Granted,my comment wasn't nice but these people were very snotty and obnoxious about it, calling nurses "glorified *** wipers" and other lovely names.
Here's another irony: As a nurse, you may occasionally find yourself doing the aforementioned wiping (or something equally distasteful) because it IS part of the job . . . but likely at some point in their lives those snotty people are going to NEED that type of help themselves. Wonder how they'll feel about receiving such help from someone so lowly? so beneath themselves?
The poster who talked about the value shift in America is so right. We no longer value true service professions. Back in the day a meat cutter was considered highly skilled labor (because high amounts of specialized training were required for this position/title) and was paid extremely well. Nowadays most "meat cutters" work in factory farm slaughterhouses and are not legal or documented workers. WOW that comment will start a riot...please ignore.
Meat cutters are a good example. Here's another that illustrates the shift in the American workplace:
I live in the South, where textiles were king for generations. Late 1800 - 1990s, the mill town (or mill hill) was a way of life for the working poor. Not too long after the Civil War, as medicine progressed and (to sound callous) more babies started living to adulthood, the farms could no longer support the whole family, so many adult children "came to town". The mills offered them a miniscule paycheck, but the company took care of most of their needs. A worker received a small shotgun house rent-free. It was close enough that he could walk to work /come home for lunch, so he didn't need a car. He didn't need an education; the company provided all the training he'd need. If he got sick, the company doctor was right there (no charge). The company store was there in town (with low, low prices). The church and all other social entities were located right there within walking distance. Every Easter the mill gave him a ham, every Thanksgiving a turkey. When he had a baby or was sick, the mill manager -- maybe even the owner -- came to visit him. A good, steady worker had a job for life, and after he put in his years, he had a small pension and his house 'til the day he died. If he was hurt on the job, he received a mill pension and medical care. The mill closed down the week of July 4 and the week of Christmas, giving him a week's paid vacation twice a year. His wife probably worked for the mill when she was younger, then stayed at home with the children 'til they started school. While she was at home, she probably did jobs for the other mill workers: Childcare, laundry, cooking. His children probably dropped out of high school and found a place in the mill -- or perhaps driving a truck for the mill, or perhaps doing maintenance on the mill houses (which was free for the tennants), or perhaps working in the mill store. Few people left the mill family, or even tried to leave. It was a way of life.
I've heard some of my now-deceased relatives speak of the mill with great reverence. Sure, they never even made minimum wage, but they also never did without. They didn't have to save, didn't have to plan ahead. As long as they were steady workers (and didn't talk crazy stuff like Unions -- that's for them Yankees, we're family down here), they never had to worrry about lay-offs or being fired. They saw the owners/managers as family. Kind of like an older brother who'd take care of them, make their decisions for them. Yeah, the owners/managers got rich, while the workers never made much, but they also saw it as their moral duty to care for their workers.
You tell me -- were they better or worse off than today's working poor?
Today we're in a mess because a certain former president made trade agreements with Mexico that sent those jobs out of our country. Most of those mill workers had no education (even though in today's world, that was foolish), and they had no other skills. For generations their families had been mill folks. It's been hard on our area as these people try to acclimate themselves into a world their parents, grandparents, great grandparents never saw.
That was so well said, gandycat! Neither my husband nor myself had the opportunity to go to college . . . my family wouldn't mock college or more education but there just wasn't the money there . . .
I hear what you're saying, but LOTS of people don't have college handed to them. LOTS of people's parents are in the situation yours were in: No money.
College is an opportunity that you CAN MAKE happen for yourself. Maybe you can't afford to go to any college you choose, but community college is a good start. Maybe you can't afford to live in a dorm or have an apartment near the campus, but most of us are within driving distance of a college. You might not be able to do it in a neat little four-year package, and you might have to work an awful lot during the process, but it's an achievable goal. Sure, it's easier if you have supportive parents who help you with admissions, write big checks, and see you through the process . . . but it's possible to do it without that help.
My mother didn't want me to go to college. She had a couple reasons, all dealing with her own issues, not my ability or readiness. She actually threw up some roadblocks -- all financial -- to try to prevent me from going to college. In all honesty, that ended up helping me because I was determined she wouldn't win. My parents never paid one red cent of my education, but I earned two degrees in 7 years, and in the 19 years that I've been out of college and have been working I've earned back every penny that I put in many times over. It wasn't easy, but it was worthwhile.
And I'm certainly not the only person who's done this. My grandfather is another example. He was orphaned as a child. He was one of 10 children, and he was passed around among his older /married siblings during his formative years. He was smart and wanted to go to college, but he was without resources . . . "Til he found the Teaching Fellows scholarship. He decided to become a teacher literally because that was his ticket to college. He taught a couple years /coached basketball to fulfill his scholarship repayment obligation, then moved on to other things.
and then some more graduate hours after that.
(yea right!! They kept up two separate homes.) for us to get any type of assistance. Because neither my mom nor my dad ever attended college, there was no encouragement or support for us to attend. 
