Phrase: Take a lot out of you
It may not involve a lot of strenuous physical activity, but office work can take a lot out of you.
My father was a construction worker, and I initially followed in his footsteps.
We worked together in Canada and northern Canada in the roofing industry.
Let me tell you; it was dirty, dangerous, difficult and draining.
The weather was either too cold, hot, or wet to be enjoyable.
Due to the bad weather, we often started early and ended when it was too dark to see.
Japan doesn’t observe daylight saving time, so it’s always dark by 7:30 pm in the summer.
In Canada, the sun sets much later.
We’d break our backs until 9:30 pm, and when you start at 6:30 am, that’s a long day.
It was a lot of hard, physical work that left everyone exhausted at the end of the day.
Working those hours can take a lot out of you.
We used to laugh at the lily-white office workers even in the middle of summer because they spent so much time inside.
On the other hand, we were as brown as chestnuts from the waist up.
We, well, everyone on the crew, were also filthy, stinky and grumpy.
Here I am, a lily-white self-employed English teacher/tech worker in an air-conditioned room in front of a computer all day, looking out at the construction trucks as they drive by.
Now the shoe is on the other foot, and you know what? I’m still giving my all, and I’m still tired.
I still work long hours, and it still takes a lot out of me.
Many days I begin at 6:00 or 6:30 am and don’t shut down the computer until 10:00 at night.
I’m not filthy and perhaps not as stinky as I used to be, but there are days when I’m as grumpy as hell – especially since I’m older.
It goes to prove no matter the kind of work you do, it can still take a lot out of you.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 79.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
