Cushy Jobs

[GingerRose]

What would you define as a cushy job? What are some examples?

Do you think you work at one or have worked at one?

[Zagadka]

I may be biased by income, but anything with luxury income.

 

I understand that office jobs and things like playing stocks can take a lot of knowledge, time, and commitment, but having income several times more than people who work 10 hour days doing "unskilled" labor, living paycheck to paycheck, and live constantly in debt and a broken bone away from bankruptcy, or sacrificing everything in their lives to claw their way up - or the way up for their children, having no hope for themselves - doing the jobs that keep society functioning, without thanks or much reward, have all of the reserves of my sympathy.

 

And I don't define this along lines of  menial labor versus sitting in a chair. There are plenty of code monkeys and grunt office workers who create actual wealth and production. For instance, my mother currently works for shit wages essentially running an entire real estate investor's properties, dealing with every tenant complaint (regular), dispatching maintenance, handling all of the paperwork, etc - essentially, doing 5 jobs - for an hourly wage that hasn't risen in years and almost no benefits. She is half a year away from retirement, and just can't look for another job. Her boss, who works 2-3 hours a day and has his position from inherited and married wealth just making real estate deals, appreciates none of it. The tenants have had rent hikes with no explanation, and my mother has to deal with all of it. She does this job alone, for hundreds of properties, and is miserable, while he just comes in and rants about how Trump should have won and his taxes are too high. She has an office job - not a cushy job.

 

As a comparison, my dad was a mechanic for her entire life. She worked long hours, but actively enjoyed it. She was never stressed about work, and made fair enough wages as someone with 40+ years of experience. I would consider that borderline cushy.

[Monke Jimmy]

Probably a job at a dispensary (ba-dum-tsh)

 

Dad joke aside, I would say a lot of office jobs are cushy. They often don't take a lot of active brain power, aren't always busy, and often pay a living. Most would probably be described as boring rather than cushy, but they're often seen as very important and sometimes paid decently.

Other than that, probably just any job where you can hire someone to do most of your job for you and sit and do nothing most of the time. Like a lot of people in real estate. Real estate seems like really cushy business. A lot of the actual work they do is almost just as a hobby. They don't need to do any actual manual labor or anything. 

[Gloomy]

One that’s really easy, you’re not required to “work well under pressure”, you don’t have to interact with other people, doesn’t require much physical labor, and pays at least enough to afford a one bedroom apartment.

 

I’ve had a few temp jobs where I basically just did data entry and filing all day, those were pretty cushy in my opinion. Some would say my current job is cushy, especially considering I work from home half the time, but this job has caused me to have a few nervous breakdowns 😬. I guess it’s still more cushy than when I was working swing shift at that gas station that was in the bad part of town…

[Ortac]

I would say being a civil servant, someone who carries out functions for the government.

 

It is cushy for a number of reasons.

 

Firstly, it’s because in many cases, people are paid good money for doing not very much; compared to working in the real world, the bar is not set very high in terms of the quality and standard of work that is expected.

I know of people who took office jobs in a civil servant role who had to resign within three months because they were literally being paid to sit around for most of the day with absolutely nothing to do, and they couldn’t tolerate the boredom.

 

Secondly, it is very difficult indeed to get fired from the civil service, no matter how badly you perform. People can often survive in a civil servant role even after committing an act of gross incompetence. Pretty much the only thing that can get you fired is committing some kind of serious criminal offence.

 

Thirdly, if you are in a public facing role, you don’t have to give a damn about whether your “customers” are happy. If you work in something like tax or social security for example, the public you interact with have absolutely no choice about having to deal with you; they can’t just walk away or “vote with their feet” if you give them crappy service.

 

Compare all that that with working for a private corporation, where good performance and high standards are expected, the contrast is huge. In the real world, if you don’t perform, if you don’t treat your customers appropriately, you are out of the door.

 

I started out my career in a civil servant role, and after about five years I got new job with a global corporation. The transition was a huge culture shock which took me quite a while to adjust to.

 

I my civil servant role, I was expected to carry out my job in an almost robotic manner by precisely following set procedures and guidelines that had been dictated by people above.

In my new job, things were very different - nobody was spoon feeding me with step by step instructions on how to do my job; I was expected to be proactive, figure out my own procedures, set my own priorities, and get on with it.

 

I thought at first I had made a huge mistake in moving, and that I would never be able to cope with the very different culture and pressures of my new work environment. Fast forward a few more years however, and there is absolutely no way I could ever move back to a civil servant role now; it would probably drive me barmy.

[Calliers]

I am at a cushy job, although I have several avenues of income. My actual two jobs are a admin and editor at a website, where, I work when and how I feel like, and if I don't feel like working I can just skip a day. The back log isn't too bad. And because I live in Canada and am paid in Euros, I make a nice wage. For a single person like me. Also I work from home, so no need to commute which is nice. Overall there isn't a lot of heavy lifting at my job and I feel way overpaid for what I actually do.

 

To make matters even better, I like computers, and the website is a tech website so I find the work quite entertaining and calming too.

[Virelai]

The general idea of a "cushy job" certainly seems to allude to being free of stress, physical strain, being a very stable job, and over all of that paying very well.

 

Nevertheless, having chronic pain, a "cushy job" for me has a lower standard. I tried working an active job in retail and it caused me so much relentless physical pain that my mental health bottomed out. Now I have a desk job, and in comparison it is paradise. I'm making money without hurting. It's living a dream, even though it's an entry-level job that most certainly won't make me rich.

 

I'm not saying this is relative. I'm just an odd-one out. lol

[Calliers]

25 minutes ago, Virelai said:

The general idea of a "cushy job" certainly seems to allude to being free of stress, physical strain, being a very stable job, and over all of that paying very well.

 

Nevertheless, having chronic pain, a "cushy job" for me has a lower standard. I tried working an active job in retail and it caused me so much relentless physical pain that my mental health bottomed out. Now I have a desk job, and in comparison it is paradise. I'm making money without hurting. It's living a dream, even though it's an entry-level job that most certainly won't make me rich.

 

I'm not saying this is relative. I'm just an odd-one out. lol

Yes this is true, whether or not a job is cushy or not is very much subjective.

[gwennol]

simple! a cushy job is something i'm never going to have 🙃

[SorryNotSorry]

Whether a job is “cushy” is usually an opinion of someone who wishes they had it.

[Calliers]

22 minutes ago, SorryNotSorry said:

Whether a job is “cushy” is usually an opinion of someone who wishes they had it.

If you grew up having a lot of shitty jobs like me, then you're able to appreciate the nicer ones.

[GingerRose]

I know a cushy job would refer to something that isn't demanding, but I think it's subjective. Even having an office job could be demanding, emotionally tolling with the clients someone has to put up with.

[a little annihilation]

I'd think a cushy job is one that pays well and has formal attire. Like being a lawyer or something.

[Zagadka]

Or where you wear a costume. Like being a mascot or something.

 

Oh, wait, that is hellish.

[Epitaph]

To be honest, I think my job is cushy. But that's in comparison to all the other jobs I've worked. When compared to construction, logging, concrete work, a shipyard, and the largest walmart in canada, even though my job is retail, I don't have to hustle at the pace of a soldier doing light jogging constantly and I don't hate any of my fellow employees, and while some stuff is heavy, it's nothing compared to concrete work, demolition work, or hauling green wood saturated with water. Mentally I'm a vegetable as stocking shelves requires no brainpower and saps what's left of mine, but I'm not stressed. I just show up, hobble my corpse and go home. The other jobs took a much bigger toll on my sanity.

[Epitaph]

Also wow I also blotted out 8 years of restaurant work because of all the jobs out there that's a hell I'll never ever do again. I'd starve myself to death and eat of dumpsters again before working any job in the food industry ever again.

[Calliers]

54 minutes ago, E said:

Also wow I also blotted out 8 years of restaurant work because of all the jobs out there that's a hell I'll never ever do again. I'd starve myself to death and eat of dumpsters again before working any job in the food industry ever again.

Yeah those tend to be horrible.

[Gloomy]

Now that my mental health has started improving (hopefully this will last *fingers crossed*) I can actually appreciate the cushiness of my current job lol. There was a time when my anxiety wouldn’t even allow me to have a simple data entry job, so yeah, my mental health can play a part in whether or not I consider a job “cushy”.

[StrayCat]

Being rich.

 

It's great job, not only you have almost unlimited freedom what to do, society also worships you and will protect your luxuries with their lives. Ultimate prestige too.

 

There are two ways to get it, the most common one are rich parents, the way less common one is being extremely lucky and unscrupulous.

 

Anyone here is trying for career like that? 😺

[aafire]

To me 'cushy' is any office job that doesnt involve manual labor like construction, cooking, waiting, or retail.basically any job that keeps you on your feet = not cushy. 

I think cushy as a term comes from having a cushion to sit on at your desk all day.