• Nikls94@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    The screeching steel, roaring loudly as the large metal contraption charges onward, propelling its large body upon the ground, burning a liquid explosive compound as it’s power source. Inside the massive machina, I command it’s every move, turning at my whim and halting it, sending it howling to a stop. Within it’s curved and hammered steel belly lie smaller spawns, all different shapes and sizes, many whom cry out, some in lament and others, horrid excitement. (I used to be one as well)

    • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 hours ago

      My shoulders have grown calloused and stiff from the weight of the innocent lives I guide to their myriad destinations. Day in, day out, I command this dragon of steel in their service. My feet and hands puppeteer this ferrous beast in arcane rhythms, a symphony of gears and fire known by few and heard by none. For this deed, I take no reward, no reimbursement, save for the standard remuneration of a monthly salary, which, quite ironically, is nothing to ride home about.

  • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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    1 day ago

    Reminds me of an ad from over a decade ago. (For those who speak German: youtube, sorry, I want able to get an invidious Link working )

    A woman is sitting at a bar, and a man in a suit comes up and sits right next to her, taps his car keys on the table, and then lays them on the table and moves them towards her.

    “400 horsepower, 12 cylinders, top speed 296…” He nods proudly. “Tomorrow evening 7 o’clock?”

    She grabs a large key on her keychain and shows it to him: “10,877 horsepower, top speed 330, tomorrow morning, 8:43…” She puts the key on the table and pushes it next to his key. “…track 7”.

    The ad was from the German railroad attempting to recruit drivers.

    • black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      20 hours ago

      Why does a railroad need drivers? I’d think it would be more about keeping an eye on the machines, especially at 330MPH

      • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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        13 hours ago

        As @myotheraccount mentioned, this is 330km/h, but yes, they still need drivers. On the high speed lines, the train can do quite a bit on its own, but you still need a driver to take care of the stops at stations, for non-high speed sections which generally don’t have the automation infrastructure, and for the case the something doesn’t work or go as intended.

        There’s not much of a need to “keep an eye on the machines”, they’re pretty sturdy, made to go at that speed and have gone through a number of tests to ensure everything works the way it should. Unless we’re doing a test run, but that’s another story.

      • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 hours ago

        Interestingly as an European I didn’t even thought about school buses when I read the shitpost and instead a regular public transport bus was what popped into my mind, which in my mind is actually a pretty essential job.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        School bus driver here. Depending on the district you drive for, it can be stable. At mine, we make over $30/hr and get benefits like health insurance and a small pension (after ten years on the job). However, you don’t get a lot of hours (typically 4-5 a day, although the most senior drivers can get 8+ hours a day) and generally no (or very little) work in the summers - for me, this is part of the job’s appeal. We are a union shop, which is pretty important to the situation.

        The lack of stability comes from the fact that there’s a strong tendency for school districts to privatize and hand over transportation responsibilities to private bus companies, which generally use older poorly-maintained buses, and hire any creatures that seem to be alive and have CDLs to drive while not doing criminal background checks on them or testing for drugs and alcohol and paying them a lot less with no benefits. The advantage of privatization is that it ends up costing school districts more because of the much higher accident rates.

        However, I don’t think the meme here is referring to a school bus driver. School buses are expensive, but nowhere near $400K.

    • howrar@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Bad negotiator, implying that he got a bad deal on the bus? Implying that he owns the bus that he drives? Is this another US thing where employers require you to purchase the vehicle before you can work for them?

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Tell me you live in an area without public transportation without telling me that you live in an area without public transportation.

    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Stupid bus driver got taken for a ride at the bus dealership.

      I bet he even paid for the extended warranty.