I almost picked the one I’ve actually done. I’ve been a migrant farm worker for several weeks, though not in California; Washington state. (And a non-migrant farm worker for much of my life.) But that was when I was in my twenties. In my current physical condition, I’m afraid it might kill me. I’m still doing farm work, but not at that rate of speed, and resting and/or retreating from weather when I need to. The internet fast would make it a whole lot harder to deal with the planning board and to manage the farmers’ market; but aside from that it would probably be good for me.
For that matter, I’ve also done without the internet for most of my life; though during that time things weren’t set up to nearly require it.
That’s kinda what I would have thought. I have seen the worst job. Working in a chicken by-products plant. I’ll leave you imagine what that means, just suffice to say, you can smell the place from three miles away.
I picked “migrant worker,” because the healthiest I’ve ever been (physically and probably mentally) was the month I picked vegetables on an organic farm in West Virginia, mostly eating just what we picked.
I could have chosen several - migrant worker, sewage treatment - but when I saw a 7 month break from the internet, it was the one option that would probably make me healthier. It would also require a 7 month sabbatical from my job, so win-win.
I would pick sewage treatment over the others but first I would need to know what I’m getting paid. I’m not working for free. It’s got to be decent money. Next likely would be the internet although it would take some doing so I don’t stop paying some bills. The farm one would be first except I don’t think my body would be able to take it.
I believe I could manage 2 weeks in general pop in a prison fairly easily, easier than everything else listed. If it were a minimum prison, it’d be a relative piece of cake. Max and Supermax would be a bit grimmer but still better than the other poll options.
It might even turn into old home week, with all my former patients as unit comrads or cellies.
I wonder if those of you picking “migrant farm worker” will change your mind when you’re bent over all day picking strawberries on a 110°F day in the Central Valley, trying to meet your quota, with limited water breaks, and living in a crowded dormitory with basically no privacy.
ETA: I went back and re-read the poll, and it does say “do farm work in the same conditions…” bot not necessarily “live in the same conditions”. So maybe the dormitory part doesn’t apply.
The late lamented Hamburger Hamlet had a burger with chopped peanuts, mayo, and shredded lettuce. I always ordered it, because when I was in high school my gang frequently ate at Woody’s Smorgasbord. It was just a hamburger place that made plain burgers that you then took to their condiment bar to doctor to your taste. They also had a soft serve ice cream bar, so I’d go over there and add chopped peanuts to my burger. Absolutely delicious.
My mom worked at our local Y back in the day when they still had Indian Guides. They were the Happy Turtle Nation. I used to snag t-shirts because I liked the name, but the cultural appropriation always bugged me. Later when I worked with an Explorer Post we would “work” Camporees and Jamborees and at one some kids did powwow type dances. They were good and the dances were fun to watch, but that felt even worse to me. These white kids essentially cosplaying as Native Americans.
It’s have to check what the largest nearby prison is. I volunteered in a local medium security prison, and I’d hate it, but it seemed like something i could get through. I didn’t think I’d pick a high security prison, or a nastier medium security prison, over done if the other choices, though.
(I decided to just go with sewage treatment. That seemed pretty safe.)
Meanwhile, I live about a mile from Folsom Prison. Even though now it’s just a medium security prison I still don’t want to go there.
California State Prison, Sacramento is right next to it; it replaced old Folsom Prison as the maximum security prison. Even though it’s on the same grounds it’s officially considered a separate prison, and since it’s the smaller of the two I assume old Folsom Prison is where I’d end up based on how the poll is worded.
Well, yeah, i am too old for that, but I did join a Gleaners group, which did stuff like pick up almonds that the harvester missed. In nice California weather, and if one is in good health, farm work is just hard, it isnt dangerous.
One job I had applied for is Marine Biologist at a CA sewage plant. Hardly the dirtiest job, however.
You have the skills and experience. I have inspected county jails, and the only one I liked was a “jail” for minors, where it was basically a live in school, and only fully locked up at night. I would cheerfully be a live-in instructor at that place for a while.
Indeed. As I said, I’m still doing it. And I’m almost certainly healthier doing it than if I weren’t doing it. But I’m 75 with a heart condition; and I don’t take either heat or cold as well as I used to. I need to be able to stop and rest whenever I get out of breath, which I do often when active, and to get into shade or air conditioning if I start to overheat (I don’t think cold’s as much of an issue in agricultural California.) When I can arrange the work in my own fashion, and some of it’s done on the tractor and some in the office and wnd some in the packing shed and some alternating standing and stooping and kneeling and even sitting, I can still get a fair amount done, though not as much in a day as I used to.
All day stooping in a strawberry field at upper 90’s F or hotter? I don’t trust my heart to take it. I know my back can’t.
The thing is — this society has a lot of farm work set up so that people have to do the same thing all day long, multiple days running, at high speed, often with insufficient protection from whatever the weather is. Farm work doesn’t need to be done that way. Of course, everybody’s food would probably cost a little more, if it weren’t. Or at least the basic ingredients would, which is a whole other issue; very little of the cost most people at least in the USA pay for their food goes to the farmgate price.
Just an FYI: strawberries don’t produce well above about 80-85F, so nobody will be harvesting them in 100F+ weather. There are plenty of other crops that are grown and harvested in the California heat, though, like melons or peppers or tomatoes, so carry on.
Whoops. We don’t — so far and cross fingers — have enough weather around here over 85 for me to have learned that one. Though it has been getting hotter for longer stretches.