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molgrips - while the is routine in my job it is in no way a "routine" job. It taxes and stretches me and everyday I come up against difficult situations to resolve. I guess thats a part of it. 37 hours a week at my job leaves me mentally and physically drained and I know that doing it for 48 hours I would be less good at it
I have a colleague who is still working at 80! FFS why?
Do you think you have a problem empathising with other people?
Possibly because they like it, possibly because they have no way to live without it?
Perhaps they have nothing else to do?
I know where TJ's coming from. I've now been working pretty much since 1972, had a few months off when my Mum was ill & recently last year when Mrs Egf was ill with a bad bout of bowel cancer. But I'm now in a job that I enjoy, even though the money's crap.
Like TJ, I'm more envious of a couple we know who just swan around on holiday (nowt flash, Benidorm for 6 weeks, Goa for 3 months, California for 3 weeks, a do it yourself trip to Vietnam for a month, that sort of thing)
Couldn't give a shite about the multi millionaires I see crawling round Harrogate in their Chelsea tractors, in fact I feel a bit sorry for them.
Money pushes a lot of people but It's easy to be the richest man in the graveyard.
People who put cheese slices in fish finger butties.
I guess thats a part of it. 37 hours a week at my job leaves me mentally and physically drained and I know that doing it for 48 hours I would be less good at it
I think this is where you get stuck, your measuring things in hours you have to be there.
comparing anything with what other people are doing, or having any envy for what they’re doing.
I struggle with this. I live a pretty boring life by some standards, and had to stop using social media because I was fed up of getting jealous of all the fun shit everyone else does. This forum, Strava, and Youtube (only the mtb/bmx/trials channels & electronic music channels) is about all the social media I can bear, and kinda immerse myself in it. I get a little jealous of the locations other people ride while I'm mostly stuck in Thanet, but I adjust my riding accordingly so I can still enjoy it and challenge myself.
Think the world is divided into people who know how to get what they want and those who don't. I'm closer to the latter group, but my situation is the best it's ever been currently, which is better than a lot of other people's - but not enough to afford an n+1 whenever I want.
Shoes with no socks.
People who put cheese slices in fish finger butties.
now I think we can all agree that is just wrong!
Molgrips - I do have ambitions - its just they are not financial or "things" orientated but experience orientated. I used to have ambitions at work but discovered that actually I am a good shop floor worker and a bad boss so I gave up being a boss. Biggest job I had I had 130 staff reporting to me and I reported to the board with a budget of millions.
My biggest ambition right now is to solo a 20 000 ft peak. Plans are well advanced
But you are right in a way - without folk who strive for things then progress would be slower. this is why I make no judgement. I am just puzzled
But you are right in a way – without folk who strive for things then progress would be slower. this is why I make no judgement. I am just puzzled
Is making no judgement why you told me I was being used by my management?
Mike - no - thats not it. My job is taxing - very taxing both physically and mentally. I want to do it well. I can do it well for 37 hours a week. I could not do it well for 48 hours a week. Its too demanding. Even when I have not had a holiday for a couple of months I become less effective - compassion fatigue. remember I work in palliative care - I have people dying most days. Its tough but also very rewarding.
Edit - different thread and different point - crossed posts.
Well honestly it comes across as fairly judgemental.
and that’s exactly why people want a new car
You, sir, are delusional if you think that's the only reason. And aside from that, in a car, to me, is one of the worst places to be, no matter how new the car is!
Well honestly it comes across as fairly judgemental.
Not intended to be - or more so on your management than you. apologies if I caused offense
As I said - its my lack of comprehension of why someone would work long hours etc.
I have a colleague who is still working at 80! FFS why?
Maybe he enjoys it.
Have kids , then spend a massive proportion of their waking hours avoiding them . Either through being manipulated or forced to work long hours to pay for them ,or choosing to work long hours to avoid them .
I'm sure they are amazing , brilliant things but cost so much in both time and ££££ and emotional investment if everyone sat down and talked through what life will be like maybe there would be a few less kids in the middle of unhappy relationships
PCP /PCH . £300 - £400 every mnth to borrow a metal box so you can sit in 'nice place to be' I could have a foriegn holiday , every month , that would be a nicer place to be . I could put that in a PPPlan and retire 10 years earlier , leaving me free time to go to nicer places ( to be ) . I could spend that amount on mtg of a holiday home / retirement villa abroad, again , probably a nicer place to be than sat in a metal box ona congetsed road, surrounded by angry ****s in the race to ge home to check their Facebook accounts
But you are right in a way – without folk who strive for things then progress would be slower. this is why I make no judgement. I am just puzzled
Oh nonsense, you know exactly why other people want the material things you don't. They like them, they may want to show off, buying stuff gives them a thrill etc. You may not aspire to it but it's disingenuous to pretend you're unaware of their motivations in an attempt to appear worthy.
Also, people who buy brand new cars are the reason I can afford the s##t boxes I buy, so good luck to them.
Why would anyone crumple toilet paper, instead of folding?
People that constantly post pictures of themselves on internet cycling forums
I’m sure they are amazing
They are amazing. (well my 2 are anyway)
However.....I've told my youngest if he & his mrs have kids I'll disown him. My eldest won't have kids at any cost, good lad.
I absolutely hate kids & can't stand the sight nor sound (especially the sound) of them.
Gunz - I really do not understand it. I simply do not have that desire. Its not an attempt to appear worthy at all although it was obvious some would see it that way. ( see my comment in the first post) Its intended to provoke a discussion about something that puzzles me. I may have an inkling intellectually but I just do not understand it at all.
Observation looking at the responses. It seems most of those in the TJ camp don’t have kids. Not all I guess but it reads that way. Wonder why ? Does having kids get us stuck in a rat race ? Interesting...
Morris dancing.
Most things I can see why someone might want to do it, even if I don’t. Not Morris dancing though. Totally baffles me why you’d get dressed up like that and dance around bashing sticks etc. Blows my mind when I see them.
My point TJ is that whilst you may have no desire to follow suit (for what it's worth, neither do I), it's quite obvious what ambition, shallowness, hubris, pride etc motivates others.
People who post "I don't understand................" threads on forums. I can understand TJ's post if I read it like a trustafarian who's just spent a gap yahh in SE Asia and has discovered he doesn't need material possessions (a discovery made to justify selling them all to fund drugs and a digiridoo)
People who buy small new cars, especially nice ones. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Either you can afford a nearly new much nicer/bigger car. Or you can't and you should buy a Daewoo Matiz. What is the point of an Audi A1 when you can get the same finance on a nearly new A4?</span>
Why would anyone crumple toilet paper, instead of folding?
People do that? Bet the weirdos also sit down to pee.
I don't understand why people buy sports cars when you can't drive them quickly anywhere because you just accelerate towards a queue of traffic or speed camera, I really can't fathom the likes of a BMW M3 or other fast saloon..
Electric gears on a bike, the whole point of a bike to me is that it's ready to go whenever you are without preparation and having to charge it up to ride it is a loss of the joy of spontaneity
Salt n' Vinegar flavour crisps are the best flavour.
People are weird.
TJ doubly so.
I'm in the extremely fortunate position that I don't have to work. I love my life, We've just been camping in South Wales with my two boys, their wives and my grandson (daughter is off to Italy today so couldn't make it) also sister in law with her son and grandkids. Absolutely wonderful. But holidays aren't life and retirement would feel like a punishment to me. I took two jobs last week which will probably stop me from going cycling or windsurfing for a few days that the weather will be ideal for but that just makes the times I can go midweek even sweeter.
Observation looking at the responses. It seems most of those in the TJ camp don’t have kids. Not all I guess but it reads that way. Wonder why ? Does having kids get us stuck in a rat race ? Interesting…
Not sure about a rat race but wer'e certainly expected to reproduce. Why?
I'm in the TJ camp but have 2 kids (blokes now).
People are weird.
TJ doubly so.
I totally disagree.
I eat off a missmatched set of plates
Now my piss is boiling.
Watching Eastenders. Why would you regularly invite a load of angry people who hate each other into your front room, it just seems stressful.
Mr Panther - can you assemble a well known phrase from these words? Calling, Pot, black, kettle? 😉
So what puzzles you about how others live their lives?
Absolutely **** all, as long as i wake up every morning and i can still wiggle my toes, stand up (however wobbly that may be) and wipe my own arse then it's going to be a good day in my world. I couldn't give a shit what goes on in other folks lives.
People that use the phrase 'wild camping'.
...or Glamping (usually used by those who have paid through the nose for an entirely useless teepee).
Watching Eastenders. Why would you regularly invite a load of angry people who hate each other into your front room, it just seems stressful.
+1, completely baffles me
On the broader subject - it's not that difficult to understand, is it? People are different, and have different drivers/goals. It's just about what a good "quality of life" means to you, and how you go about attaining that. Everyone makes decisions based on their own cost/benefit calculation - whether that cost is money or time or stress or whatever.
Some people do make some very strange decisions, I agree - like people who live super-frugally, then die with huge amounts of cash in the bank, or the opposite: people who bankrupt themselves chasing a millionaire lifestyle.
Whatever you do: buy a new car/tv/house, or don't, have kids, or don't..... just be happy (man), that's all that really matters.
People that use the phrase ‘wild camping’.
I know right? Wild camping is just the same as camping. I told my wife we were going camping again this year. For some reason she thought I meant somewhere like that last place with the shower and toilet block, lawn pitches, supplies shop and nearby pub.
I picked a nice corner of a forest and handed her a folding poo-trowel and iodine tablets. For dinner I gave her a flint and two fresh mackerel. She must be one of those that prefers the pretentious term 'wild-camping' because I don't understand her blank (almost scared) looks to this day. Bonkers. Back in the day camping was just camping. Back before cars and stuff.
Same with 'bushcraft' and all that malarkey? Why not just say 'cooking and sleeping'? Tchoh!
Don't get me started on 'Enduro', 'Gr*vel', or 'AM'. Like this time I told my mate we were going 'biking'. He turned up on an old bicycle with curly bars on backwards, mudguards etc, wearing his normal trews and shirt. I said, oh I thought we were going 'mountain biking'? He scoffed and said 'How many ****ing mountains are there in ****ing Kidderminster? Funny ****er. Now he thinks I'm 'pretentious'
Wow ..I'm now totally confused man ..
I don't scrumple up toilet paper ..but do sit down to pee..don't watch Eastenders & haven't for forty years ..tried semi retirement & got bored shitless ( even though I could ride anytime I liked ) ..like nice cars ..but don't want or need a huge house ...
Help !
People who can't just say cheapest and ask for the best place to buy something.
People who expect other people to search the Internet for an answer that they could have Googled
People who would rather waste hours of time doing a bad job rather than pay somebody who knows what they are doing
People who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing
I have to confess I rather enjoy collecting ‘stuff’ and have lots of different collections of ‘stuff’ - bikes/ vehicles/ books in particular. Drives the missus mad, mainly I think because if I was run over by a bus she’d have to sort all this s**t out!
I work because I enjoy it and when I was younger I watched my parents struggle with their finances in old age and am determined not to be in that position. Also whilst I enjoy holidays and travelling I get bored pretty quickly - 2 weeks off and I’m itching to get back to the office!
it would be nice to think that if I had masses more spare time I’d do lots of fulfilling things and have great ‘experiences’ but my suspicion is I’d end up drinking Stella on the settee watching daytime telly!!!
what I don’t get is why are they still working?
(From page one)
Maybe they like working, might not be the material money might just be they enjoy what they do for a living.
I have a few friends who have worked in Investment Banking all thier lives. They’ve earned way more than most people could comprehend yet still do it, still get up at 3am and leave work at 11pm every working day.
Yes they too have a nice house, nice car(s) and send thier kids to private schools. But when you ask them why they still work, becuse they don’t need the money, they say “I enjoy it, it’s exciting and challenging”
Quite simple really.
1. People that have achieved nothing in their life, but still come to the conclusion that they are better than everyone else :-).
2. Denial.
3. Protesting too much.
1. People that have achieved nothing in their life, but still come to the conclusion that they are better than everyone else :-).
Sounds like my my brother and two sisters.
Mr Panther – can you assemble a well known phrase from these words? Calling, Pot, black, kettle?
Black Pot calling Kettle. Are you receiving, Kettle?
Yeah, I freely admit to also being double weird, but I at least have the self awareness to see how strange I can sometimes be and to understand that, in many ways I don't conform to the societal view of what is considered normal.
To address TJ's original point...... the acquisition of goods and chattels and the drive to outperfom your peers, be it in the world of work , the field of battle or in the hunt for the wooly mammoth are hard wired into the majority of human beings. It's a biological imperative to compete for status.
It's what has driven society forward for millennia. Most people understand this on a primal level. Just not the weird ones.