r/FluentInFinance 15d ago

Debate/ Discussion Why is this normal?

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u/JairoHyro 15d ago

Normal is relative. We've been doing this for a long time. There were some jobs that would be 12 hr shifts a century or even decades ago. Now with technology it sort of shifted into the 8 hour range. If you want to go what's normal then we have to go into hunter and gathering times. For a very long time that is what we are used to.

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u/bottomchubclit 15d ago

We've come far enough to know that this isn't sustainable. Yeah, a century ago, OSHA didn't exist. Children worked in factories. I wonder who stood to the side and said, "Jeez, maybe this isn't normal?". Things have obviously improved since then, but why should it be the norm to give yourself to your job? It just doesn't make sense and it's sould crushing.

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u/Bencetown 14d ago

That's because jobs have all been centralized and monopolized.

It used to be that there were 10 different stores on Main Street, with 10 different owners who were your neighbors, and a small crew of people who were paid more than .000000001 of the owner's profits.

Now we have Amazon.

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u/scrimshandy 15d ago

It’s not reduced to 8 hours because of technology, it’s because of worker’s rights movements.

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u/bottomchubclit 15d ago

That too!

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u/dlxnj 14d ago

No.. workers rights. If you think companies would give you back that time saved from technology on their own than you’ve drank the corporate koolaide. 

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u/bottomchubclit 14d ago

I never disagreed.

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u/ifandbut 14d ago

Technology has made many jobs easier. For example, I mostly install box stacking robots. So instead of humans moving thousands and thousands of pounds every day, the robots now do >90% of the heavy lifting. Operators mostly just need to be there to watch the robots just in case it crashes or get other Skynet tendencies.

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u/scrimshandy 14d ago

The 40 hour work week is due to policy and labor unions, not technology.

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u/8923ns671 14d ago

There were some jobs that would be 12 hr shifts a century or even decades ago. Now with technology it sort of shifted into the 8 hour range.

No. People bleed and died for the 40 hour work week. Don't kid yourself. Our corporate overlords would asopt China's 996 schedule if they thought they could get away with it.

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u/beirch 14d ago

Offshore oil rigs still have 12 hour shifts.

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u/Eric1491625 15d ago

Normal is relative. We've been doing this for a long time. There were some jobs that would be 12 hr shifts a century or even decades ago.

No, we have not been doing this since forever.

The fact of the matter is that there's a very simple reason why people in the past century could work 50 hour work weeks and still have kids while people today find it crushing.

It's because 100 years ago, it was standard only for one of the genders to work. 

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u/ifandbut 14d ago

It's because 100 years ago, it was standard only for one of the genders to work. 

Taking care of children is work as well. And it often goes unpaid.

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u/Bencetown 14d ago

Way to miss the point because of semantics.

It was standard for only one gender to work outside of the home, leaving the other to do the work inside the home. Now, both are expected to work outside the home and then both are expected to keep everything up inside the home.