What Has Been The Hardest Physical Work, You Have Done?

[slapout]

We hear that this and past generations, Thai and real world, were coddled/pampered, subsquently they are not interested in working on a farm, construction, etc that requires physical labor, and sweat.I can remember a few jobs that may qualify as hard physical work.

Put up hay bales, from field to barn, every bale handled by hand at least 4 times

Digging post holes, setting post, building fence.

Scoop grain into farm storage for feed and or seed.

Cut weeds in fence rows, pasture, and hoe in garden.

Probably the hardest job was unloading rail cars of grain using a sled pulled in by hand and out by tractor

Roughnek on a drilling rig is also, not one of my fond memories.

There is other work out there past and present which may be more physical demanding, it does not have to be farm related, what are they?

[cooked]

Getting up in the morning was hard work most days.

I think that without a doubt, pruning big trees 7 hours a day by temperatures down to minus 20 C. three months a year was the hardest I did..nobody over 40 was still doing it. It didn't even pay particularly well.

[kwonitoy]

Roughneck on a service rig, by far the nastiest job I ever had, later working on a real drilling rig seemed like a real improvement,

Oh to have the back and energy of an 18 year old again

[Mosha]

Hammering an earthing rod through sold rock. 1st connection failed at 3" So had to do another to 6'. I wasn't allowed to drill

[TexasRanger]

Manually digging foundations in the rain. Backbreaking, heartbreaking work. 50 quid a day cash in hand labouring.

[Mosha]

Roughneck on a service rig, by far the nastiest job I ever had, later working on a real drilling rig seemed like a real improvement,

Oh to have the back and energy of an 18 year old again

To have the wisdom of now, and the energy of an 18 year old. 555

[loong]

I've possibly been luckier than most. The hardest physical labour in my memory was running a concrete mixer on a large site.

The mixer was huge and I had to get inside it to clean it.

In front of the mixer was 2 sections with hills of stone and sand. The shovel was pulled by a cable and could load a large amount at once. There was a button on the handlebars to get the cable to pull.

Sounds pretty easy doesn't it?

But believe me, walking up these slopes following and controlling the shovel with the shifting sand and especially the stone beneath your feet was exhausting.

But the worst part was when we had a delivery of cement. Each bag weighed 1 Cwt and we HAD to carry 2 bags at a time, one on each shoulder. Luckily, labourers were brought in from other parts of the site to help.

Some of you probably know, but for those that don't, fresh cement straight from the factory is extremely hot, at times it can actually burn if it comes into contact with the skin.

Offloading the cement wasn't so bad when the weather was dry, but in periods of rain, the lorry couldn't always gets to the area without getting stuck and so we had to carry it through mud.

So the hardest work I have ever done is offloading cement lorries in muddy conditions.

I used to earn 70 Quid a week, that was back in 1975 and I was earning a lot more than my mates.

[somo]

In the late sixties/early seventies I was a university student and used to work as a dustman for the council
in the holidays to make ends meet. In those days you had to go into eaach house twice. ie collect the house bin take it out and then return it.
The bins could weigh up to around 50kg as wet coke/coal ash is heavy heavy. We were allowed home once our round was done so worked at top speed.
My first week was agony. Reckon I walked about 25 miles/day and hefted quite a few tons or more for a 1/4 of that. My feet were so sore I could do nothing but
prop them up and smoke some wackie backie and pass out once I got home.
In my last year they gave us our own aluminium bins which cut our walking in half so life becamea doddle
Today dustmen refuse to take a 5kg plastic bag if it is not placed within 10 cm of it's designated spot so yes times have changed.

[tingtongfarang]

Hod carrier for 3 years...was spitting blood for the first weeks.

[SantiSuk]

Worked in an office all my life, so the hardest physical work was last week - digging a hole for a concrete ring septic tank (actually a drain for backflushed pool water). Just did it for the hell of it, knowing it would only be a 500 baht job for someone in the family. Isaan clay sure is hard work; easier to dig when you soak the next layer overnight but then heavy as hell to lift out.

I've still got it, even though I'm over 60

(..... a bad back, I mean!)

[khaowong1]

Wow... I remember a few..

Roughnecking in the oil fields in Oklahoma

Digging post holes by hand on a ranch (passed out one day from heat exhaustion).

Working as a deckhand on barges up and down the Mississippi.

Worked for a company that put the tar and paint finishes on the roofs of Walmart stores across the Southwest. Hauling those 5 gallon buckets up on the roof by a rope. Was doing this job in my mid to late 40's.. getting way to old for this crap. Don't miss one day of any of this.

[transam]

Working out how to do this multi quote stuff, and ''you have zoomed to many quotes and need lessons'' messages. ...........................

[Satcommlee]

I helped bump start a car last night for a Thai bloke who's battery had run out... pushed for about 500 Meters till I explained he should be bumping it in 2nd gear, then it started like a dream.

I'm not as fit as I used to be, that destroyed me!

[FDog]

2 jobs come to mind.

Moved from Brisbane to Geelong to play aussie rules and the coach immediately put me to work as a brickies labourer. Ohhh that was bad especially in winter.

Other was working at an oil refinery and for 4 weeks had to go inside a huge oil holding container which had the floating roof propped up and make sure all the hardened oil and wax etc was pushed to the pumps to empty the container for cleaning and inspection. 7 days a week for 4 weeks and the only time I saw daylight was at smoko and lunch. Absolutely hated it.

These days I consider a hard job is cutting my toe nails with a bad back. Not THAT is hard work.

[xen]

• Brickies Labourer,
• Growing bananas
• Fruit picking
• Digging potatoes (about 10 acres)
• Picking beans & peas
• Shearers rousabout
• most landscaping work
• Grass Hay

The list continues, even studying to improve my lot was hard work in a different kind of way especially at night after working all day.

[473geo]

Shearing sheep with hand operated shears no electric motor until years later

Sawing wood by hand,

Turning hay by hand with a rake

Moving grass silage bales half the size of an average hay bale, heavy

Dry stone walling 4 yards a day at a ton per yard

Mucking loose boxes out by hand

Lifting fertiliser bags and carrying across the hillsides where tractors would not go

Hardest job of all castrating bulls, tied at the neck only, removing the gonads with a sharp knife, and a hot sharp iron, hard because your first time was bloody dangerous!!

Edited May 28, 2013 by 473geo

[473geo]

Grouse beating, walking through heather all day, Pheasant beating slightly easier but often going through woods full of brambles and briars

Repairing pot holes in the farm road

Moving manure from the byres in a barrow

Planting potatoes, even in a small garden, hard work

Not heavy work but my least favourite job ever......weeding

Cleaning fire damaged properties

Cleaning the rusted rails in an abatoir working above head height with a grinder

Edited May 28, 2013 by 473geo

[JDGRUEN]

Hard - tough jobs ... I've had a few - mostly early in my adult life - thank goodness. Those jobs taught me a lot - mostly to get an education so I didn't have to do them!

Age 18-19. Steel mill labor... railroad track gang repairing or installing new rail... 6 man team used 3 pair of giant tongs to move huge sections of rail into place... using a 9 pound hammer - pound in the spikes, use a pneumatic tamper to shore up the cross ties - level the track. Use 200 lbs. cast iron retrackers to place under derailed rail cars like the 'bottle' cars which were giant vessels shaped like an American football - lined with brick carrying molten iron from the blast furnace... two man job ... crawl under the glowing bottle car, dig out a space in the gravel along the rail - place the retracker in the right way to guide the wheels back up on the track ... get out the way while two giant engines pulled bottle car back up on the track. And hoped like hell it would work the first time. I thought I was in physical shape playing football and running track - little did I know. Other plant labor - cleaning graphite grease overspill on conveyor mechanisms - shoveling up spilled laterite iron ore dust - it had the consistency of women's eye makeup - stuck to your skin like greasy paint. Everything was hot in the Steel Mill. Then - cleaning out the clogged flue dust air duct catacombs under the steel foundry - WOW!. Only a crawl space filled with hot red dust and I mean HOT. Move along at a snails pace with a shovel - too hot to sweat - clothes completely dry - once I hit a hot spot and my gloves burst into flame! Once out of the flue ducts - we would burst into being completely drenched in sweat - could wring sweat out of my shirt.

Age 21 ... Two week Jungle recon and civic action patrols with the U.S. Army Special Forces... carrying 80 lbs. of food, ammo, medical supplies, commo grear, hand grenades, M-16, side arm... we were always wet - from rain, sweat, water on the jungle foliage and humidity - strange things grew on us after a few days... sleep along side jungle trials - exhausted beyond anything I had ever experienced... sacred at night - sometimes slept in trees or if lucky in a tiny 'Wat' One time we had to clear out bodies in a small Ban Nok that had been destroyed, other times had small children (Isaan hill people) die in my arms from things like pneumonia or cholera. But on the flip side - our combined efforts at medical civic action saved many lives in the area.

Age 23-24... Summer work - getting through college... Worked late night shift in the intensive burn care ward at Parkland Hospital - Dallas, TX. ... took care of about 8 critically burn patients. The smell of the Pseudomonas bacterial growing on the burns could easily take your breath away. We had some advanced treatments developed by a Doctor Baxter - so more lived that would have been otherwise expected. Other summer work... Pre-stressed concrete beam plant. I prepared a new casting bed - had to use a huge rock drill to bore bolt holes to fasten the casting beds. There must have been a 100 holes. Often worked pouring concrete beds with steel cables in them - stretched by hydraulic systems to a great deal of tension. I almost lost a hand one day when doing this - lifting out a cured beam - it fell inches from my hand...

Age 25-26 First job out of Graduate School - Texas Department of Health... Dallas Clinic... Job Title 'Venereal Disease Investigator - State of Texas' ... Field Epidemiology. Now this is a long story that I will leave for another time

Edited May 28, 2013 by JDGRUEN

[Ulysses G.]

Marine Corps boot camp.

I worked on a farm for a summer. That was tough.

I was a bicycle messenger in San Francisco and going up all and down all the hills all day was pretty good exercise.

[farmerjo]

I would have to say lifting fat lambs into the cradle for mulesing.

Also swinging off a sledge hammer flogging up m72 bolts,unfortunately i still do this ocassionally.

[Johnsy]

Building steel stock yards in the Australian outback, using old heavy steel rail line. This involved oxy cutting, digging holes, welding, concreting etc all in above 35 degree heat, often it was so hot you couldn't handle any of the steel without welding gloves on! Starting at 4am and finishing when it was to dark to see what you were doing any more, 1 hour for lunch, 20 mins for smoko and 1 day off per month all for the princely sum of $400 per week and 1 free can of beer a night + food (if you could call it that). But you tell the young kids of today that and they won't believe you....lol

[blackman]

Coal miner

[harrismac]

US Army Infantryman - Airborne School & Ranger School

Laborer for a block mason

[futureexpat]

Tree work. Difficult and dangerous but it made whatever I had for dinner taste amazing. Made me learn the true meaning of "work up an appetite".

I see many military examples, so I'll add that US Navy boot camp was surprisingly easy. Physically, at least.

Edited May 29, 2013 by futureexpat

[bkkbarnstormer]

Jeez.....I've had an easy life compared to you guys ?

[djvolak]

Crab fishing in Alaska. It seemed like it was never going to stop. Ha, but that money was nice, yes it was!

[somtampet]

When i left school,my first job at 15 was at iron and steel company.Very scary at first,noisy,hot,big tough adults making me grow up quick.

By the age of 16 i was goiing toe to toe with these scary guys,and i was getting stronger by the day.Even had one of the school bullies get a job there,within 2 days he knew he couldnt bully me any more.

[Globeman]

1. A day spent planting rice just outside of Vientiane with a bunch of locals... I gave them a bottle of booze to let me try it... stuck out the latter half of the day. Murder on your back and hands. They were totally mystified as to why anyone would even dream of doing such a thing voluntarily. I just wanted to know how the other 90% lived, and hadn't done any hard labour in so long, I was curious if I could still stick it out.

2. Wrapping cauliflower in Canada, which involves walking along on your knees, with a big bag of rubber bands, taking the leaves of the cauliflower plant, wrapping them around the infant flower and securing it with the rubber bands. Slow spinal torture, that one. And after a couple of hundred, your fingers are cut to bits by the rubber bands.

3. Roofer's assistant... I was the guy who got to bring tiles up the ladder. It was in Corfu, so they hadn't devised a simple pulley system, because that might put someone out of a job.

4. Removing the lobsters from Jayne Mansfield's bum.

[tonypace02]

^{Installing 50 and 100 foot radio towers in the oilfields on Alaska's north slope with temperatures at -40 and winds up to 35 mph then climbing those same towers and installing yagi antennas. Most of the time there was little or no daylight, but we had some powerful lights. In fairness to farmers and construction workers, we seldom did more than three or four per week and after three weeks we got to go home for two weeks. The rest of the seven day week was spent in lighter duties. Problem was the risk when the towers iced over. I once fell off a tower from 35 feet but fortunately landed in a twelve foot snow bank. No injury but had to get out of my fat boy in a hurry to change the suddenly dampened underwear.}

Edited May 29, 2013 by tonypace02

[mikecwm]

Having to get up at 2.00am, 7 days a week, walk through 10 ft of snow for 12 hours, then hammer and pick through 3000 ft of solid granite - all in a 12 hour shift, before trudging home for 12 hours - get 30 minutes sleep and then start all over again.

And you try and tell the kids of today what it was like back in the "good old days" - and they just won't believe you.