this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Anytime I've done some world building in my head for the great human empire :tm: it involves some sort of rotational labor period in each citizens early 20's to give them exposure to a few different styles of work
It's a nice way to give back to the community while also getting to see how the rest of the world lives
I'm sure there's flaws with it but sounds a hell of a lot better than what we have now
I genuinely believe everyone should serve some sort of customer service role at least once in their life.
Except the American response to this would be to be extra shitty to retail workers since customers were shitty to them during their tour.
Yeah...I thought that as soon as I hit Enter.
That’s not how walking a mile in someone else’s shoes work. It’s the opposite.
Many Americans believe that the new guys have to suffer, like they had to, and that it’s the suffering that unites us. Many don’t seem to be ok with being the last ones that suffer so the next don’t have to, which is seen as unfair. At least that’s been my experience living over here.
That's a really unfortunate philosophy because at best it guarantees things never improve
Oh yeah, it’s very unfortunate, specially considering that saying about planting trees whose shade we will never enjoy.
That's not how it should work, but it does. It's a conservative thing to lack empathy. They struggled 20 years ago, so 1. It must be the same exact struggle and 2. Instead of making life better for all, they'll actively contribute to maintaining shitty life for these "entry" people because that's apparently just how it works.
They want $15/hr for flipping burgers? I only got $4! (inflation is meaningless, intangible, and not calculable)
They want more savings and less money? Stop buying coffee! (bespoke coffee has tracked way lower than inflation, making daily Starbucks pretty insignificant compared to rent)
They want more respect in customer service? Why, I dealt with all kinds of bullshit! (as demonstrated by their shitty attitude, with less working hours, better benefits, lower population density, less stripped work force, local management support, and a higher percentage of people speaking the common language)
It's not walking a mile in their shoes, to them. It's walking in very different shoes and assuming everyone's shoes are the same. Just look at any meth overdose death story when it's a nice white girl. She just made a mistake, or got tricked, or was down on hard times. If the case looks like their own daughter, there's empathy. Anyone else? Victim's fault.
It's more like, "I had to walk a mile so everyone else should have to!"
Lol have you heard of hazing??
What is this, academia?
I've had similar thoughts. Maybe not a rotation, but a compulsory period of service following high school that where people can select from a variety of public service assignments.
Compulsory service exists in many parts of the world and it is rarely good.
Forcing people to do work they don't want to do leads to very unproductive environments that are also very open to abuse. Being forced by law to do the work has a tendency to create super unhealthy power dynamics.
Likewise, I think 2 years of public service or military should be compulsory. The truth is we do need a defense force given the world, but it'd also be nice to have americorps or something expanded to fit the service option. Make military service more enticing than the other, I don't care, but provide room and board, and a spending allowance at the very least for both.
I think if you could opt out of you really really didn't want to do a particular job then it would be fine. Maybe if it's a job that a lot of people dislike, like sanitation, you could provide an incentive to make it worthwhile - like you get the next season off.
Well I imagine it like high school electives. You get to pick from a selection and go through 3 or 4 until you're ready to settle one some sort of career
Great, I would love to have some free research assistants! Oh wait, these plans invariably only concern manual labor (real work TM).
What's the equivalent today? Volunteering? Summer jobs?
Military service
community theatre and improv comedy
Americorps and the peace corp are a thing, but I'll admit, I'm not sure how much of a thing?