• EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    I’ve always said that if I were elected president, I would institute mandatory retail service instead of mandatory military service. Doesn’t matter if you’re a kid in high school or a ceo making seven figures, everybody has to do their time at some point. Either it would cause world peace or nuclear armageddon, and either one would probably be an improvement.

    • Lemmington Bunnie
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      1 year ago

      I’ve said this, except you have a choice:

      You can do retail, hospitality, or health services (eg cleaning hospitals, very basic patient support, anything that requires minimal training and won’t do harm to any patient in their care).

      I am a Service rep and my mum was a nurse, so we’ve both seen a lot of the worst of humanity. I think people need to extend more empathy to nurses and other medical staff - I understand for many patients, it’s a horrible, scary situation, but these people are (generally) there to help and have to deal with a lot of awful stuff every single day.

      More patience and empathy in general would make for a much better society.

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        Damn right. I worked at a fish market for over a decade and there’s a reason that jobs like active duty military and bomb defusal rank below all three of those jobs you listed on the scale of most stressful jobs. People are assholes day in and day out to these kinds of people who literally keep our society running and keep us alive.

        Any time I’ve been in the hospital, my motto has always been “If crying, screaming, and pissing myself will help, let me know and I’ll be the first to do so. But until then, it sounds like a whole lot of effort to make everybody’s day worse.”

      • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I’d add tech support to that list. Cut my teeth there fresh out of school and it really taught me empathy towards service workers of all types. The crazy bullshit that people threw at me due to being stressed and irritated that their stuff isn’t working was very eye-opening.

        • Lemmington Bunnie
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          1 year ago

          Yep. Basically any position where you’re in some sort of service to the community.

          It really gives you perspective.

          Also PTSD.