hello people
 

im doing some stupid volounteer shit for school now. sucks

Good for you, k.b. Volunteer shit builds yer character, doncha know. Carry on, soldier!

i never know what to think of voluntary work. it tends to be done by those who can afford to work for free, making it more difficult for those that can't to get a properly paid job. if a job is worth doing, it's worth paying a person to do it.

(i just realised how old this thread is. Buzzo is probably married now, with a mortgage and a colostomy bag)

I've known people volunteering for work that is demeaning and underpaid in the first place. I admire people with a bit of get-up-and-go, but when that get-up-and-go is applied to the terrors of low-paid temp work, you do wonder what biological function masochism actually serves.

People volunteer out of the goodness of their hearts, Glice, usually for something they feel strongly about.

i met some people from the european union volunteer service, they were hot, i think i want to join, it seems like a pretty sweet deal for a couple years anyways

and because, unlike most of us, they have the luxury of being able to afford to work for free.

Don't misunderstand me - I am talking about people volunteering for utter pigshit jobs for massive corporations. The sorts I've done lots of, on minimum wage. I've seen people volunteering for those. Volunteering to photocopy fuck all for a week for their CV. Volunteering at the local orphanage is a far cry from what I'm talking about.

The volunteers I know are far from rich.

I volunteer to be the one.

maybe they should get a job that pays then.

They have jobs, usually, the people I know. They do volunteer work outside their normal work hours.

what jobs do they do?

The people I personally know who volunteer have real everyday "jobs" as everything from lawyers to store owners to dishwashers. Why?

no reason, i'm just nosey.

Figures. Brit.

Volunteer capitalism annoys me, being forced to work to earn cash to survive is bad enough but having to want to do it is even worse. you are forced to volunteer if you want to get a job so it shows you are 'at least doing something' and 'want' to work and not some dangerous unemployed person not forced to contort themselves into sociability. people really hate those who manage their own time. they buy into this whole 'oh he just sits on his ass all day he's a scrounger while i have to work' its a mixture of jealousy resentment and the delusion that the unemployed person has all this enjoyment and freedom at the expense of the worker, as if the unemployed person is only allowed to not work because the worker is supporting them. My tax pays your dole, all that crap.

I don't normally have any qualms with capitalism, but I think the rapidly-encroaching volunteer culture is really dangerous. Worker's rights have taking a pretty massive hit since the large scale dissolution/ ineffectiveness of the trade unions following Thatcher, but generally they're ok. Volunteer culture is really a step in the wrong direction, especially when the YTS scheme (a Tory invention) at least paid lip-service to the notion of getting paid for doing not much.

It's much like the trend towards unpaid overtime. I know of quite a few people who have been told they're not officially obliged to, but it looks bad if they don't do a bit of it.

All of this wouldn't be so much of a problem, but if the Posties get quashed (and it looks alright on that front at the moment) then trade unionism is basically NUT and CA in this country. Worrying.

exactly

2 different things. Volunteering to serve self, ie, career advancement vs. to serve others. I'm talking about the latter, eg, habitat for humanity, soup kitchens, etc.