What the hell am I at

Lando Griffin

So here I am in the 18th year of employment thinking what the hell am I at?
I mean most of my earnings off to the government to waste, soggy weather and for what?
Its not as if my hearse will have a trailer full of money to bring with me.
Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

CodyJarrett

Thinly veiled: "I have a job" thread

You could do what Chris McCandless did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taFaFEuwHLQ

A Primal Nut

Lando Griffin wrote: »

So here I am in the 18th year of employment thinking what the hell am I at?
I mean most of my earnings off to the government to waste, soggy weather and for what?
Its not as if my hearse will have a trailer full of money to bring with me.
Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

Are you a skilled hunter? Might be more stressful than you think, particularly when your life and that of your family; depends on it.

krudler

Cloud City ain't gonna run itself, you should have thought about all this before you handed over control of it to the Empire.

Biggins

Lando Griffin wrote: »

So here I am in the 18th year of employment thinking what the hell am I at?
I mean most of my earnings off to the government to waste, soggy weather and for what?
Its not as if my hearse will have a trailer full of money to bring with me.
Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

Having a mid-life crises?
Been there.

davet82

Lando Griffin wrote: »

sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

i like milk and boobs so i'm gonna give ya a thumbs up for your post

Wibbs

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Are you a skilled hunter? Might be more stressful than you think, particularly when your life and that of your family; depends on it.

I dunno PN in a lot of the current hunter gatherer environments hunting is pretty easy. Fishing even more so. They've way more free time than the farmers that replaced them and defo more than your average 9-5 cubicle dweller. Very low levels of stress, almost zero levels of depression, diabetes, heart disease and shed loads of other illnesses of the modern world. It's defo appealing.

seamus

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

So what's stopping you?
I plan on raising a family, so I recognise that I have to make sacrifices in order to provide them with a decent quality of life.

What's your excuse?

Micky Dolenz

So you want to polish stones? I may know a guy who'd be interested in giving you a start.

A Primal Nut

Wibbs wrote: »

I dunno PN in a lot of the current hunter gatherer environments hunting is pretty easy. Fishing even more so. They've way more free time than the farmers that replaced them and defo more than your average 9-5 cubicle dweller. Very low levels of stress, almost zero levels of depression, diabetes, heart disease and shed loads of other illnesses of the modern world. It's defo appealing.

Hmm, so why is their life expectancy so low compared to ours. There must be something we are doing right?

Gmol

D'em foreigner hunter gatherers took our nuts Joe

seamus

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Hmm, so why is their life expectancy so low compared to ours. There must be something we are doing right?

We have low infant mortality (i.e. good pre and post natal care) and antibiotics.

Those two alone would raise the life expectancy of any society by about 30 years.

AnonoBoy

krudler wrote: »

Cloud City ain't gonna run itself, you should have thought about all this before you handed over control of it to the Empire.

My inner nerd is screaming at me to respond to this but I've learned to control him.

:mad:

Wibbs

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Hmm, so why is their life expectancy so low compared to ours.

It's not. For much of human history huntergatherers had better life expectancy than farmers and people in cities. Common fallacy that one(oh they all die before 40 etc). What skews their overall stats is their much higher childhood mortality.

Lando Griffin

seamus wrote: »

So what's stopping you?
I plan on raising a family, so I recognise that I have to make sacrifices in order to provide them with a decent quality of life.

What's your excuse?

The 2012/2013 Premier League is starting soon. I doubt they would have live and exclusive coverage of it in those parts.
Although topless, the native women would surly have a fair amount of bodily hair.
Inability to climb coconut trees hence having to employ someone to do it for me hence being the burnt of the village jokes.

krudler

AnonoBoy wrote: »

My inner nerd is screaming at me to respond to this but I've learned to control him.

:mad:

sometimes you gotta let your nerd side out

sebastianlieken

think about it; You have access to a wide variety of foods at the convenience of a shop. You have dentists and doctors to ease and sooth your pains. Clothes shops to clothe you when your other garments are worn. Hot water on demand, plumbing, tv/books/internet for entertainment...etc.

Are you really willing to give all of that up?

Think of how many people the world over would litterally have their arm cut off to trade lives to be in your situation. You have it pretty good! Survival at your fingertips, and more than that, comfort and relative luxury at your fingertips. The ability to travel when you feel like it, eat what you want when you want... etc..

Don't let the government get you down. sure that money you pay them goes down the toilet, but can you honestly say you *earned* that money that goes to them? do you *earn* 100% of your wages? I mean, I dont think my company would be too thrilled if they knew I was on the internet right now.... I still get paid for it though... and the government get's that portion of my wage.

Just go buy an expensive car like everyone else. </typical AH response>

AnonoBoy

krudler wrote: »

sometimes you gotta let your nerd side out

No. That's exactly what the voices want me to do.

Diapason

OP, it sounds like you need a sports car and an affair with a blonde half your age.

ScumLord

Wibbs wrote: »

I dunno PN in a lot of the current hunter gatherer environments hunting is pretty easy. Fishing even more so. They've way more free time than the farmers that replaced them and defo more than your average 9-5 cubicle dweller. Very low levels of stress, almost zero levels of depression, diabetes, heart disease and shed loads of other illnesses of the modern world. It's defo appealing.

The only problem is you won't find to many wild animals to eat in Ireland and will have a hard time tracking them through other peoples land.

Once it comes to preparing, cooking and storing that food you'll also see the benefits of electricity, you'll need a clan of people to spread the workload. Although producing your own electricity isn't out of the question your going to go back to the global community for parts and knowledge.

The men of hunter gathering communities may have the life of a lion being waited on hand and foot by the females but if your one of the women there's a huge workload supplementing mostly unsuccessful hunting trips, then all the day long workloads preparing the food so it's even edible.

gigawatt2007

Dude/Dudette - if you don't have commitments and you have 18yrs experience at what you do, get the hell out of dodge and work somewhere else, Australia, London, Canada and alikes.

Do it before you regret not doing it.

nbar12

sell everything and become a dragon

Biggins

nbar12 wrote: »

sell everything and become a dragon

The latter might require the OP to have a sex change and become my mother in law! :eek:

*shudders*

Lando Griffin

Biggins wrote: »

The latter might require the OP to have a sex change and become my mother in law! :eek:

*shudders*

Advantages :
A grand cup a tea.
A grand fry.
Wouldn't expect you to go to mass with a hangover on Sunday morning as would have reminded that there is also mass Saturday evening.

later12

Lando Griffin wrote: »

most of my earnings off to the government

Hmmm; really?

You must be earning an awful lot of money, because income tax only takes away about 10% if the average single person's salary. Even taking into account VAT and other taxes and duties, I find it quite difficult to believe anything approaching "most" of your earnings go to the Government.

gigawatt2007

later12 wrote: »

Hmmm; really?

You must be earning an awful lot of money, because income tax only takes away about 10% if the average single person's salary. Even taking into account VAT and other taxes and duties, I find it quite difficult to believe anything approaching "most" of your earnings go to the Government.

40% in my case when you add up USC, PRSI and all the other sh'te.

Most people earning would at least fall into the 21% bracket.

Dunno where 10% comes out of

later12

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

40% in my case when you add up USC, PRSI and all the other sh'te.

Most people earning would at least fall into the 21% bracket.

Dunno where 10% comes out of

Effective rate. The effective income tax rate on the AIW for single people is about 10%; it's even less for married people. I presume you're not taking your tax credits into account to arrive at that 40% figure.

The oP said most of his/ her salary goes to the Government. That's extremely unlikely to be remotely true.

gigawatt2007

later12 wrote: »

Effective rate. The effective income tax rate on the AIW for single people is about 10%; it's even less for married people. I presume you're not taking your tax credits into account to arrive at that 40% figure.

The oP said most of his/ her salary goes to the Government. That's extremely unlikely to be remotely true.

We declare as a married couple and I take all of my wife's credits as she only works a 3 day week. I receive exactly 59% of my salary on a monthly basis after PAYE, PRSI and USC are deducted.

So I sympathise with the OP and must admit that we have considered moving abroad given the amount of money we're flushing down to the jacks (aka giving to the government)

Lando Griffin

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

40% in my case when you add up USC, PRSI and all the other sh'te.

Most people earning would at least fall into the 21% bracket.

Dunno where 10% comes out of

There would be none of this nit picking in my village.

gigawatt2007

Sorry for dragging off topic OP!

Duggys Housemate

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

later12 wrote: »

Effective rate. The effective income tax rate on the AIW for single people is about 10%; it's even less for married people. I presume you're not taking your tax credits into account to arrive at that 40% figure.

The oP said most of his/ her salary goes to the Government. That's extremely unlikely to be remotely true.

We declare as a married couple and I take all of my wife's credits as she only works a 3 day week. I receive exactly 59% of my salary on a monthly basis after PAYE, PRSI and USC are deducted.

So I sympathise with the OP and must admit that we have considered moving abroad given the amount of money we're flushing down to the jacks (aka giving to the government)

Oh most countries take that.

Ush1

Is it possible to have a constant life crisis?

Duggys Housemate

I see the OP's point. He is merely saying the simple life has its pleasures.

A Primal Nut

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

I see the OP's point. He is merely saying the simple life has its pleasures.

Might get boring after a while though. Especially without boards.ie

later12

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

We declare as a married couple and I take all of my wife's credits as she only works a 3 day week. I receive exactly 59% of my salary on a monthly basis after PAYE, PRSI and USC are deducted.

That would be a substantial wage; I'd estimate it to be in the region of €100,000 going on back of the envelope sums, if you are taking personal credits and your wife's credit into account. Otherwise, there must be some other deduction that you are counting as a tax, like a pension contribution.

--Kaiser--

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Hmm, so why is their life expectancy so low compared to ours. There must be something we are doing right?

http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf

The data shows that modal adult lifespan is 68–78 years, and that it was not uncommon for individuals to reach these ages

crazy cabbage

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

I see the OP's point. He is merely saying the simple life has its pleasures.

Indeed. Give me a relativly simple life anyday.
I never see myself working 40hour weeks. I am not lazy or anything like that but it is just that i dont think i will need the money. I dont want to own a house and i dont want a fancy car. I dont think i will want 90% of the material possasions that the rest of society seems to crave. A small bit of land around me to grow some veg will also save alot of money. Any money that i do earn then will go into traveling.
Granted this may all change if i decide to settle down/have kids. Have to think of them too.

See exatly where you are coming form OP.

Diapason

Ah, the simple life. Very attractive indeed!

I'm sure you've all seen this before, but I'm going to post it anyway:

An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The tourist then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"

The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."

The tourist then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The tourist scoffed, " I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

The tourist replied, "15 to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the Mexican.

The tourist laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions?...Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

crazy cabbage

Ah, the simple life. Very attractive indeed!

I'm sure you've all seen this before, but I'm going to post it anyway:

That sceal is after putting me in a good mood. Cheers

ringadingding

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Oh most countries take that.

True, true, but most countries offer infrastructure that actually works....
40% of your salary gets you precious little in Ireland.

I truly truly wonder what happened with all the money that flooded in from the EU in the boom years, I mean some wonderful things could have been done with it.

later12

ringadingding wrote: »

True, true, but most countries offer infrastructure that actually works....
40% of your salary gets you precious little in Ireland.

He's getting 60% of his salary; and this only applies to very high earners.

As has been previously said, average earners will pay in the region of 10% in income tax on their salary in effective terms, USC and PRSI will generally increase that to about 15%.

Capt'n Midnight

seamus wrote: »

We have low infant mortality (i.e. good pre and post natal care) and antibiotics.

Those two alone would raise the life expectancy of any society by about 30 years.

we could loose antibiotics soon
stuff like MRSA and Tuberculosis and resistance spreading

still the Ruskies are working on phage so all may not be lost

Duggys Housemate

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Hmm, so why is their life expectancy so low compared to ours. There must be something we are doing right?

http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf

The data shows that modal adult lifespan is 68–78 years, and that it was not uncommon for individuals to reach these ages

Even the bible says 3 score and 10 i.e 70

Bowlardo

Ush1 wrote: »

Is it possible to have a constant life crisis?

i think so..i have one anyway

northernpower

Lando Griffin wrote: »

So here I am in the 18th year of employment thinking what the hell am I at?
I mean most of my earnings off to the government to waste, soggy weather and for what?
Its not as if my hearse will have a trailer full of money to bring with me.
Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

I haven't read the thread so don't know if anything similar has been mentioned, but at the minute I'm in cambodia working with an ngo and I have to say there are people here with nothing, absolutely nothing who are as content as anyone I've met.

I think theres a lot to be said for the simple life

Capt'n Midnight

Get married. Then fake your own death and collect the insurance.

ScumLord

northernpower wrote: »

I haven't read the thread so don't know if anything similar has been mentioned, but at the minute I'm in cambodia working with an ngo and I have to say there are people here with nothing, absolutely nothing who are as content as anyone I've met.

I think theres a lot to be said for the simple life

I think people are confusing the simple life with free time.

The simple life isn't so simple either. The fact is it takes hard work to live off the grid. You could spend most of your time making food, any jobs or services that society provided now have to be built and maintained yourself. It's a big workload.

Our problem in the west is we made huge improvements to the efficiency of just about every part of our lifes. Instead of making do with what we'd achieved we chased the hope of riches and used all our spare time to try and make more profits.

Now we live in a society that can't even do as good as we did yesterday. Anything other than more growth or more profits is seen as failure. Any improvements we make will just be filled with more work time. We're working for corporations profit margins not our own quality of life.

There's absolutely no reason to live like that. We don't need to work 40 hour weeks, and we're fools to think we can have an ever growing economy, it grows and grows until it bursts and then the "elite" consolidate all our work into their own pockets and start the cycle again.

Duggys Housemate

Very few office jobs offer a 3 day week. I would if I could.

The Apple plant in Hollyhill in Cork used to allow its manufacturing workers to work a 12 hour shift, 3 days a week. This was down from a 40 hour week when it was introduced so there was a minor pay cut which they made back again in time with yearly increases. it meant a 36 hour week in 3 days then 5 days off. Every month you switched shift so worked either 6 days in a row - switching from day to night or vice versa - or got 8 days off.

Anyway, Offices won't do that, and the rise of China means that's not going to be common in manufacturing, which is now there. It's the way things would've been, maybe, without glibalusation.

I would jump at that offer though.

monkeysnapper

Diapason wrote: »

OP, it sounds like you need a sports car and an affair with a blonde half your age.

Jeez that sounds good, where can i get one of them lives

mikom

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Sometimes I think wouldn’t it be nice to just have a simple life, sitting in a mud hut shaping and polishing a new stone for the top of my spear sipping milk form a coconut watching a village of topless natives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYlWjxs3BSQ

ScumLord

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Anyway, Offices won't do that, and the rise of China means that's not going to be common in manufacturing, which is now there. It's the way things would've been, maybe, without glibalusation.

China are good at making what we tell them to make. They aren't a patch on Europe when it comes to taking something from an idea right through to finished product. We're better at making everything and many cases we only use them to get cheap runs of minor and or simple parts in a bigger assembly.

Ireland has excellent high end engineering, we should really be making a bigger deal out of the quality of Irish products.