The name of my website is millsworks – as in: As little as possible. I have been described by those close to me as the world’s busiest lazy man. I’m built for comfort, not for speed. I prefer being horizontal.
Mike Rowe is the host of the television series Dirty Jobs where he explores (so we don’t have to) the filthiest crappiest jobs on the planet. I’m sure he’s only just begun to scratch the surface of the myriad of human toil considered to be less than worthy for the rest of us wallowing in this declining mess once called Western Civilization.
I’ve had my share of shitty gigs. I won’t bore you with the alleged street credentials of my god awful, mind numbing and soul destroying minimum wage days. Been there, done that, don’t want to go back.
Please understand – I’m not completely adverse to hard work. I have often worked myself sick doing the very things I love so dearly. Finishing a production and ending up in hospital as a result is not a rare experience for me. I just figure if I’m gonna wear myself to the bone for something it had damn well better be something I actually care about. Finding that sort of thing these days seems to be getting harder but that’s territory for a different blog post.
I like watching Rowe’s show and I enjoy his take on the gritty realities of life around us that we choose to ignore or separate ourselves from on a daily basis. The very things that make our lives of comfort possible are based upon the backs of those who do the work the rest of us so assiduously avoid.
In this TED Talk from last December, Rowe explores his experiences and comes to some common sense conclusions about the nature of hard work and why we need to support it.
Now if you’ll excuse me – I gotta get busy with my own shit.
Cheers.
Tags: busboy, busy, dirty jobs, dishwasher, fry cook, fuck me now i'm really tired, infrastructure, janitor, labor, lazy, mike rowe, millsworks, phone solicitation, robbo, shit, TED, the list goes on and on, work, worm picking
[...] I posted back in June 21st about the Parliamentary Industry Committee submitted a report entitled: Counterfeiting and Piracy Are Theft, where the Committee toed the U.S. media lobby line and recommended Canada adopt a copyright policy similar to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that has proven to be such a disasterous clusterfuck south of our borders. [...]
I was showing my students ‘Harlan County, USA’ the other day and it seemed to have a big impact on them. The great thing about documentaries is that it elicits empathy and they were really drawn to the simple and difficult lives of the mine workers.
They die of lung cancer. We heat our homes.
Mark
ooooo – that was good.
million dollar voice in a Denver Hayes wardrobe.
work is a dirty word… and c’mon, who really doesn’t like to get dirty.
man, love to get a job hosting one o’ these shows… preferably one with animals… and one where I didn’t have to work too hard… whoops.
xf
well… not a zen captcha but I’ll take it: humorous to
and the correct spelling too… nice.
Harlan County is a great doc. And I’m reminded of some of those great lines from, of all things, It’s A Wonderful Life: “They do most of the living and dying around here” – combine that with Grapes Of Wrath and you have a strong focus, albeit dramatic not documenatry, on the qualities of the working class that are so often neglected and abused in our world.
There’s a neat article here that might interest you in that regard:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/20
It’s sad to think – and know – that there wil always be such fodder for films like Haran County, USA.
silly monkeys