“You Never Told Me It’s That Hard:” Office Worker Tries Food Service Job, Quits After One Shift

What do you think of when you think of working for minimum wage? Flipping burgers? Sweeping floors? Putting money in a cash register? Maybe if you haven’t had one of those jobs before. Otherwise, you’re probably thinking of carrying bags of garbage that weigh half as much as you do, sweating profusely, sticking your hands in disgusting substances, and being treated like dirt by the general public.

A Tumblr page that invites followers to submit stories airing their frustrations with working in service jobs posted this submission in which a waiter witnessed what happened when someone who was used to having a cushy office job gave food service a try. She didn’t even last one shift after finding out what anybody who works in food service could have told her, that “low-skill” jobs are not low-effort.

Image credits: gurmit singh (Not the actual photo)

Someone submitted this story to a blog where service workers vent

Obviously, every work environment has its disadvantages, but another person who went from working in retail to a desk job agreed that it feels downright luxurious compared to being on your feet all day and being nagged not to lean on the counter or drink water in front of customers.

People with desk jobs might take their freedom for granted: a study in the UK in 2016 found that on average, office workers spent barely three hours of their eight-hour workday focusing on work. That’s not necessarily a condemnation of them—psychologists suspect that there’s simply an upper limit to the time people can focus on cognitive work like writing, and in a culture of 40-hour work weeks for all, that time just isn’t used efficiently.

This user shared their experience going from retail to a desk job

You might have been told before that everybody should work in food service at least once in their life. Reading this thread, it’s hard not to agree. If you eventually end up in a job that’s less physically demanding, knowing what the service world is like can give you empathy, unlike people who verbally abuse service workers and argue against minimum wage increases from a position of not even knowing what their jobs are like.