Manual labour

>>18143947
The Peace Corps has everything you're looking for, and it's not absolutely dead-end like other manual labor jobs.

Why not just pick up physically intensive hobbies, hiking, bodybuilding, etc

>>18143954
I'm British. I've looked at the military though. Would be cool to be honest.

>>18143947

its not a smart idea.

manula labor people tend to look down on office job people, thinking them physically weak, and thus the manual labor people must be superior, but truth be told they would be in an office in an instant if they had the option. most of them will get fat because after all that hard work they'll be starving and unable to figure out how to control their diet impulses, and will die very young deaths because they are working their bodies to extremes and the work load DOESNT get easier as they get older, and when they get TOO old they're fucked because the office man will still have another 20 or so years of working in the office whereas the manual labor man does not.

meanwhile the office guy just needs to figure out diet and exercise in his spare time, and will have greater impulse control due to the fact that hes not exhausting himself ot the degree of the manual labor man, will know that he can provide for his family regardless of any injury, will constantly move up and get more and more money as he gets older, and knows that hes better than all the manual labor guys, despite how they laugh at him, because he was actually smart enough to do something with his life.

the manual labor man will spend his entire weekend resting and trying to prepare for his shitty job, whereas the office man will be able to spend the weekends doing sports or building things that he chooses, allowing him the option of both worlds.

but by all means, if you think forcing yourself into lower level employment will make you happy simply because it will make you more 'manly' go for it, it sounds like you dont live for much.

the truth of the matter is, despite the obvious bias towards the office worker, netiher is more manly than the other. it all just matters what kind of man applies for the job.

>>18143956

BECAUSE JOBS!!1!

>>18143959
But this is a completely biased perspective. Office jobs, for one thing, provide a hell of a lot of stress.

Office guys can spend their weekends doing lots of extra work on a project. For manual labour guys, you go home and that's it.

>but by all means, if you think forcing yourself into lower level employment will make you happy simply because it will make you more 'manly' go for it, it sounds like you dont live for much.
Don't you sometimes think "holy fuck being in an office is dry as fuck, this place is a fucking prison, I wish I was outside something doing something physical"? Has that thought never crossed your mind? I don't understand how it hasn't.

>>18143956
>>18143960
I tried that when I was working - the thing is that you then spend your entire life either at work or at the gym. It's a hell of a lot of stress. Running around doing all this shit. Feels like life is cucking you - feels like you're not in control of your own life.

With a manual job, the job IS the workout. Then you get home and you can do whatever the fuck you like!

>>18143947
Join an oil rig. Back-breaking labor for 12 hours every day. Two weeks work, two weeks off. Most contracts for roustabouts only last a couple of months, so once that's done, you can either stick around for more, or go back to your office job.

It beats joining the military or the corps.

>>18143992

>doesn't office feel like a prison

no, but then again im successful enough that I don't need to work that many hours, i can exercise all i want to, even in the office i can stop and just do some push ups or some stretches, and i definitely have time to exercise afterwards or on the weekend.

whereas when you work a manual labor job you're not allowed to ever be out of place, you have to work even if you dont want to, and your life expectancy is incredibly low.

trust me, manual labor job is MORE stressful. I've had both. I'm happy I made the move to office and I'm never going back.

>>18143947
You should choose a job that makes you happy, and forget trying to please your mother or anyone else. What is more important to you, the pay, or doing something you enjoy? There are jobs you can get that pay well that involve a lot of legwork or manual labor as you put it. What kinds of jobs are you interested in? My father was an electrical mechanic who worked on ultrasound machines. He made plenty of money by the time he was in his forties. Since he had been doing the work for years, he knew more about the machines than most of the younger guys, since many clinics and hospitals still have older machines installed and they still need those machines to be serviced and repaired. He was able to negotiate his own salary, as well as choose which state he wanted to go to (USA). I don't know how much money he made, but it was a challenging job that involved travel, problem solving, manual dexterity, logistics and resource management, and not much of sitting around in an office bored, company politics, or kissing his boss's ass like an office job.

>>18143994
I could look at that to be honest.

>>18143995
>no, but then again im successful enough that I don't need to work that many hours, i can exercise all i want to, even in the office i can stop and just do some push ups or some stretches, and i definitely have time to exercise afterwards or on the weekend.
Well, not everybody who works an office job is that successful.

>whereas when you work a manual labor job you're not allowed to ever be out of place, you have to work even if you dont want to, and your life expectancy is incredibly low.
In my experience I felt far more pressure to be "in place" than I ever did when I worked in a factory, in a supermarket, in a coffee shop (sure they're not manual labour, I'm just making a point)

>trust me, manual labor job is MORE stressful. I've had both. I'm happy I made the move to office and I'm never going back.
I found office work to be stressful to be honest. Physical work is a stress *reliever* to me. Using your energy up.

What did you do, and what do you do now, if you don't mind me asking?

>>18144008
That sounds cool as hell. I mean, I would love to do some sort of trade like that, I looked at it, but like I say I have a degree (humanities), which is pretty worthless in my opinion, but I reckon if I apply for an apprenticeship or something (designed for people who left school at 16, rather than people who stayed at school til 18 and then went to university like me), they might think "who's this posh cunt"

>>18144050
Nah, age doesn't matter. Just go into a new job mature, motivated, and interested to learn. Every company wants employees like that. Don't be condescending to anybody and I wouldn't expect they'd be condescending or disrespectful to you. Then again, I hear that British folk are more "class conscious" in social attitudes compared to us Yanks, so I'm not sure about that.

>>18144072
Yeah I guess class is a big thing here, but surely it is there too? American middle class people are always banging on about "stupid rednecks".

Maybe I will apply for something manual. I just don't see what the point of doing a fucking desk job is when I know that I hate it.

I mean, I know that I have the brainpower to do a desk job if I really want to - so if I get a few years into the future and I *really* want to go back into a desk job then I can easily do that.

>>18144099
Yeah, if you're young, just get yourself a job and see for yourself what you like or dislike. In my experience, if you start in something manual you can always get promoted into something more managerial later, where you can do a little of both, or just office stuff, depending on the employer or whatever job get promoted into. It's really all about motivation and capacity to learn, as well as a little good fortune in available positions for promotions. If you can't get promoted with your employer, just change employers if you think you can get a better salary or a better position or whatever it is you're looking for. Good luck!

>>18144045

then go do it.

>>18144116
>>18144125
Some of the manual stuff I've looked at though would be a real commitment. Apprenticeships for example. Many of them are 1 year, 2 years, 4 years. So it would be a commitment

In your opinion, what's better, blue collar or white collar?

>>18143992
>Office jobs, for one thing, provide a hell of a lot of stress.

Your mileage will vary by the company, just like with most jobs. Manual labor jobs are also stressful. I know because I've worked at various manual labor jobs before.

In factory/warehouse jobs, the pace is relentless with scheduled periods of breaks in between and you can sometimes get blamed for shit that you're not the responsible for because the supervisor knows he can blame it on you. I remember working in front of a plastic bottle making machine. My task was to examine the bottles for flaws and pack them in boxes. The fucking bottles didn't pass pressure test, but my supervisor just laughed it off and told me just find one that passes the test. But it was me who had to sign my name on QA form, not him. He didn't want to stop the machine recalibrate it because it would slow things down. This happened more than once with another machine.

In an office job, you work at your own pace as long as you get the job done. There's also more accountability, meaning you're less likely to get blamed for shit you didn't do because there's a paper trail and all communications is recorded. Yes, office jobs can be hard, but what kind of job that pays well isn't? If you suck at your job, of course it's going to be harder.

It's true you can get home right after a manual labor job, but you're exhausted after work and don't want to anything whereas even with the occasional extra work from an office job you have to do on the weekends, you can work on your own pace.

Another benefit is that there's AC in an office. With manual labor jobs, especially in a factory/warehouse/outdoors, you'll be at the mercy of the environmental conditions. I had enough of manual labor. Yard work and indoor painting is okay but not construction-type work. I'm sick of smelling all those cancerous fumes and shit, hearing those earsplitting sounds, crawling through tight spaces, having dirt and grime on my clothes and body, etc.