I don’t know anything about that guy, and don’t really care to dig any deeper than that clip and his Twitter profile. But I’m guessing that he doesn’t have a history of working wage based labor jobs, or at least not for any real length of time.
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Replying to @RestlessJim
I'm a big fan of the game Cart Life, which has been read by a lot of people as political -- it's about working a pretty shitty job (operating an independent pushcart vendor, selling newspapers and concessions etc on a city street) and trying desperately to make ends meet
1 reply 1 retweet 7 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
But the creator said that wasn't the primary intention I mean, the theme is there, as an inevitable result of what doing a job like that while trying to pay rent in New York is like But the player character doesn't spend all day thinking about that any more than real people do
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Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
He said the game was about this weird sense of flow you get, once you get good enough at a job like that to be competent at it There are *so many things* you have to know to operate a pushcart stand, that don't have anything to do with each other
1 reply 1 retweet 11 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
Specialization is a middle-class thing, a white-collar thing Out in the real world you have to do a dozen different unrelated things to run a stand Physical labor, math skills, fine motor skills, people skills
1 reply 6 retweets 23 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
Placing the cart, setting up the grill, making a burger, running the cash register Keeping the prices in your head, doing the math to make change, putting all the stuff you need where you can reach it, being friendly and warm while looking for the chance to upsell
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Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
Everyone who works at the street level has to be a generalist -- the world never asked you what your concentration or your major was when it decided what needed to be done to make a living
1 reply 1 retweet 16 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
And that weird concatenation of skills, extremely particular to your own situation, gives you a weird sense of satisfaction and pride It's not *fun* exactly and it doesn't make the job not shitty But the job shapes you, all the little things you've learned without being taught
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Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
And I think about that a *lot* sometimes All the stupid jobs I've done and all the little things I know that don't matter to anyone anymore All the fun facts and one weird tricks and words to the wise Stuff that'd be totally foreign to me if my life had gone according to plan
1 reply 3 retweets 11 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
Anyway he talks like work is like school, like it's just one subject you "major in" that you keep on leveling up in over time And real life is just... not like that Especially at low-level wage labor jobs
3 replies 1 retweet 23 likes
Christ if you've never done it you don't know how your manager telling you "I'm moving you to a different location starting Monday" can fuck you up the same as some corporate lawyer being told "Congress is doing comprehensive reform on your area of practice"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @RestlessJim
All the little things you have to forget and re-learn every time they change some goddamn thing
0 replies 2 retweets 16 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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