"If stuff was just handed to me I'd have no motivation to do anything! That's human nature!" No, babe, that's depression. Psychologically healthy people are still motivated to do things even when their survival isn't being actively threatened.
[Image description: tweet by Roxi Horror @roxiqt on March 30, 2022 at 11:13 AM: “’Oh, so you think everyone should just be handed enough money to live?’ lol. lmao. yeah.”]
okay so like, we all know that housekeeping in a hotel is a Shit Job, right?
I worked with a woman who was independently wealthy. But she liked working housekeeping. So she did. And if the manager got bitchy with her, she’d just shrug and be like “Okay, I can quit.”
Like the manager treated her like a human being because she knew she had to because otherwise she’d lose one of her best workers.
Yes, everyone should be just handed the money to live.
I worked with a lady who’s husband made more than enough to support them both. She just did the retail to have something to do with herself part-time.
There’s a lot of people who’d happily do the same sort of thing. Honestly? A lot of the jobs we consider “shitty” jobs? Are shitty because the employees are treated like garbage.
If employees weren’t being screwed over by people higher up the chain constantly or being forced to kiss the asses of customers currently shitting all over them, those jobs would by and large be a whole lot more bearable, and appealing to more people!!
Plus rich people are just handed a lot of money, whether they earn it or not, and no one questions that. Only poor people getting money gets interrogated over and over and over again.
I’d like to add a footnote to this thread that the US gives more money (by way of the income tax reduction) to homeowners than it does to poor people who need subsidized housing.
My best teacher in high school was the guy who had previously made a ton of money that he could’ve retired at like 30. Man just wanted to teach teenagers.
If people as a whole were handed enough money to live on, maybe more people like him wouldn’t be put off by the poor salary teachers make. (also teachers should be paid a lot more)
There's also this assumption that if people were just handed enough money to live that they'd do absolutely nothing, as if they'd be satisfied being completely bored all the time. They'd still buy food. They'd still buy video games. They'd still go out and get coffee and put money into the economy even if they didn't want to work because they still want to LIVE. They'd buy movies. They'd go DO stuff. I review comic books on the internet and I love doing it, but I often have to compromise on some things because I just can't afford to do otherwise and I stress out about stuff because I need to earn money.
I'm disabled. If I were handed enough money to live, I would work. Because I wouldn't have to worry about the tomfuckery it plays with my benefits. Maybe I could find a job that only asked me to work as much as I'm able, not 40 hrs, and didn't penalize me. I could just...go work at an art store or frame shop for a couple of hours a day or something. We need to create jobs that are doable for people who can't do 40 or even 20 hours a week. I do not dream of labor, but I do dream of being able to have a humble profession with clear expectations and adequate compensation.
I’m also disabled and honestly, I don’t know that I could work but maybe I could like, work in a playgroup for babies a few hours a week. Or help people with world building for their writing without having to worry about income reporting (which is a trigger) or losing income and feeling really secure and comfortable.
There are, in this country, two groups of adults who (by and large) do not need to work a paying job. The wealthy, and retirees. (I’m not talking about people who are elderly but can’t afford not to work, I’m talking about people who genuinely have enough with social security and their savings that they don’t need to work.)
Most of the people who are wealthy enough not to work at a young age are still very active. A large percentage of them still have jobs! And even those who don’t have a paying job do a lot of stuff. They sit on the boards of charities, they play sports, they do stuff!
And as for retirees ... most of them are busier than they were when they were working, up until the point their health gets in the way and they can’t any more. They take care of their grandkids. They travel. They volunteer--seriously, a huge percentage of the community groups in any town or city run on retirees. Most small towns I know would cease functioning entirely if the retirees stopped volunteering.
And there used to be another large group of people who didn’t have paying work: housewives. Now, we all know that taking care of the house and kids is a really time-consuming job, but the crucial thing is that it’s more flexible than most jobs. And those women not only did all that housework and childcare, they also volunteered in a wide variety of social groups. That had a huge impact on society that we haven’t really ever studied to my knowledge.
The only group of adults I know of who a) don’t have paying work and b) don’t do other stuff are the people who can’t because they’re disabled.
The issue isn’t that people won’t work. It’s that the ‘shit’ jobs won’t be able to treat them like shit and still have employees, if nobody’s choosing between that job and homelessness.
