How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work [Hardcover]

Reg Theriault (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

Examining the real world of work, the author of this humorous study considers the never-ending struggle for respect and autonomy, the sheer tedium and the unexpected dangers. Reg Theriault was for 30 years a docker on the San Francisco waterfront, and this book is a personal record of a tough and demanding life. A sharp observer of the workplace, Theriault offers a lively defence of the working class's right to dignity and credit for doing dirty jobs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starting at the age of 15 as a "fruit tramp" in California and the Southwest, Theriault eventually spent 30 years as a longshoreman and an official of the Bay Area longshoremen's union, so he is no stranger to hard labor. His discussion ranges over factory jobs, time-and-motion studies, accidents and injuries on the job, black and white workers, slave and prison labor, unions that only add more management, and strikes versus job actions. Theriault argues that workers do the work and so are the most familiar with how it should be done. Industrial workers, he believes, are alienated from their work and are not helped by the adversarial stance of capital and labor. There's no point, he maintains, in maximizing efficiency and increasing productivity if the only result is a higher quota at the same pay. Decrying the "warlike tension" between workers and management that has existed since the onset of the industrial revolution, the author concludes, "in all work situations where the production process takes place at the expense and denial of human values, production suffers." A refreshing look at the workplace by a seasoned expert.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Theriault, a former migrant fruit picker and a longshoreman for 30 years, has written this humorous treatise on hard physical labor as a way of life. He gives voice to the thoughts and conditions of the laboring classes and examines the constant struggle for respect and autonomy, the tendency of management to treat workers as merely one part of the production process, the penchant of unions to bargain away the wrong things, the awful grinding tedium and danger, and the sense of accomplishment realized from doing a piece of work right. Theriault's engaging, moving defense of the working class's right to its portion of credit for building our civilization is inspiring. All secondary career education courses should include this title on their required reading lists, making this appropriate for academic as well as public libraries.
Susan Awe, Jefferson Cty. P.L. System, Arvada, Col.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; First Edition first Printing edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393038785
• ISBN-13: 978-0393038781
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,010,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful man reflects on the meaning of hard labor., February 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work (Hardcover)

MBA students are taught to look down on labor, to see laborers as resources to be used. Mr. Theriault reminds us of the dignity inherent in labor, the pains and the pleasures. It reminded me of Studs Terkel's books on working. Parts of it reminded me of Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations". Mr. Theriault earned my respect, both as a working man and as a skilled writer. You might also want to read "Fields Without Dreams" by a professor of ancient classics about his family's life as farmers until they lost their farm.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worker-philosopher's reflections, March 10, 2002

By 

Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work (Paperback)

Reg Theriault's book is simply superb--just the right combination of personal anecdote, philosophical reflection, sociological commentary, old-timer's wisdom, and humor. In reading him, one comes to like Theriault. He's the sort of guy you wish you could work with on your own job or at least meet after work at the local pub for a couple of beers.

Theriault's primary job before retirement was working as a longshoreman in San Francisco. But he was also a "fruit tramp" (a migrant picker) and an occasional factory worker. His credentials as a "blue collar worker," then, are impeccable, and he distills thirty-odd years of experience in heavy physical labor into his book. His two primary conclusions are these: (1) salary is important, but freedom is too. Workers caught in an assembly line kind of job where they're nothing more than anonymous cogs in a Taylorite efficiency machine are more likely to rebel than workers dissatisfied with money. (2) the relationship between labor and management always reduces to the following dynamic: "Management is going to get more out of you than it gives in return. This is a fact of life, and one might as well accept it. If management does not get more--for instance, if it gets less--then why in the hell should it stick around? Your goal is to see that management does not get too much more." (pp. 96-97) Both of these conclusions, although they may appear obvious when pointed out, ought to be kept in mind when thinking about working conditions in this country, not to mention the foreign sweatshops that make so many commodities we North Americans buy.

Along the way, Theriault reflects on the disappearing blue collar working class; differences between blue and white collar workers; worries that for too many people, work is "a hole in their lives"; tells the hilarious but also poignant story of Billy's lost finger; and reminds us of the good/bad old days of labor by telling old-timer stories told to him when he was a boy.

All in all, a remarkable book. And the photograph on the cover is as gripping an image as I've ever seen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, July 21, 2001

By 

Mbra (East Bay, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Tell When You're Tired: A Brief Examination of Work (Paperback)

This book offered an insight into the psychology and complex existence of hard physical labor that should throw fear into the hearts of management. I was so sad when this book was over and I find myself referring to it frequently as a student of labor management relations. Well worth owning! Great anecdotes and harsh realities that most college kids will never face makes it all the more valuable.