Are You Happy At Work? Dublin City, Ireland 1982
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Published 2022-07-10
With unemployment on the rise, ‘In Context’ looks at how a person’s employment status affects self-esteem and dignity.
Marian Finucane takes to the streets of Dublin to find out what people think about their jobs. People are asked if they would prefer to earn the same money to stay at home or go to work. Opinions are mixed. While some would like to continue working, others do not enjoy their employment at all and only do it for the money.
If you got the same money for staying at home full-time, which would you opt for?
One man who has recently become unemployed says he is getting the same money on the dole as he was for working. He says that the problem is that many jobs are low paid.
A woman says she would opt to work as employment provides discipline and a certain amount of independence.
You feel that you’re actually doing something rather than being tied to child minding and housework.
This episode of ‘In Context’ was broadcast on 6 June 1982. The presenter is Marian Finucane.
All Comments (21)
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`''Stuck at home with nothing to do'' is a response I still hear today, especially from older co workers, and it's depressing that they equate not working with not doing anything. They have no interests or hobbies or even the urge to spend time with friends and family. There's a million things I wish I could fill my life doing that I cant because work takes my time, and energy. And its not just things for me, I'd love to volunteer, help others etc but I cant, because I'm at work. And before you say we all have a choice where we work and what we do and so on, please be honest with yourself, how much of society honestly gets to choose what we do with our lives. It's also not about getting things for free either. I have no issue earning my way but my job doesn't account for productivity, most jobs dont. I bet most of us at this stage could get a weeks work done in half, but greed wont allow us be paid for effort spent not time sat in a chair. Your employer pays to waste your time and believes he gets value in that. Your boss wouldnt leave the heating and lights on all weekend, but is okay wasting your life and energy to be somewhere for 40 hours when most jobs take far less time to do. Until we move past greed, we're all just be a bunch of cows in a field, happy to be someone elses meal.
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I love how nobody mentions they would need work for their “mental health” it just wasn’t a phrase used back then but it was basically what they were getting at
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I once had a job in a factory cleaning exhaust pipes before they were finished. So I picked them up cleaned them with a solvent and put them down, it was mind numbingly boring. It was also incredible noisy and people would bang hammers down next to each other just to see if you reacted. It was also in winter so I went to work in the dark and it was dark when I went home. I got out and went to work as a life guard in a swimming pool. That too was boring but very occasionally you had to jump in and drag someone out. I felt for the people who worked in the factory. Those jobs erode your thirst for life - its as if part of you dies.
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The world before mobile phones , people gave you their attention and didn’t know what a selfie was 😌
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Sitting at home with money and sitting at home with no money is to completely different things I’d leave work in a heart beat .. walk my dog , play golf , see my family , visit museums. Travel ..eat out , learn recipes at home , learn a language.. My god why do people think they need work to fill there week ..
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I often enjoy the comments as much as the videos. Your phrasing is unique. I'm just an ignorant American (with Irish blood in the lineage). We have all the same problems here as you speak of.
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1982 the year of Boys From The Blackstuff. Different city but similar to what I saw in Dublin then. My mates in school had Das as heroes who always came up with enough money for Christmas.
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I worked in the area of special needs and I loved going to work every day.
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The smartest answer would be to take the stay-at-home money but also work on the side if you wanted to. You could potentially make at least twice as much money. I don’t understand people wedded to work unless they’re making good cash. Doesn’t matter if you earn it or scam it.
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We used to work on the land to produce food. We used to make things from natural materials, everyday items that we all needed. Then came industrialization, and we all know the rest. Now we live in a world full of plastic, electronics, and concrete.
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How Ireland has changed nice to so many ethnic Irish people
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I always liked to work very busy for a few weeks until I'd get sick of it then pack it in. Get low on money again after a few weeks and start all over again. I somehow cleared two mortgages and bought a house outright while carrying on like that. Not always on good work either. Never live above your means is the key.
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Going out to spend 8 hours a day to make your boss richer and hand over tax without question to people in suits who take a salary 10 times what you earn, and all for what? So you can pay for a house that is left empty most of the time because you are going out to spend 8 hours a day........ And so on
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In the 1980's you were lucky to have a job - half the country were immigrating. Charlie Haughy was buying Charvet shirts while Bertie and P Flynn looked after the moral compass of Fianna Fail. It was a great time to be a city planner!!!
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The folk back in 1982 seemed very articulate. Especially when you consider that being on camera was a much bigger deal back then.
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0:34 what a beautiful irish woman
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that blonde lady at 33 seconds is beautiful
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I love these lads. Use grow up with men like this - Uncles mainly who looked, talked and dressed like that. They would give you their last penny. The lad with the tash probably had women all over him. Classic RTE - The interviewer was upper crust out on the street with the great unwashed -could almost imagine her saying 'Do you like lattes?' 'Wha?'
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Walking dogs, and visit relatives (that are busy at work) aside. When you work, you do discipline yourself in another way, that has value. Also the last lady was right: Independence. But, yes work is not all.
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If I did not have to work long days and a large part of each night, 7 days a week and 368 days each year (almost as much as the fab, the Beatles) with only 1 holiday in 39 years and yet get paid then I would spend all this time sailing the 7 seas, climbing up tall mountains, walking across deserts, fishing in the deep blue seas, swimming in lakes and rivers, talking to my Neighbours, seeing hello to strangers as I walked by, listening to the great rock music of Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, Van Morison, Bob Dyland,CCR Django Reinhardt and other great music, I would try following in the footsteps of Jesus, I will try to do good and help out others, try my best to be a good and caring human being, I would give a helping hand, I would give my advice for what it is worth.
