[ryandrake]

I think some people must have some romantic view of manual labor, like it is more noble or pure than moving protobufs from one API layer to the other. Combine that with the very real problem of burnout and stress from an emotionally abusive work environment, and you have people thinking they want to quit and do farming or something. A lot of my peers in the office quite obviously (it's hard to hide) grew up quite well off and have no idea what it's like to work a mind-numbingly dull service job or how much daily manual labor wrecks your body.

I've had the pleasure (/s) of working retail, being a janitor at a McDonalds, working in a plastics factory that wrecked my sense of smell, and hauling shingles up onto a roof in 100F+ summer temperatures. I will take my sit-down, climate controlled, fingers typing job over any of them, any day, no matter how much those meetings and status updates annoy me.

And, none of the above even touched on salary or standard of living...

[sanderjd]

As a bit of a counterpoint, I have a number of people with more "blue collar" jobs in my family, and while they also relate all the downsides of manual labor that you listed, they also see what I do as a clear "no thank you!".

They would, of course, love to be paid as well as I am, and many would love the schedule flexibility (though some of them also get to make their own schedules much like I do), but they feel very strongly that being stuck inside, immobile, spending all their days reading, writing, and talking, mostly on a computer screen, would be totally miserable. So the grass isn't always greener!

I'm the opposite, I certainly fantasize about doing different things that are mostly intellectual, but I know I'm well suited to sitting around reading, thinking, writing, and chatting from time to time.

I didn't really understand this until some of those family members started finishing high school, and I started trying to suggest careers that seemed good to me, and more than one person finally told me, "I don't want to do any of those things because I'll be stuck in front of a computer all day every day and I would hate that". And I think they were right! "Know thyself" is important.

(Note: I'm talking about careers in trades and professions that are not office work. But not entry level jobs at retail businesses like most of your examples. I think everyone does indeed hate working in retail. But not everyone actually does prefer being on a computer in an office to nailing shingles onto a hot roof!)

[ipaddr]

I miss retail, selling electronics and answering technical questions at radio shack.

I loved that everything I sold went into my pocket. Certain products had spiffs (10 dollars for activating a phone/plan) while everything had a commission (%4 for name brand / 6%/ 10% (for batteries). If I didn't sell enough to make minimum wage I would get minimum wage otherwise whatever I made.

I loved the busy time around christmas. I loved when people came up and I rang them up. I loved playing with the products and learning about the stock.

I worked at a booth that gave away food and sold cheese/meat baskets. I loved giving away food, selling and collecting the money.

I wouldn't go back but I miss that selling feeling.

[sanderjd]

Sure I've known people who have enjoyed jobs in retail. But I've never known anyone who is happy with a career in retail.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

And some people have tried it but simply hate desk jobs and being cooped up indoors all day. I married one.

[Protostome]

I worked in carpeting, which involved glueing and unglueing carpets from floors. Although I had this job only for a year to save money for university, it was a miserable year. I developed a severe allergy to dust, the fumes from the glue messed up my sense of smell, I totally agree with you.

[RGamma]

And also many tools currently in use in the trades are stuck in the last century UX-wise. There's a lot of open innovation in reducing the need for manual force or awkward body positions...

And there's probably some solutions that simply need more adoption like electric stair climbers.