Pride in your work

[sanjo 2]

Question is - why do those guys and gals doing the crappy work appear to have some pride in it, when for example in the UK they seem to be unable to do so. Bad management, culture at large, just couldn't be assed. Did it always used to be like that? I bet my grandad would say it wasn't..

[Tubby Beaver 209]

The best non-job I have ever seen is the "Bike stander-upper"

 

These guys are employed simply to stand up fallen bikes that are outside the station!!! Quality!!

 

Just imagine the pep talk from yer Dad:

 

" now son, you eat all yer greens, stick in at school and maybe one day you could stand bikes up, just like me!!!"

 

[stemik 14]

 Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver

The best non-job I have ever seen is the "Bike stander-upper"

These guys are employed simply to stand up fallen bikes that are outside the station!!! Quality!!

Just imagine the pep talk from yer Dad:

" now son, you eat all yer greens, stick in at school and maybe one day you could stand bikes up, just like me!!!"

they probably work for the council, get a bonus twice a year and all medical costs and pensions paid for.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Probably.....but when it boils down to it, their job sucks! It must be so mind numbingly boring

[thursday 1]

I think the elevator ladies in their pretty dresses and hats take the prize for the most comatose inducing job.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

or the baton weilding guides that usher you round bollards at the side of the road

[bobby12 0]

A few days ago I was in the middle of nowhere, just some everyday intersection with no construction around, basically just rice fields, and one of those baton-wavers was stood there. He wasnt waving any traffic, just standing there watching the occasional car pass. 4 hours later on my way home he was still there.

 

I concluded he either:

- has a very very weird hobby

- is mentally ill

- is some kind of spy from north korea who got lost

[2pints-mate 0]

You forgot the other option

 

- he is being paid to be there, there are roadworks 2 miles up the road and he has a very important job

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Stupid question I suppose - but who is paying? The Government? Isn't that from taxes? Are Japanese Taxes like super high to cover the expense of all these non-jobs?

 

I confused!

 

I noticed the number of people on jobs were we would have a little yellow plastic warning sign, or one person (as opposed to 20) - and I wondered about it at the time...but now that this thread has popped up ... I can do a Pauline Hanson .... "Please explain?"

 

TIA

[thursday 1]

Pauline Hanson can go swivel on those batons.

[2pints-mate 0]

Who is Pauline Hanson?

[bobby12 0]

 Originally Posted By: mamabear

Stupid question I suppose - but who is paying? The Government? Isn't that from taxes? Are Japanese Taxes like super high to cover the expense of all these non-jobs?

my theory is that the government has some weird law in place to force construction companies into employing people in this way. i presume they are allowed to pay them total peanuts to do the job. in doing do, it gets the otherwise homeless off the streets and out of trouble, and removes the burden from the government of paying income support.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Thanks Bobby. Considering unemployment benefits, work for the dole, people rorting the system, but others who depend on the system....I am keenly interested to discover how the system operates in other places.

 

I know there have been moves more and more to stop our people from getting on welfare and then just sitting back for a bludge - there are hoops to jump through now....but getting the balance right is tough. I work with a single mum of 2 girls, struggling to put food on the table, taking work where she can get it but still be there to pick her kids up from school - she is a contributor - a hard worker - but she feels a great responsibility for her children. Dad disappeared out of the picture and does not help in any way - particularly of note, not financially. But she is now being forced to accept work an hours drive from home/school or more and outside of school hours, where she ends up paying more in childcare than she earns! Getting the balance right... tough job!

 

*******************************************************************

Pauline Hanson is the radical ex-leader, or is that leader once again? of the One Nation Party - a rather divisive political party here in Aus. Now I am generalising here, and this is purely my own opinion, but she is basically a white supremesist who wanted to put great big barracades around Aus and insulate us from the effects of anything not fitting her definition of "Asstraaayyylyan". A women who often did not understand what people were saying to her, or asking her, she often said "Please Explain".

 

The catch cry stuck and is now used for whenever you feel stupid asking for an explanation of something.

[NoFakie 45]

I think the baton wavers are a symptom of Japan's idiosyncratic take on health-and-safety, which ranges from way over-the-top to completely non-existent.

 

Getting back to the original point, its great that people can do menial work in Japan with a sense of pride and without others' looking down on them. Not everyone can be a high flyer, but everyone deserves a sense of self worth. Supposedly 90% of Japanese consider themselves "middle class", so that must include a good number of folk doing the jobs described.

 

Its a pity that job creation in Japan is often achieved through construction, but the act of creating jobs is far better than letting people rot on the dole or turn to crime.

 

When I lived in Amagasaki, I once got a copy of the city's accounts through the door. The number one spend on the "environment" page was "dealing with illegally parked bicycles". Here's an example from a city in Chiba.

 

http://www.city.ichikawa.chiba.jp/gikai/tayori/9902/1men.htm

[Tubby Beaver 209]

 Originally Posted By: bobby12

 Originally Posted By: mamabear

Stupid question I suppose - but who is paying? The Government? Isn't that from taxes? Are Japanese Taxes like super high to cover the expense of all these non-jobs?

my theory is that the government has some weird law in place to force construction companies into employing people in this way. i presume they are allowed to pay them total peanuts to do the job. in doing do, it gets the otherwise homeless off the streets and out of trouble, and removes the burden from the government of paying income support.

mate, my g/friend did it as a temp job for a little bit before she come out to scotland for a year and she got pretty decent money. She said that she would often turn up for work, do 4 hours and then get sent home with pay for 8.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

 Originally Posted By: Mr Wiggles

I think the baton wavers are a symptom of Japan's idiosyncratic take on health-and-safety, which ranges from way over-the-top to completely non-existent.

Getting back to the original point, its great that people can do menial work in Japan with a sense of pride and without others' looking down on them. Not everyone can be a high flyer, but everyone deserves a sense of self worth. Supposedly 90% of Japanese consider themselves "middle class", so that must include a good number of folk doing the jobs described.

Its a pity that job creation in Japan is often achieved through construction, but the act of creating jobs is far better than letting people rot on the dole or turn to crime.

When I lived in Amagasaki, I once got a copy of the city's accounts through the door. The number one spend on the "environment" page was "dealing with illegally parked bicycles". Here's an example from a city in Chiba.

http://www.city.ichikawa.chiba.jp/gikai/tayori/9902/1men.htm

It would appear this way. In Japan you cannot see the clear distinction in terms of where people live between the working and middle classes like you can in the west, where the lower working class often live in clear poverty. Out here everywhere looks the same.......like the buildings have been put up in the dark, so its more difficult to distinguish working and middle classes from where they live

[Mantas 3]

Wasn't Pauline Hanson Steve Irwins first wife?