Which of these two jobs do you think is more physically demanding, a "desk job" or a fork lift driver?

I bet that a forklift driver has to do a lot more than to just drive forklifts.
It is also a lot more dangerous.

I have no idea. Both are likely to end up with bad backs due to losing their muscle corset over time. The forklift driver might burn more callories if he has to get up off his butt every once in awhile and actually lift something—but actually getting up off his ass might infringe on another union’s gig so… The desk worker might burn the same amount due to stress. And if running up and down stairs was involved, or miles back and forth to the copier, they may burn even more calories, which would be good for them.

As a floor nurse, early in my career, I walked miles and miles of hallways every shift and it helped me to stay in shape. Deskbound nurse managers rarely got up off their behinds their whole shift and, because of this, usually had asses big enough to require their own zip codes.

I would think that a forklift driver would also have to move freight by hand. Depending on what the warehouse ships, it could be quite physically demanding. Take a close look into the job description. There’s probably a part where it states ‘employees must be able to lift x amount of pounds,’ or something like that…

In addition, most warehouses lack heat, or air conditioning. So, unless you live in a mild climate, it can be pretty miserable.

Loli is also right. It isn’t without danger. It’s easy to mess up with a forklift. Destroying products, or having things fall onto the forklift is common.

I was a manager of a sporting goods warehouse for a couple years. Pretty mind numbing, and monotonous…

I think it would depend on both, if the fork lift operator only had to unload a few trucks, and load a few and the paper work was easy to access, then I would go with the desk type job you described.

But if the fork lift driver had trucks coming and going all day, had to hand load a few wallets, and walk for paper work then I am going for the fork lift operator.

I’m in tune with the others. There are some secretaries that get quite a workout, while there are lots of sedentary forklift operators.

I have had desk jobs, I have been a forklift driver. The forklift job left me with a ripped chest and no problem getting a date. The desk job 30 pounds overweight and lonely weekends

I have never driven a forklift. I have had many desk jobs and jobs that have included desk work in conjunction with other work, like going out in the field.

I can tell you that the administrative (“desk jobs”) I’ve had recently no longer include major filing, as most paperwork is now either in the computer or scanned into a computer. Desk jobs I’ve had have never been physically demanding and I’ve never felt at risk of harm from doing desk work. If anything, now they manufacture “standing desks” because desk jobs are so sedentary and they say “sitting is the new smoking” so it’s considered to be bad for your health to have a desk job just because it’s so sedentary.

Youtube has lots of “forklift fail” videos that are very funny.

I just looked at job description of a forklift driver from a google search and this is what I got for physical demands:

Regularly sitting on a powered industrial truck
Frequently lift up to 50 pounds and adjust body position to bend, stoop, stand, walk, turn, pivot, and stand for long periods of time
Having a good sense of balance
Having good eye-hand-foot coordination
Ability to assess weights and judge distances and heights
Ability to work in varying temperatures, depending upon season

When I looked at the job description for forklift driver, it said they have to put attachments onto the forklift, take the attachments off and lubricate the equipment. I think this is more demanding than a desk job. Also, in the desk jobs I’ve had, I’ve never had to lift 50 lbs. If there’s any box that is heavy, we’d get a guy to do it. I know from doing employee orientation with our insurance vendor that forklift jobs are in a different disability category for insurance rates than a desk job, so that says something. I’m willing to bet that injury rates for forklift drivers are higher than injury rates for desk jobbers.

I can also tell you that I saw the beginnings of this discussion on FB, and I’m not getting sucked into an argument about it.

When I was a forklift driver you were constantly on and off the truck opening boxes, moving pallets around, loading/unloading parts of pallets filled with heavy shit onto trucks by hand… not all forktruck jobs are like that. It greatly depends on where you work.

Every desk job I have had was a joke physically compared to other jobs I’ve had that were very physical.

I’m guessing forklift drivers do get to sit quite a bit, so that might make it less tiring than say being a mechanic, roofer, or retail sales person. Unless, the forklift driver is constantly in conditions that aren’t climate controlled. If they are in hot warehouses all day, or outside in the elements, that counts as a big negative. It is physically difficult to be in temperatures that are far from comfortable for hours straight.

I assume forklift people often do some other physical work depending on what they are lifting, and other responsibilities they have in their job.

My guess is generally speaking forklift drivers have jobs that are more “physical” than most desk jobs. After reading the answers above I feel pretty confident my guess is right.

I’ve actually had both types of job, and I can tell you from experience that the job of most forklift drivers is more physical than most “desk jobs”. Most forklift operators are required to climb up and down from/to the operator’s seat several (sometimes many) times throughout the day. That in itself requires more physical activity than getting up and down from the desk, not to mention the reason they have to leave the seat, be it to move empty pallets, count or position boxes, or even simple daily maintenance on the equipment.

Here is why I asked. My daughter is a fork lift driver. She recently had surgery. After two weeks the doctor cleared her to go back to work, but she had restrictions on bending, crouching, lifting, shoving, etc.
Well, she went in on Friday…and HR won’t let her come back to work because of the restrictions. The earliest the doctor will lift restrictions is Jun 25. She’s so frustrated she was literally in tears. She can’t live without an income for another month. She feels fine, and she totally understands the restrictions, but she says they don’t apply to her job. She doesn’t have to manually lift anything. If she did, she could at least get back to work, simply driving a fork lift and she can promise that she won’t do anything in violation of the restrictions. She’ll get others to do it for her if she has to do it. She can restrict the climbing up and down as well.
The doctor says she has to sit 66% of the time. Well, she sits on her forklift at least that much! She’s on her feet more at home, caring for 4 kids.
Seems to me an office environment would be more prone to violating those restrictions.

She asked about temporarily getting an office position because people can’t get over their stereo types, but it would mean a cut in pay, which she could live with for a bit, but, also, their policy doesn’t allow her to transfer back to her original position for another 6 months. She could NOT survive a cut in pay for that long.

I suggested she write a letter to her doctor and to HR detailing the parameters of her job, which mainly consists of working levers, according to her.

And sure, it’s more dangerous. But that applies in that situation anyway. Has nothing to do with getting physically back to work.

Can she talk to her boss? Maybe he/she can talk to HR for her and reassure them he will have her comply with the restrictions.

Is she sure she isn’t eligible for disability/sick pay through her job? Some places of work have that type of pay kick in after being out a few weeks.

They’re supposed to have a meeting about it. That’s why I told her to write the letter.

@JLeslie Are you assuming she hasn’t looked into disability or sick leave? Or do you think maybe she should be absolutely SURE! Like, ask them 10 times?

I have had desk jobs (which I hated, so they never lasted long enough for me to really give a fair assessment) and I have never driven a forklift, but my husband has and he says that it’s more taxing on the body than you would imagine. He would often come home from work sore and have to do something for his back because the motion of the truck can be jarring on the body, he said you get jostled around a lot. So, while you may not be up and moving around like you do if you’re not literally sitting at your desk all day, it could be physically hard on the body. I think it really depends on the specific job, though.

Did she already ask them 9?

HR can be wrong. One time when I went to HR to get health insurance they said I couldn’t because it wasn’t the time of year for open enrollment. I told them my husband was losing his insurance because he was changing jobs, and they said it didn’t matter. My husband knew the law, he knew it was an exception. I called HR in the central organization and they agreed with my husband I got my insurance.

Anyway, I’m off in a tangent. I would guess she asked before she did the surgery, so if there is no coverage there is no coverage.

What I don’t understand really is it sounds like she expected she could go back to work before 6 weeks, even though the doctor said the recovery can be 6 weeks.

I do think if the doctor is ok with her moving around, just not lifting anything or straining in anyway, that she should be able to do at least some work. Maybe a half day of work just doing sitting activities.

One thing to note is that when you are healthy you sometimes don’t realize what a strain every day activities are, and it’s easy to overdo. I’m sure her company doesn’t want to risk a workman’ comp injury.

When I had my back injury I could lift more than ten pounds, couldn’t pull the laundry out of the machine, couldn’t get in and out of bed and the car like I usually did.

Stop already @JLeslie. She only had 1 day of sick leave left. She will receive short term disability to the tune of about $90 a week, when they ever get around to sending it. That just isn’t going to help much.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Stop what? I said that I would guess the answer is the answer, she can’t get more sick pay, although, I didn’t even know she was getting $90, I had missed that, so she does have a little coverage.

I’m not trying to give you a hard time. I hope they let her work, it sounds to me like she should be allowed to, I agree with you.

Fork lift driver. You don’t sit in it all day but climb on and off all the time. You crane your neck to see where the forks are going and well as the forklift going forward and reverse. You steer, you brake, you clutch.

And there is the vibration of the machine, too. It could loosen the stitches inside and cause bleeding and infection. Two weeks is too early. Even if she swore in blood that she wouldn’t do anything that she isn’t supposed to, HR absolutely can not go against policy. If something did happen, they could be sued or closed down by OSHA.

If they let her come back too soon, it’s a liability for the company. That’s the bottom line. She could swear she wouldn’t do any heavy lifting, and if she did (because maybe nobody was aroudn to help her or some other circumstance), the company is at fault. In addition ao the clutching and braking and hopping on and off the lift. If she stays home and does lifting with the children or whatever, the comapny is not liable. The doctor, I“m sure, has cautioned her against lifting no matter where she is (lifting babies, laundry, etc.).

I thought everyone in the family was prepared to help her out financially for the long term for her to be out and recover?

I know it’s a liability for the company. I’m suggesting that she write a letter outlining her actual duties, and comparing them with the formal description of her duties, which is what they’ll be going by. They have no clue.
She can indicate that in her experience there, she has not had to pick, or lift, or shove or anything particularly strenuous. If there is something that would violate the restrictions, she can suggest “light fork lift duty,” and explain how she can get around those duties by having someone else do them or something.

We were @jca, but when the Doc released her to go back to work we thought we were done. We had gotten just enough in the GoFund me to last about 2 weeks, and that’s when the doc cleared her, so we quit “pushing” it, although I didn’t push it that hard in the first place, because it’s embarrassing.
I’ve almost convinced Rick to pull $1,000 from his 401K, which he does not want to do. I don’t blame him, but we ARE the family so he’s gradually giving in. (I’m suggesting how bad it would look if “strangers” did more than we did, although I’ve actually spent close to $700 that he doesn’t know about.) Her biological father didn’t do crap. On the day after her surgery he texted her with “Hope you’re feeling better! We’re getting ready to go see Some Movie as a family! Fun!”

So it’s just a misery for her. She spoke to her housing people. They said “Sure, we understand! But it will still be $5.00 a day for every day you’re late.”
The only creditors that have worked with her are the people with her car loan. They agreed to withhold any demand for payment until the end of June, which is going to cut it really close at this point.

She’s up and about, she’s driving, she’s walking, she went to the lake with the kids yesterday. Rarebear said the doctor is full of shit.

Anyway, I’ll stop venting now. It’s just so damn frustrating.

With all due respect, Rarebear is not her doctor. I have been through that surgery. I thought I was fine within two weeks also. I wasn’t. I pulled stitches out by riding on a motorcycle, I got a blood clot that was not detected, but that started immediately after the surgery and wasn’t found until 4 weeks after.
I had a friend that went dancing 2 weeks after hers because she felt so good. She ended up being rushed to the hospital that night as she started bleeding.
Caution is the word here. If she messes up and has to be out of work even longer….

I know that. She knows that. She is simply desperate.

Does her bio dad have the money? Has she asked him directly for help? If not, I think she should. Don’t wait for him to offer. He can pay the money directly to the landlord if he wants. Incurring late fees is awful. If he wants her to pay him back, she can, hopefully he won’t, but for now at least he can help her avoid late fees and stress I think.

One time when a family member of mine, who is very close to me, was going through a very difficult financial situation I didn’t catch the clues she dropped. Finally, one day, she fell apart a little on the phone from the stress of it all, and in the midst of it she told me how upset she was I hadn’t offered to help. Well, I just had no idea how dire the circumstance was. I sent her $1,000 the next day. I would hope maybe your daughter’s dad just isn’t getting it without being directly asked. He might be as thick headed as I am.

Are you saying you do not have mandatory paid sick leave?

He has some, enough to send her something @JLeslie, but he has never, ever helped the kids, or me when they were little. No she hasn’t asked him directly. When he whines, “No, I don’t have the money,” it will just be another cut to her heart, along with the thousands of others he’s inflicted.
If sharing her Go Fund Me Account with him isn’t enough of a clue, what would be?

@ragingloli Yes. She has 2 weeks a year, I think. Due to her illness and various sundry things with the kids, she had one day left. It’s gone.

Well, I’m sympathetic to her not wanting to be hurt by him, I know how awful that can be for children, even adult children.

I think directly asking him might make a difference, but I don’t know. I don’t know him.

Two weeks used by May prior to the surgery, @Dutchess_III?

A couple of the kids have asked him directly. They were turned down.

She’s been ill, @jca. Some day she just hurt too much to go in, but God she would try. That’s why she had to have surgery. Plus she has twins who tend to get sick at different times.

I’ve been thinking about this. I’d be more than happy to ask him directly if his whiney, pouting wrath could be turned on only me. I’m afraid to ask him, afraid he’ll go to Corrie and say, “Why did you tell your Mom to ask me??!! You know I don’t have any money! I have this whole other family to take care of!!” Guilt trip, guilt trip, guilt trip. That’s all he’s done since the kids were little.

So, I sent her a text asking if I can ask him directly. It’s her call.

^^I can understand that. I get it.

She said, “Absolutely not. He knows my situation. If he isn’t going to volunteer I’m not going to ask him.”
She shared her Go Fund Me, on his page, not to him directly in personal messaging. He shared it once. He did his fatherly duty.

It’s so fucking heart breaking.

How do you know he wasn’t one of the anonymous donors?

As the admin I can see the real names. He isn’t among the anonymous donars. Plus, he’d never do such a thing anonymously. He’s got a frail ego the size of Oklahoma. He’d make sure everyone knew about it.
His sister contributed generously though.

Takes the anonymity out of being anonymous.

@Dutchess_III: I realize your daughter has twins, but when they’re sick, are you not able to help out with child care? 2 weeks sick used up prior to May means more than 2 days per month calling in sick.

Sure I am. There are others too. But when it came to doctors appointments and such, she wanted to be there. The vast majority of her sick leave was used up on herself and the issues that led to her surgery. It is what it is.

They’re having a “compensation” meeting (or something like that) today from 3:30 to 4:00. The employee isn’t invited to it.

Well, verdict is in. She can’t go back to work until the 26th. Doctor won’t lift the restrictions, and they won’t / can’t find a way to work around them.
Fuck.

As I predicted.

Yeah, well, your predictions don’t help her financial situation. It bothers me that they couldn’t try to find something that she could do. Drive around in a car and monitor other fork lift drivers, for example. Something. other companies, like Boeing, Spirit, are prepared for these kinds of situations.

^^Is she working for a large company? My employees would get nothing. We do give them a week’s vacation after a year, we are the only company that gives any vacation that does the same work. Well, it’s PTO, they can use it for vacation or sick time. I wish we had some sort of insurance to offer for long term things like recovering from a surgery. My employees would be screwed with a big illness.

My employer (local government) has no “light duty.” Either you can do your job or you can’t.

Well, I’ve gotten responses from people who work at large companies such as Boeing and Spirit who do have temporary contingencies for people who are temporarily unable to do the job.
Temporary is the key word @jca.
I would imagine working for the government is pretty much a desk job. The consensus is that you can’t get much lighter than that (although I disagree to a certain extent. Depends on the job.)

@Dutchess_III: There are wastewater treatment plant operators, electricians, plumbers, painters, mechanics, road maintenance guys, parks department workers who repair all sorts of things, corrections officers, cops, air conditioning mechanics, you name it, my employer has it.

I realize some employers have light duty. I am just telling you that my employer does not. If a guy is a wastewater treatment plant operator, he has to be able to do all of the functions of a wastewater treatment plant operator or he stays home until he can, or he retires or goes out on permanent disability, or he takes tests to change jobs and then goes through the hiring process like anybody else.

Have you asked? This is not a question I would have thought ask my HR department before this. Your job is a desk job. Ask your HR department about it.
I don’t think that at the age of 32 my daughter has the option of retiring or going on permanent disability just because she isn’t allowed to work for the next 4 weeks, although she can.

I am a union rep full time. It’s my job to know what the rules for employment are. I have been a full time union rep for over 5 years. Before that I was a caseworker (ended in 2011). I represent the HVAC, the plumbers, the electricians, the wastewater plant guys.

I guess you know the specs for your employer, then. I find it odd that a government entity would make no allowances for those who are forced to take time off when they are actually capable of working. They’re usually so generous with everything else.

I am guessing it’s because it’s not fair to have a body at work that can’t do the entire job, which would burden the coworkers with picking up the slack. Instead, if they have someone else work the shift (by giving them OT for example), the person can do all the work required and nobody else has to cover by picking up the slack.

It’s called taking care of your employees. Businesses like Boeing and Spirit could have the same rationale but they don’t.

If I were working on a shift with someone who couldn’t do all of their job, and I had to do my job and part of theirs, I wouldn’t consider myself “taken care of.” Yes we help our coworkers out when we can, but if I’m already overburdened with work and I have to do part of someone else’s, it’s not fair to me, either.

Someone is doing her job now, @jca. Do you not understand? I’m trying to say surely they can find something productive for her to do for the next month. Cross train her in another position that they think won’t be as demanding.

I do understand @Dutchess_III. I totally get it. I deal with this type of thing each and every day.

@Dutchess_III I think you don’t get it. They can’t just give or create a job for her to be able to get paid. It is not their problem that she didn’t have money saved up to take care of bills if the occasion arose. Her health is of the utmost importance right now and she can’t risk doing something that will increase her down time. I don’t know why you want to blame her company for something that is clearly written in their policy.

@Chyna it’s not like this was planned well in advance. She is saving, but slowly. What little she had is gone of course.n
An alternate temporary job did not originate with me. There are businesses who do provide for this. Her company is not one of them.
Cross training in an existing position is not creating a new position.
I’m not blaming her company. I’m not blaming anyone. The frustration and disappiontment—and uncertainty——is overwhelming.
We’re just frightened.

@Dutchess_III Can she get some sort of temporary government help? Food stamps for three weeks? I don’t know how that works. How fast it can be done.

If they have a job opening maybe they could use her if the position needs very little training. If she has to be trained for a week it’s not worth it to the company probably. It sounds like the doctor is hesitant to release her to work no matter what. Even a desk job. Maybe I misunderstood that.

Did the disability not kick in? I’d think you’d be more concerned about that.

She’s getting about $90 a week from disability.

J Lellie she did check. No one can help on such a temporary basis because she is still employed and they still count her income. It’s messed up. Seems like that it is the opposite of how those programs should work.

^^It does seem like the opposite.

That system seems to be designed to trap people and make it very very hard to get out.

Can she open a credit card with no interest, and then pay it off fast before any interest kicks in? Sometimes they are interest free for 6 months. She should be able to pay it off in a couple months I would think. That can pay for food. She could buy all your food too, and you pay her rent so she doesn’t get those additional fees from the landlord.

I doubt it. She’s been struggling to rebuild her credit and may not qualify. I will tell her to check.

I’m working on getting some reasonably substantial funds to her. At this point I don’t have any reserves of my own tho. :(

Shit. She just called. Her fuel pump just went out. Fuck. We’re 200 mIles away.

@Dutchess_III: Share the Go Fund Me again. It can’t hurt to remind people.

@jca Here’s the Go Fund Me link @Dutchess_III posted above.

It was hard enough the first time @jca. I know I’d probably get a few more dollars but everyone who should care has seen it. Almost half the donations came from Jellies!

Yay, jellies!

Yup! Awesomeness.

@Dutchess_III: If you pm me your address, I’ll mail a check. I’m not into setting up accounts and having GFM take a portion.

Oh, honey. Oh thank you.

What about the dad? The dad of the twins?

Nope. Nope.