I had a manual job for years running a petrol station & doing car repairs/servicing. That went egg shaped & I joined the prison service which is where I’ve been for the past 12 years. Now when I get home I’m usually mentally battered! Never felt that bad when I was mechanicing. Holidays & pay are miles better though.

Has Stoner not provided the biscuit graph yet?

I don’t last long with office work and the mental exertion that accompanies it. Give me some decent hard graft however and am happy. I like to take off my boots at the end of the day when I’m exhausted and get a sense of satisfaction from having physically tired myself out through the day.

I find office jobs harder, so would have to agree with op.

I suppose it depends what sort of manual labour it is. Some people I know who do manual labour get on site at 8 swan around pointing at stuff leave at 2:30 and get paid a day’s money easy!

On the other hand I have done 5 years on constant 5 o clock wake ups on site for 7 to prep material inside house by 8 and then on the go till 4:00 home for 6 where you feel physically and mentally messed up by Friday’s everything aches. I know have a semi office job and I can 100% say I have never felt less stressed or happy in all my years of work. all depends on what manual labour it is I suppose

Anybody saying working in an office is harder than manual work hasn’t had a ‘proper’ manual job, simple.

Try underpinning a house where machine access isn’t possible and you have to dig by hand 2m down then a metre back underneath the original footings, each hole fills an 8 yrd skip and you need to dig a hole a day Mon to Wed, Thurs is then spent shuttering those holes and barrowing approx 4 tons of materials round the back ready for Fri, which is spent mixing concrete to fill said holes. Repeat for 3 weeks before an “easy” week reinstating slabs, block paving lawns etc. Then you get to go next door and start all over again.

Or, how about having to carry 15 x 30min fire doors (approx 35kg each) up 3 flights of stairs followed by your tools, all before you start to hang them.

I could go on, but as it happens I (mostly) enjoy my job, but easy it aint!

BTW I had a short stint in an office, easiest job I’ve ever had.

Two manual jobs I wouldn’t want are removal man (lifting heavy crap all day in likely stuffily hot houses, then being sat in a van driving for hours with other stinky sweating blokes) and picking crops in a field (like cabbages) looks back-breaking to me (with plenty of opportunity for slashing your hand after a moments lapse in concentration).

I work from home/coffee shops/hotdesks, so don’t have to deal with the soul-destroying office environment, a breeding ground for existential angst.

On the weekends I get involved in work groups fixing old buildings but wouldn’t want to do it for a living.

Home-working in a non-manual job is the best solution as I see it.

Dig lots of holes, carry lots of weight, work out aerobicaly for hours on end for weeks on end while people try to kill you for not much pay but are generally so satisfied that when you get bits traumaticaly removed from your body all you want to do is to stay on.

If you’re a leader of the above you get to do all the physical and then the ‘office’ bit as well.

Infantry – be the best most knackered.

I had a short stint in an office, easiest job I’ve ever had.

So why did you give it up? Why don’t you go back?

Why is infantry so-called?

So why did you give it up? Why don’t you go back?

Found it boring, and have been doing what I do for too long now.

Plus if I started in an office it wouldn’t pay me what I earn now as I’d be starting from the bottom again.

Found it boring

And that’s the whole point. The boredom gets very difficult to deal with mentally after a while, never mind year after year.

^^^^ This is what STW is for

This is what STW is for

Agreed.

I’ve done labouring(kitchen fitting), worked in a cafe kitchen(ASDA), and office work(graphics).

Of the three, ASDA was the most soul destroying.

But labouring was much harder, you get into it and it keeps fitness up, especially if you get hit with a run of top floor tenement flats, needing walls knocked down, kitchens, rubble and tools needing carted about, but it doesn’t knock your pan in.. Doing it long term wasn’t my choice that’s for sure, done me a turn while I was at school and college though.

Office work is a dawdle.

After being made redundant from a stressful office job, which I did for 11 years, I have gone back to laboring, working in a large park, I lost a stone in six weeks!

It was hard on the body for the first month, feet, back, arms and Knees all hurt like hell, I did think at the time, what the hell was I doing, as I lugged dead trees about in the snow and wind!

But six months on, no two days are the same, cutting trees down one day, then planting them the next 😉 My body has recovered, got used to the extra strain, compared to the stress, constant hassle of working in a office, where everyone was clock watching, this new job is like getting a new life for me.

Personally (I know some on here will disagree) I think mental stress is worse than physical, at least at the end of the week, I can ‘hobble’ to my local and enjoy a good pint, without the burden of work still praying on my mind, while some of my old office mates, still find it hard to switch off.

And that’s the whole point. The boredom gets very difficult to deal with mentally after a while, never mind year after year.

You know those jokes where you have to explain the punchline… STW takes it to a whole new level.

malted milk in the office today – an unusual offering but well received. 😉

I’m fully aware that the article was saying that office jobs can be boring and mentally stressful, what I don’t agree with is that this makes it a harder job than a ‘proper’ physically demanding manual job.

I wonder how many people on here with manual jobs get to have a snoop and post on this forum during the day, I certainly don’t.

And before you all start on me about todays online activities Mrs Pocketrocket had Pocketrocket Jr no3 this weekend so I’m having a couple of days off! 😀 😆

It is clear that we have to define what ‘hard’ means. They can both be hard in their own way.

Also perhaps it is worth restating the article itself was ironic.

The reason I could never work in an office again is because of cake !

Cakes for birthdays
Cakes cos someones leaving
Cakes for babies
Cakes cos its friday
Cakes for the new bloke/bird !

I love cake dont get me wrong, but its got to be in private, its personal, just me and a slice,,,,,,,,you know, nudge, nudge, wink, wink eh, eh !!!

Outed cakists are ruining it !

molgrips – Member

It is clear that we have to define what ‘hard’ means. They can both be hard in their own way.

Posted 3 minutes ago #Report-Post

Fnarrrr, Fnarrr

It is clear that we have to define what ‘hard’ means. They can both be hard in their own way.

And that’s probably the answer, we’ll have to agree to disagree, mind you office or manual after seeing Mrs pocketrocket pushing out Jr the weekend that’s one job I definitely don’t want!

I think that was a good thread. Well done everybody.

Employed as a brickies labourer on the NW of Sutherland involved getting wet cold and knackered on a daily basis. Bloody hard work, for sod all money. If some office wallah wants to swop, let him crack on.
Worked subsequently in retail on shop floor and as a manager. Shop floor is even more unrelenting than labouring, but involves less rain and wind, – in contrast the managers job was stressful, unrelenting, waaayyy more interesting, AND a damn sight easier than busting your gut pulling 600kgs of beer across the store on a busy sat afternoon.
Results are in – labouring is crap, office boys have it easy and arguing over who is going to wash the cups is not stressful at any point.

What? is it over? just like that?

Edit, too late, obviously not. 😆

I have been a waiter, trolley collector, door to door sales rep, parcel force delivery driver, loaded arctics with carpet underlay, worked in a call centre, a data analyst and now a middle management bean counter.

Loading the carpet underlay was the hardest physically, call centre was soul destroying. Hardest mentally was door to door sales.

Working in an office with data is dead easy in comparison, and luckily its significantly more lucrative…

Working from home today, seems to be the perfect balance of both:

a) Talked to some customers and provided some quotes
b) Lubed the Garage door and “fixed” a padlock to the garden gate.
c) Stood around looking smugly at said padlock orientated manual labour with coffee* in hand
d) Ate some orange chocolate thins.

Overall, a good day at work.

*Nespresso, naturally.

Lubed the Garage door

I’ve not heard it called that before…

In all seriousness, I reckon the most satisfactory job I did was working in THE factory that used to make clothes fittings for BHS.

I used to braze on brackets and arms etc. Basically, it was turn up, so brazing with fixed tea-break/lunch break times, do more brazing, clock out and go home, get paid cash at the end of the week.

Got greasy, tired but overall it was good honest stuff, and really made the end of the day pint feel worthwhile.

Get a bit fed up with Scumbag office politics a fair bit these days.

I reckon retail is worse than either tbh!

Most of my mates work remotely these days, in a home office or office shed. When I work on projects (video animations for small businesses) the voiceovers are outsourced to other people working from home. Talk to clients on skype. Even our software is browser-based so all you need is a laptop and good wifi.
Soon enough I will be taking my holidays on google earth.
No complaints, compared to crappy commutes, high rail prices/petrol costs, crap/annoying work colleagues, it’s pretty much heaven.

You never come home tired like you come home tired from a mentally draining job. Now whether that’s being a brick layer, chef, office wallah, CEO is irrelevant but in my experience, physical exhaustion is nothing compared to something that messes with your head.