I wonder how much they get paid?

[@tokyo 14]

Ever wondered that?

 

There's some roadworks going on near where I live. Been going on for about 2 months now. Quiet road. Not much traffic at all. But of course there's tons of guys with flags "helping" the poor drivers who wouldn't be able to cope without their red and white flags telling them when to stop and go.

 

One guy I have noticed is there every day. Every day, in the same place looking bored out of his skull.

 

Wonder what sort of wage someone like that gets?

[Chriselle 158]

I'd venture a guess of about 1300 yen/hour.

[joshnii 2]

That much!?

[Chriselle 158]

The conbini night shift is about 1000 isn't it?

[Go Native 70]

I'd say they'd be lucky to get Y1,000 per hour up here in Hokkaido.

[Chriselle 158]

8000 yen per day apparently.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

What is the standard kind of wage for manual boring type work?

Would the construction workers get more than that?

[muikabochi 208]

I see lots of signs for arubaito etc and they seem to be around 800 yen.

[Error404 0]

I'm convinced 5% of the total Japanese workforce spend their days holding and waving red and white flags "directing traffic".

[cucumber-farmer 0]

There's some roadworks outside my house at the moment. The other day I was watching one of these guys. We live in a very rural area and there is very little traffic. There was a time during the day when there were no cars for 20 minutes - I timed it. The guy was stood there all that time just doing nothing. It would drive me mad. The crazy thing is, there really is no need for a person to be doing that anyway even if there was more traffic, it's just a minor bit of roadworks and easy for a driver to see the other side and make a judegement.

[mina2 6]

You'd have to pay me more than 800 yen to do that!

[Go Native 70]

Keeps people employed though doesn't? I reckon if Japan ever brought in the sort of strict economic efficiency measures that most western capitalist nations and companies have done over the last 30 or so years half this country's workforce would be out of a job!

[Slippery Jim 65]

One thing for drivers to keep in mind: those guys have no legal authority, and more importantly, no responsibility. If one of them waves you on and you run over the little old lady they didn't notice was stepping out from behind the tree...it's 100% your fault. Never just follow their directions without checking yourself.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Bloody hell that makes them even more pointless!

[grungy-gonads 54]

Who employs them anyway?

[thursday 1]

Your taxes

[muikabochi 208]

Security companies I was told.

But I would like to know if that was true.

[NoFakie 45]

Jim is right, you're responsible for the car no matter what someone tells you. Its the same if someone backs you up in a car park or a filling station with the alright alright.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

Originally Posted By: Slippery Jim

One thing for drivers to keep in mind: those guys have no legal authority, and more importantly, no responsibility. If one of them waves you on and you run over the little old lady they didn't notice was stepping out from behind the tree...it's 100% your fault. Never just follow their directions without checking yourself.

It'd be great if people here actually stopped and looked. They're so used to people waving a flag and following, so the thought of looking is often beyond them. Ive seen a few accidents because of those 白髪s

[big-will 7]

I snarl when I go past a useless flag-waving dude.

Just to let him know he is useless.

 

Thing that gets me is how seriously and majime they take the job. Can imagine it back home what the work attitude would be!

[KRUSTY 2]

I much prefer my taxes to pay for people to do these flag waving jobs etc no matter how useless or pointless it may appear.........better than all the tax money wasted back home paying people the dole for years on end while they sit around at home smoking pot and drinking piss and having more kids which they cant afford.

[thursday 1]

(Well Krusty, I'll presume that you're from the UK. Please excuse the insult if you're not. For this context, UK would do fine.)

 

Your taxes have gone to supporting the illegal immigrants who call themselves "political refugees".

 

Now that Dave Cameron needs to cut expenditure, he has taken the knife to the softer targets, ie UK citizens with their bloated public expense. He dares not touch the "human rights" issues of the rufugees or the whole goddam immigrant world (and the UN) would bad mouth him.

[bobby12 0]

My mum works in the public sector and she says everything is being cut like mad since the tories came in, lots of small local nurseries and community services closing down. London is mad, everyone seems so poor it is like a shanty town or something around my old area now.

 

Anyway back on topic, those flag guys are basically on the japanese version of the dole. I would imagine they get 500yen an hour. Most of them look semi-homeless (by that I mean they live in those hellhole slum-like tiny apartments in ancient buildings at major traffic intersections, above porno shops etc)

[thursday 1]

The UK should splash out on the 2012 Olympics.

[sanjo 2]

They get more than 500 yen an hour bobby. In fact, isn't the minimum wage more than that? I heard that they got paid fairly well for manual kind of work, though again how reliable that info is I don't know.