In the past I have worked as a housekeeper in hotels cleaning the hotel rooms. I worked my butt off every day and had to work a lot of weekends too. I now work as a receptionist in an office where I don’t do a whole lot other than sit at my desk all day and I don’t have to work weekends. I get paid quite a bit more in my current job though. Why does it seem that a lot of physically demanding jobs get paid less than easy desk jobs?
‘Brain work’ pays more than ‘muscle work’ because it requires some skill. Just about anyone can clean hotel rooms, it’s not hard to find unskilled labor. But being a receptionist requires some skill. Plus they’re looking for a certain type of person, because you represent the company, you’re the first person people see when they come in.
I’ve noticed all my life that the older and balder I get, the more they pay me, and the less physically demanding the work, but the more I have to think, and the harder the decisions are.