http://www.democraticunderground.com/11149074Oh my.
rrneck (14,070 posts) Sat Jun 15, 2013, 11:46 PM
Big strong guys, an observation.
I was in a restaurant today having breakfast and struck up a conversation with the guy in the next booth. Nice fellah. He was about six foot three two hundred ten pounds with biceps the size of my calves. His dress and his tan labeled him for somebody that worked outside, probably in construction. When he got up to leave I noticed he did so slowly with a short pause half way up, as if he were in some pain. He walked with a slight limp that seemed to clear in about ten feet or so.
I've had a lot of manual labor jobs from farming to construction to furniture installation, and it seems that most of the big strong guys I've worked with had some sort of injury related to the physicality of the job. They've always got flat feet, a bad knee or a back that's giving them trouble. It seems to me, based on my considerable experience, that big strong guys get treated like draft animals.
<<<not a big strong guy; in fact, rather frail.
<<<even Atman, the biggest crybaby sissy on Skins's island, could probably beat up.
<<<for sure, the sparkling old dude could.
Tuesday Afternoon (45,056 posts) Sat Jun 15, 2013, 11:50 PM
1. and you think big, strong women Don't? what exactly is your point here, rrneck?
labor is a commodity. no doubt about it.
rrneck (14,070 posts) Sun Jun 16, 2013, 12:44 AM
3. Women get treated badly as well.
Historically, as baby factories.
When that guy stood up today and paused in pain, he did so knowing nobody was going to rush to his aid. Why? Because he's a big strong guy.
I guess what made me notice was the fact that he parked his jeep so that the reflected sun from the windshield was shining on me. I barely noticed it, but he asked me from the other booth if the reflection bothered me and he would be glad to move it. Here was someone who could easily break me in half, but I've never had anybody offer to move their car in the parking lot for my convenience. And I've worked enough construction to know that when he hits that jobsite, he won't expect anybody to help him if they aren't on his crew, and maybe not then. I'd bet a hundred bucks he doesn't even have health care.
I have a friend who used to be a DI in the 82nd. 'Bout six three two forty. He used to jump out of airplanes with an M60 and kick box for his regiment. I've free sparred with him and that right foot feels like you're getting hit with a ****ing tree trunk. He can say with all candor that he really does know about seven different ways to break your neck. You'd be surprised how hard he works to use "small" body language. There are no large gestures or loud vocalizations. He has an MFA and an MA in Art Therapy. And if you get enough beer in him, he will tell you about his time in Iraq and about the soldier stuff he had to do. It still weighs on him.
I don't know if there was an exact point here. Maybe just that we all suffer from the perceptions of others that are designed more for their benefit than for understanding us.
lumberjack_jeff (24,785 posts) Sun Jun 16, 2013, 12:40 AM
2. True enough.
My landlord fits the description you provided. Nice guy and intelligent, played basketball in college, he spent his adult life painting houses because it made more economic sense than staying in MBA school.
Chronic back pain sucks.
fizzgig (17,759 posts) Mon Jun 17, 2013, 01:53 PM
9. my husband moves furniture and is busted to hell
knees, back, feet, hands.... and he usually works six days a week.
i'm going to ask him to push a bit harder on getting a second day a week off, he's going to kill himself at this rate.
