Growing up the 60's and 70's...I remember the appeal of the song "Take this job and shove it"

[Horse with no Name]

Jobs were plentiful. Unions were strong. People could stand up and say "screw you" and go find another job.
People loved this song....it was empowering. It was a working man anthem.
Now....jobs are scarce. Good jobs are even more scarce. Employees don't dare leave their jobs--no matter how bad they are treated--because there isn't a guarantee they will find another one.
So we have a couple of decades of having to hang on to crap jobs....no power to tell your boss to shove it...
so instead, we have a generation of workers growing up watching "You're Fired!" which reinforces how powerless the workforce really is.
This is just me musing how we got to where we are......and why, as a society we would allow ourselves to be run by the person that not too long ago would have been told to fuck off. THIS is why Unions were so important and WHY they have been systematically destroyed by the money class.

[bobbieinok]

1. Did it take off with Reagan's breaking of air traffic contollers' union?

[GulfCoast66]

2. Well, you need to listen more closely...

Johnney Paycheck recorded the hit version but it was written by David Allan Coe. It was a lament that he could not tell his boss to shove it up his ass.

There is no power in a song saying that I can pick and choose my job. The song several times says 'one of these days' he is going to quit. And only because his woman has left him.

I like the song. But it is in no way a celebration of workers rights.

[Horse with no Name]

3. at that time....people used it as an anthem

did they take the entire song literally?
I don't think so but I know many used the catch phrase to convey a message.

[GulfCoast66]

4. Well. I remember that time well. Only 40 years ago.

The working man has never had it great. Maybe better than now, but not great.

[Horse with no Name]

5. I might have to disagree there

you could quit your job and find another one. But. Even the garbageman was able to support his family in a middle class lifestyle.
Not so much anymore.

[GulfCoast66]

6. Middle class then or now?

Because that definition has changed dramatically. And where were you raised?Because in Louisiana garbage men have never been middle class.

[madokie]

7. Shortly after returning from 'nam

I had 7 jobs in 5 days. One of them I kept for a day and a half.

I agree with you on this