist

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 22 2006, 02:49 PM) [snapback]353154[/snapback]</div>

Maybe they could trade jobs for a day, sort of. On Saturday, once a year the office workers could work as cashiers so the cashiers can shop.
I worked at a Kroger years ago while still in school and I worked weekends, holidays, etc. What about all the people that hold jobs as shift workers. They won't be off either. I work at an electric utility and there are people there round the clock (operator, maintenance, security, etc). They don't get off. As it is, I'm even working Thanksgiving day, and I'm management (non-shift worker).
It doesn't just apply to cashiers and office workers.

 

In America, no one FORCES anyone into any job. In fact, in America, you can not work at all and still live OK.

Someone has to do ALL of these jobs. One should be grateful to be serving in any capacity. Pride, class, status, etc. is all a "state of mind". The guy who delivers floor mats to our HQ (Aramark, by the way) wears a tie, smiles, whistles, calls us all "sir" and is one of the happiest guys I see. he shore as H*ll doesn't make as much as some of the sourpusses he calls sir.

Lastly, I have to deal with ALL classes and there is really no difference in any of them, when you get right down to it. Good AND bad.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bigdaddy @ Nov 22 2006, 03:58 PM) [snapback]353277[/snapback]</div>

I don't prefer the use of "class" at all - but was responding to the original post that framed this up in that way.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Nov 22 2006, 08:19 PM) [snapback]353297[/snapback]</div>

And in fact, in America, you can work your nice person off and still NOT live OK. And that's what really sucks.

 

When I first moved to North Dakota, in 1970, we still had the blue laws. Basically, business shut down on Sundays. A few pharmacies, by rotation, were open, and in the small towns the pharmacist was on call in case of emergency. Grocery stores could be open, but were not permitted to sell pre-cooked foods, and they operated on a skeleton staff. No liquor was sold.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and I strongly supported these laws even though their main proponents were the religious crowd, because they gave life a calmer quality. Some people still had to work, especially emergency workers, and some cashiers, but the latter were in reduced demand so a cashier would have some Sundays and some holidays off.

But capitalism marches inexorably on, and greed trumps quality of life, and the blue laws were gradually eroded as legislators buckled under to the demands of the ever-bigger retailers, for whom a dollar's profit is more important than allowing a worker time with her family. I don't know if any of the laws remain, but basically Sunday is now just another shopping day in North Dakota, as in the rest of the country.

I sided with the religious folks on this one, because the injunction to give every worker a day of rest is one of the good things the Bible has to offer.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Nov 23 2006, 03:00 AM) [snapback]353429[/snapback]</div>

Yeah. I saw that somewhere. Sad! I don't even celebrate xmas, and I still think it's sad.