i recently read that the great philosopher-mystic simone weil, who grew up well off and educated, worked on an assembly line for a year in an industrial factory in order to experience for herself the problems of the 20th century french working class
she then wrote “The Need for Roots” about the problems she saw there. the first part is about what she believed to be the “Fourteen Needs of the Soul”
it reminded me of this great twitter thread on 90s movies-esque crappy jobs that are menial but humane, because you can fool around with your coworkers (also thinking of The Office)
chores alone sucks but doing it with friends doesn’t feel like work. my mom told me about joint families in india where a bunch of ladies would sit together while knitting or cooking and gossip for hours and it made life fun. i saw a bagger and cashier flirting at trader joe’s yesterday and they looked very alive and enjoying themselves
if you ever end up creating jobs, these are the subtle but important qualities that must be kept in mind
