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Study Reveals the Happiest, Least Stressful Jobs in America (seattletimes.com) 129

"Envy the lumberjacks, for they perform the happiest, most meaningful work on earth," writes the Washington Post.

"Or at least they think they do. Farmers, too." Agriculture, logging and forestry have the highest levels of self-reported happiness — and lowest levels of self-reported stress — of any major industry category, according to our analysis of more than 13,000 time journals from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey. (Additional reporting sharpened our focus on lumberjacks and foresters, but almost everyone who works on farms or in forests stands out.)

The time-use survey typically asks people to record what they were doing at any given time during the day. But in four recent surveys, between 2010 and 2021, they also asked a subset of those people — more than 13,000 of them — how meaningful those activities were, or how happy, sad, stressed, pained and tired they felt on a six-point scale.... [H]appiness and meaning aren't always correlated. Heath-care and social workers rate themselves as doing the most meaningful work of anybody (apart from the laudable lumberjacks), but they rank lower on the happiness scale. They also rank high on stress.

The most stressful sectors are the industry including finance and insurance, followed by education and the broad grouping of professional and technical industries, a sector that includes the single most stressful occupation: lawyers. Together, they paint a simple picture: A white collar appears to come with significantly more stress than a blue one.

The Post credits "adjacency to nature" as boosting the happiness in forestry-related professions (as well as many recreational activities). The Post spoke to one forestry advocate who even argued that "Forestry forces you to work on a slower time scale. It pushes you to have a generational outlook."
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Study Reveals the Happiest, Least Stressful Jobs in America

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  • Happiness at work (Score:5, Interesting)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday January 08, 2023 @11:53PM (#63190998) Journal

    I think most of us became programmers because we really enjoy programming. And we can be at work, and actually enjoying our job.

    The major problem I've found with job enjoyment who can't evaluate my output, who interpret "job enjoyment" to mean "not working hard." If you are enjoying your job, it means you're slacking off. That must be the worst metric of all time.

    Envy the lumberjacks, for they have no such managers.

    • by Daemonik ( 171801 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:34AM (#63191054) Homepage
      Also nobody makes lumberjacks or farmers do meetings where they discuss maximizing time on project for an hour, cutting into the time on project.
      Nobody makes them check their email, Teams, Zoom, Slack, etc for important customer requests every five minutes then penalizes them for being distracted and off task.
      Nobody makes farmers or lumberjacks submit justifications for their job to their managers.
      Nobody makes them spend hours per week doing HR quizzes, stroking their manager's egos or having to go around management's backs just to do their damn job.

      Pretty much the lack of middle management is the key to happiness on the job, tbh.
      • by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @02:36AM (#63191166)
        To be fair, they also don't get paid to check Slashdot.

        The poor bastards.
        • by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @04:22AM (#63191294)

          Or take a shit on company time.

          Which to be fair sometimes overlaps with the Slashdot time.

          • by usedtobestine ( 7476084 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @09:02AM (#63191632)

            No, they sure don't.
            They chop down trees,
            They skip and jump.
            The go to the lavatory.

            What could make a lumberjack happier? ... with due credit to Monty Python...14 November 1975 .

            • I think the "happiest" job by far would be....

              Lottery Winner!!

              It sure as shit would make me happy for the rest of my life to never have to have a job again!!!

              That reminds me...gotta go buy my Megamillions ticket for the Tues drawing,

              Over $1B.

              • by suss ( 158993 )

                You clearly haven't heard of most of the "after" stories of these lottery winners. Quite a large percentage end up more miserable than before and lose all their money pretty quickly.

                • You clearly haven't heard of most of the "after" stories of these lottery winners. Quite a large percentage end up more miserable than before and lose all their money pretty quickly.

                  I wouldn't say "Most" of them...but sure, some have problems.

                  But look at the type of people they were...low lives, that likely did meth before they won..and well, with seemingly unlimited funds, they continue the destructive behavior they had before winning.

                  I'm very confident that I would be able to handle it.

                  Please give me

                  • By definition losers buy lottery tickets. "You can't win if you don't play." Well, I say "you can't lose if you don't play." Don't "play", loser.
                    • By definition losers buy lottery tickets. "You can't win if you don't play." Well, I say "you can't lose if you don't play." Don't "play", loser.

                      Well, the best definition I heard was:

                      "The lottery is a voluntary tax on people that cannot do math"

                      That being said, even with the tremendous odds against you, at some amount (I forget the exact figure).....if the payoff is large enough, it becomes a "reasonable bet" to put some money down on a chance.

                      I'm quite sure that with a payoff of over $1B, putting a $2

                • You clearly haven't heard of most of the "after" stories of these lottery winners. Quite a large percentage end up more miserable than before and lose all their money pretty quickly.

                  It's almost like some folks who don't have money are really, really bad at managing money.

                  Plus they soon discover a sizable percentage of others who hate them - because they have money.

                  They will be set upon by people who would like to take some of their money.

                  Mix all this together, and it is a real mess.

                  • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

                    Well the strategy, decisions about trade offs - do-it-for-me vs do-it-your-self, risk reward ratios that make investment sense etc all shift around quite a lot. You see it with kids that have never had more than few grand to their name become football and basket ball stars too - million+ annual salaries and dead broke.

                    The flip side is the often hysterical advice you see wealthy people offer those living hand to mouth. Does not matter how high the yield is on an investment vehicle if you have nothing or nea

                    • Well the strategy, decisions about trade offs - do-it-for-me vs do-it-your-self, risk reward ratios that make investment sense etc all shift around quite a lot. You see it with kids that have never had more than few grand to their name become football and basket ball stars too - million+ annual salaries and dead broke.

                      The flip side is the often hysterical advice you see wealthy people offer those living hand to mouth. Does not matter how high the yield is on an investment vehicle if you have nothing or nearly nothing to put in. If you are standing in grocery store asking yourself how can buy enough calories to not be hungry all week long and also get the right mixture of stuff to not get scurvy - the correct use of the cash in your pocket for example is buy another squash keeping mind a bit sharper and less distracted and protecting your health is going to do you a lot more good than putting $2 into an IRA that week.

                      I have always thought that we gave people too little information about personal finances in school. We cannot create drive, and we cannot control the financial state of offspring of the wealthiest people, but we can surely do some basic money concepts and at least not fail the kids.

                      And we have given young people an incorrect idea that they will be well off from the start. I was born in poverty, yet I worked my way up to the point that I'm now quite well off. It took some time, some drive, and a lot of dis

                    • I have always thought that we gave people too little information about personal finances in school.

                      This would be something else for them to ignore. Just like cooking class or shop class.

                      Also, why should it be up to the school to provide this education? Shouldn't the parents be doing this? Take the kids shopping and have them figure out how much stuff costs and how much they have to work with. Show them the monthly bills and have them figure out how to make ends meet.

                      Nothing beats an education like experien

                    • why should it be up to the school to provide this education? Shouldn't the parents be doing this?

                      Good questions! We can argue what parents should or shouldn't do endlessly, but the reality is that some don't and/or aren't qualified to provide that education.

                      Secondary education costs are around ~1k$ per pupil for a semester long class. Even a very small impact on students' future finances would pay that back in taxes and reduced public assistance. Not every student will need it, but as an elective for those whose parents haven't taught them already, it would be a good societal investment even from

                    • First, 2/3 of all adults don't keep a monthly budget.

                      So how do you expect them to teach their kids to budget?

                      What we used to call "Home Economics" should absolutely teach making a budget, and not just for girls (even though in the majority of couples the woman handles the finances).

                    • I have always thought that we gave people too little information about personal finances in school.

                      This would be something else for them to ignore. Just like cooking class or shop class.

                      Do you think? since the elimination of those sort of classes, we have created a whole lot of helpless people.

                      I know that home-ec produced housewives, something the woke crowd believes is patriarchal indoctrination, and shop? That's for stupid people.

                      It's a weird sort of idea that defines people as a sub optimal class by what they know. Like people who would claim they are superior thinking that knowing how to cook or fix shit around the house is bad.

                      I was doing a quick repair on a guy's gar, and sta

      • Far Side (Score:5, Funny)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @02:46AM (#63191174)

        Relevant Far Side. [preview.redd.it]

      • Re:Happiness at work (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @04:09AM (#63191262)

        You know, most of the problems you have could be solved by working from home.

        You can go to meetings and have some "important" people discuss matters of even greater importance like how to build the better castle in the air while continuing working.
        You can have that Teams, Zoom, whatever distraction in another window and bleep at you if someone who actually is important comes on (default of course off).
        You can outsource writing the justification letters to your children. It's not like the managers read them anyway and if, at least an intellectual equal is communicating with them and they feel validated.
        You can do the same with the HR quizzes and let the narcissists drone on in "meetings" (read: stuff an average email could have done with less hassle and time consumption) while working, and you won't even notice that they are not doing their job 'til the shit hits the fan and for a change the asshole gets his ass handed because how were you supposed to know he's not doing his job, it's not like you're there.

        • Whilst I might agree with some of what you say - the thing that depresses me about having to do any of it is that I'm having to work around something that someone's deliberately put in my way. Why not just remove the obstacle and let me work without having to work around?

          I'm certainly no management guru, so I can't tell you what the "optimum" amount of flannel a worker must have in order to have sufficient management and yet maximise productivity. What I can tell you is that some shops most definitely have

          • As you get older, you learn that you have to pick your battles carefully. I stopped battling problems. I route around them.

        • You know, most of the problems you have could be solved by working from home.

          For some people, yes. But not everyone is an introvert who finds interacting with others stressful.

          I know a lot of us here are introverts. But some people actually prefer in person interaction. We span a whole range of people.

          I'm lucky - half of my work will always be at home, with no interaction with humans other than email. The other half will always be on location, with an amount of human interaction that would probably make the more introverted slashdotters jump off a bridge.

          Oddly enough, I don

          • I'd be quite happy to live a half life. As long as it's that first half.

            • I'd be quite happy to live a half life. As long as it's that first half.

              I'm drifting off topic here, but yeah, that would be nice.

              I've always said that life extension strategies extend life at the wrong end of it. 20 more years in my 20's would be great. 20 more years from say 90 to 110 - no thanks. I see those people that the media gushes over about how they made it so many years and think I want no part of that bullshit.

              • I'd be quite happy to live a half life. As long as it's that first half.

                I'm drifting off topic here, but yeah, that would be nice.

                I've always said that life extension strategies extend life at the wrong end of it. 20 more years in my 20's would be great. 20 more years from say 90 to 110 - no thanks. I see those people that the media gushes over about how they made it so many years and think I want no part of that bullshit.

                Life is what you make of it. Take care of yourself by avoiding the big cripplers and killers - the lifestyle diseases - and there's no reason you can't enjoy those extra 20 years at the other end of your life. And avoiding those lifestyle diseases actually also saves you money, that you can spend on other activities.

                • I'd be quite happy to live a half life. As long as it's that first half.

                  I'm drifting off topic here, but yeah, that would be nice.

                  I've always said that life extension strategies extend life at the wrong end of it. 20 more years in my 20's would be great. 20 more years from say 90 to 110 - no thanks. I see those people that the media gushes over about how they made it so many years and think I want no part of that bullshit.

                  Life is what you make of it. Take care of yourself by avoiding the big cripplers and killers - the lifestyle diseases - and there's no reason you can't enjoy those extra 20 years at the other end of your life. And avoiding those lifestyle diseases actually also saves you money, that you can spend on other activities.

                  Considering that most of our years are determined by genetics, I dunno. Unless taken out by accidents or warfare, men in my family on the fathers side die within a year or two of 85.

                  I might not make it quite that far because they sometimes hang on fighting terminal diseases. I'm going to check out on my terms if that happens in my case. I have the added issue of being allergic to most pain killers.

      • Logging is also the most dangerous job in the United States on a per capita basis (https://www.osha.gov/logging).

        When was the last time you had a co-worker in the programming industry die from having a laptop fall on their head (at least accidentally)?
        • by nyet ( 19118 )

          Risk doesn't make your life miserable. In fact, constant coddling, regulations, rails, padded rooms, never ending warnings of doom, etc. sometimes contribute to unhappiness.

          Yes, this includes OSHA regs, which are clearly beneficial and save lives.

          But that doesn't mean it makes people happier.

      • by rbrander ( 73222 )

        I had to endure nearly all of that, in my office job, as a mid-level civil servant. For the Water and Sewer Dept.
        Which included "storm sewers", and fighting the Calgary Flood of 2013 (which included office work, everything needs organization).

        I gave this heart-tugging retirement speech, on behalf of five of us retiring at once, 170 years leaving the same day, nearly all from 30-year+ careers. It got big applause, and quoted by the bosses for many months: http://brander.ca/retirement/ [brander.ca]

        "We're here becaus

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:47AM (#63191082) Journal

      I don't generally enjoy programming anymore because web (non) standards fuck UI's to require lots of trial and error and minutia to get UI's working as envisioned. I do not like the minutia of getting "normal" things to work. Date fields worked fine in the 90's but the web somehow fucked them up so now you have to micromanage boring low-level diddle-work to get them working normal.

      For example, Chrome and Edge's HTML date fields can't copy and paste dates. That's Captain Obvious functionality, and both vendors fucked it to hell. Try it! (INPUT TYPE=DATE...) Thus, we have to use JS libraries along with their dependency problems. Shit that used to work in the 90's now doesn't. WTF, we de-evolved. I enjoy automating business, but I don't enjoy micromanaging UI shit that USED TO work smooth. The web is fucked on many levels, perhaps in the mad chase for Buzzword Compliance and Resume Oriented Programming. YAGNI and KISS have been bloody slaughtered in web stacks.

      I don't think the simplicity of the 90's IDE's is mutually exclusive with HTTP-based apps. People stopped doing R&D because of the myth it is mutually exclusive. "UI's *must* be convoluted to code to get HTTP apps". Provit or restore order, damned Ferengi's! My damned lawn used to work right!

      • I don't generally enjoy programming anymore because web (non) standards fuck UI's

        There's much more to the programming universe than just being a web monkey.

        • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

          going to give the GP benefit of the doubt and assume he know that.

          I spent sometime in smaller organizations. Some of them had interesting problems to work on; but almost all of them ultimately wanted some web interface bolted on to the solution in some way. When you are one of a handful of developers you don't get to just dump the web stuff off to someone else.

          Even if you are lucky enough to be someplace where they don't care about the shiny and just want something that works efficiently-but-also-without-s

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 )

        You do know that "html programmer" is a term we use mockingly, right?

      • by sd4f ( 1891894 )
        I tend to have this feeling that tech in general does a lot of sidestepping, rather than progress all the time, and I start to wonder if it's not intentional. Sure, on the whole things seem to be getting better, but too often, some new features come at the expense of older ones. I see this in hardware mostly.
      • by flink ( 18449 )

        This is why I got the hell out of front end web development in 2004 or so. I was "full stack" back then, before we called it that, but I found it entirely joyless to spend 90% of my time figuring out how to work around IE. Now I just focus on back end services and databases, and let someone else worry about how to turn my APIs into a web front end.

      • I agreed with you on this point for a while, but lately I've found that React has developed into an acceptable (though not optimal) solution. This wasn't true five years ago.

        React in the new "functional" style works well at keeping things modular. This enables reusability. That means there are plenty of open source components you can use. (I always encapsulate them in my own component because that's life).

        For CSS, I use flex or grid layout. That solves all my layout problems relatively easily. The only diff

    • by khchung ( 462899 )

      If you are enjoying your job, it means you're slacking off. That must be the worst metric of all time.

      I think this is almost a universal among HR types. Across different companies, I have found that HR departments always try their best to make sure employees never, ever, gets any benefit (perceived or actual) from any work arrangement, even though it cost the company nothing. Sometimes, HR would make the company pay MORE just so that that the employee won't benefit.

      I suppose lumberjack companies don't have HR department.

  • by Another Random Kiwi ( 6224294 ) on Sunday January 08, 2023 @11:55PM (#63191000)
    "In 1992, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that logging had a workplace injury rate of more than 14,000 injuries per 100,000 full-time workers"
    • by fermion ( 181285 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:46AM (#63191080) Homepage Journal
      This is unabashed propaganda. The Pacific Northwest lives on deforestation. That is why Bobs Red Mill sends out a 100 page catalog every week. That is why they have a logging museum to indoctrinate school kids.

      Logging is one of the most dangerous jobs in the US. The f loggers are happy, it is because they die before they can get bored of it.

      • I grew up in Cle Elum. If you're in Washington, you know where that is. Back then, half the town's business was logging and milling. The loggers were, without a doubt, the loudest, meanest, hardest drinking group of people you would ever run into. You didn't mess with a logger else he would fuck you up without a second thought.
        • I grew up in Cle Elum. If you're in Washington, you know where that is. Back then, half the town's business was logging and milling. The loggers were, without a doubt, the loudest, meanest, hardest drinking group of people you would ever run into. You didn't mess with a logger else he would fuck you up without a second thought.

          If THAT represents the "happiest" group of workers in America, I'd sure as fuck hate to run into the assholes who are miserable.

          In other headline "news"....clickbait bullshit, is bullshit.

        • by boskone ( 234014 )

          I grew up in WA in another logging/mill town. The best high school story was when the gangs were just getting started. 3 of them had the bold idea to jump a millworker who was buying beer at 6:30 in the AM on his way home from graveyard shift in the mills.

          They all went to the hospital.

      • Just because a job is dangerous does not mean that you are automatically unhappy while doing it. Seeing the result of your work at the end of the day, whether it's a trailer full of logs, a full grain bin, or that program finally running correctly is a big part of feeling happy.

        For that matter, look at skiing and motorcycle riding, neither is the safest possible activity, but they are still great fun.

        • by fermion ( 181285 )
          This is the basis of oppression. Sure the peasants starve. But they are happy!
          • This is the basis of oppression. Sure the peasants starve. But they are happy!

            This is the basis of our biology. We evolved with daily terror and scarcity, like all living things.
            Nothing is more satisfying than escaping/killing your predator. The most delicious citrus fruit in the world is one you only get for a few weeks each year when in-season and brought to town as a special treat.

            We just finished the "Holiday Season". Do you think people are happier during, or immediately after? On December 27, are most people in Western countries glowing with serenity, satisfaction, well-being,

    • It may come as a shock to you but not everyone lives in abject terror of harm or death.

      Loggers know they do dangerous work. As long as they and their loved ones are taken care of after such an event (and for the loggers I know, it's mainly about their families, not themselves) they are fine with that.

    • As a kid I had a bunch of great uncles and other relatives who were Montana lumberjacks. And they were all missing various body parts.

      Jobs I won't do: Lumberjack. Lineman. Butcher.

      No thanks.

      • Programmer: Carpel Tunnel and various paper cuts.

        • Spending a career sitting in a chair brings its own health problems. Carpal tunnel. Ulnar nerve entrapment (carpel tunnel for your elbows). Eye problems. Stroke.

          But at least you won't sneeze and cut your arm off.

  • by Lando242 ( 1322757 ) on Sunday January 08, 2023 @11:56PM (#63191002)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers'_suicides_in_the_United_States
    https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2021/12/08/ag-report--farmers-and-their-mental-health
    https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/09/30/suicide-rates-are-higher-among-farmers

    Maybe some self delusion with the farmers.
    • A high suicide rate does not necessarily mean the median or average happiness rate of farmers is high. As in maybe 90 percent are super happy but witnessing their cheerfulness makes it much harder on the struggling 10 percent because they may feel more isolated and outcast. It is like if everyone in your neighborhood has a nice car you would feel depressed if yours is a beater. You wont see it as wow it is great to have a vehicle â" something not even a wealthy King had until 150 years ago, rather you

    • by caseih ( 160668 )

      Truth is farming is deeply satisfying, stressful, and depressing all nearly at the same time. There are good years, the odd great year, and sometimes a whole run of challenging years. Farming in the increasing drought in the south west is going from stressful to depressing real quick, with no relief in sight. Having one crop failure is discouraging, but a run of them can be disastrous. Leads to all kinds of stress, not just financial either. Marriages break up over it, families fall apart. It doesn't

  • by jddj ( 1085169 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:06AM (#63191016) Journal

    As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia!
    The latch! The redwood! The sequoia! The pine!
    With my best girl by my side!
    We'd sing! Sing! Sing!

  • by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:06AM (#63191018)

    Maybe there is something to Monty Python's Lumberjack Song [youtube.com] =P

    • Mod up. You beat me to it. But I thought teachers who get to award Rugby match players have a good life too: Monty Python's Meaning of Life Rugby Match. And why are postal workers not on the list?
  • by sdinfoserv ( 1793266 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @12:21AM (#63191036)
    They're happy because they're alive to see another day. Logging is the most dangerous job in America. https://www.ishn.com/articles/... [ishn.com]
  • by Bu11etmagnet ( 1071376 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @02:05AM (#63191146)

    I didn't want to be a barber anyway. I wanted to be a lumberjack!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • by Billly Gates ( 198444 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @03:23AM (#63191206) Journal

    If you want to get a wife and afford a house in 2023 you obsoletely need 6 figs to start an entry level life today

  • No wonder they are happy:

    "I cut down trees, I wear high heels
    Suspenders and a bra
    I wish I were a girlie
    Just like my dear papa"

  • by TJHook3r ( 4699685 ) on Monday January 09, 2023 @04:26AM (#63191308)
    Regardless of your stance on his politics, a lot of the following would seem self-evidently true: [from Wikipedia] "Marx identified four types of alienation that occur to the worker labouring under a capitalist system of industrial production. They are alienation of the worker from their product, from the act of production, from their Gattungswesen ('species-essence') and from other workers". Much of modern work has been reduced to a production line, even for white collar work. In the back of many workers mind is the sense that what they do is fairly abstract - at the end of the day they don't have a unit of output, just a timesheet with hours they have booked - the work may lack a satisfactory conclusion and is usually one of several concurrent pieces of work. In contrast a lumberjack has a target to deliver x number of trees and can get immediate feedback on progress!
    • The alienation from other workers is the worst because it retards social progress. I can't believe the hordes of spoiled creatives crying about how AI is going to destroy their livelihood when artists have been witness (as a class, throughout history) to everyone else's livelihoods being destroyed while theirs was preserved. Now theirs is on the line and it's suddenly a crisis. Hey, where were you when factory workers were being put out on the street? Doodling?

      Those creative types and everyone else too need

      • The alienation from other workers is the worst because it retards social progress. I can't believe the hordes of spoiled creatives crying about how AI is going to destroy their livelihood when artists have been witness (as a class, throughout history) to everyone else's livelihoods being destroyed while theirs was preserved. Now theirs is on the line and it's suddenly a crisis.

        I take it you have an issue with creatives?

        This is probably more of an intellectual argument thing than some sort of existential crisis. Most artists are not in the front lines of wage earners. Many make nothing off their work. Many are working in low level jobs to support themselves.

        Those creative types and everyone else too need to get together and demand that basic needs be considered a human right. Otherwise, what good is modern society? It's not making people happier. Instead they want to have AI banned, as if that were going to happen. This happens again and again, instead of grouping together on what's important we waste our energy on meaningless bullshit futile fights. AI cannot be stopped by complaining about it. As long as money is in control of law, the law's not going to protect anyone from it.

        Just a note - there are few right wing artists. We had illustrators in my department, and they were 100 percent of the basic needs a human right group.

        Banning AI isn't a universal thing either. It is pretty obvious to educ

        • I take it you have an issue with creatives?

          Not more than other people as a rule, I'm just pissed off at them right now because so many of them are being such entitled dumbshits right now, and I'm seeing it all over the place. They want the people who have already lost their jobs to automation to care that they are about to have the same experience, when they've smugly believed that it couldn't happen to them because you can't bottle creativity.

          Banning AI isn't a universal thing either. It is pretty obvious to educated people what is or isn't. It has a definite look.

          That can only be said by someone who has hardly seen any AI-generated content. Quick one-shot toss-offs hav

      • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Basic needs are generally considered human rights: https://www.un.org/en/about-us... [un.org]

        That is only so because we have become rich enough through "destroying" all those livelihoods that we can afford luxuries like declaring having enough to eat a human right.

    • That was one of the things I liked about sys admin vs software developer: at the end of the day, I could look back at my completed ticket list and see that, yep, I actually did shit today. With software development, it's much harder to see discrete progress.
  • "A white collar appears to come with significantly more stress than a blue one." This is far too general a statement.
  • Must be nice owning your own land and house. That is a lot of stress gone right there.
    • Taxes and maintenance.

    • Must be nice owning your own land and house. That is a lot of stress gone right there.

      And then he discovered all of the upkeep, insurance, and taxes.

      It is different for certain, but if living in an apartment is stressful for you, you'll find woning your house at least as stressful.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      I don't own a house. Whenever I have a conversation with any of my friends or relatives who do own a house my reply is invariably "I'm so glad I don't own a house."

  • Bad weather and your crops failed? Not to worry, the government will come and support you over the lean times.

    Perfect weather and bumper crops? Not to worry, the government will come and support you through the time of low prices for your produce.

    Price of diesel and fertilizer increased? Not to worry, the government is right there with subsidies.

    Can't compete with farmers in the rest of the world? Not to worry, the government will raise import tariffs and find diseases.

    Still feeling stressed? Not to wo

  • In the old days, 5 other people would have posted "Correlation != Causation" already, so I wouldn't have to.

    "A white collar appears to come with significantly more stress than a blue one." It should be pretty obvious that people who crave money, power, and prestige - and the stress that comes with those things - are not going out to become lumberjacks.

  • People are sometimes stressed by their nature. And then they look for something to blame it on.

    People can be stressed by situations that do not jibe with their temperament.

    example - introverts can find interaction with others to be stressful. Extroverts can find lack of interaction with others to be stressful.

    Where I'm working now, the person before me found the work to be horribly stressful. I just love it. A lot of responsibility and authority, but also a lot of fun.

  • Actually, I hope you people are happy.
  • It makes sense in a simplistic way: #1 - It's physical, you work and you get tired. Easy to feel result at the end of the day and can contribute to the feeling of having done something. #2 - You get immediate results. You can see the results of your actions soon if not immediately, instant feedback.
    • I often tell people that the best job I ever had was as a loader for UPS. I left work every day riding an endorphin high from sweating my ass off for 4 hours.

      If that job paid the bills, I would still be doing it... but, sadly, my weekly take home pay was somewhere in the neighborhood of $200.... BUT, I had 100% medical and dental coverage along with some nice money for college.

  • According to recent study, 90% of recent studies are wrong.

  • Really? I google "how many lumberjacks in the US", and get just over 86k people *total* employed in the industry (and that presumably includes the office staff).

  • But the actual job and work is highly rewarding.

  • Most of our evolutionary history involved spending much of our days engaged in mild physical labour with short occasional spurts of hard thought.

    It fits that we'd be happiest in jobs that reflect the evolutionary environment. Logging, a bunch of physical labour with occasional problem solving and a lot of nature fits well.

Enzymes are things invented by biologists that explain things which otherwise require harder thinking. -- Jerome Lettvin

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