Mundane jobs that are oddly satisfying
Discussion
Seems quite odd, but I get a sense of childish delight when my lawnmower runs out of petrol and I have to refill it from the jerry can. Likewise, I like to switch the fuel feed from the tank off towards the end of the mowing and seeing if I can manage to finish the job before the carb gets emptied.
I find refuelling my car to be a pain in the arse though.
I find refuelling my car to be a pain in the arse though.
marmitemania said:
How have we got two pages into this thread without anyone mentioning cleaning the car? It is a time consuming and tedious job but when done correctly is extremely satisfying.
I thought about it, but then decided against it for two reasons:1. I find it far more satisfying to hand over a fiver to the hand car wash people whilst I sit in the car listening to the radio (unless I personally fancy doing a machine polish- that is highly satisfying);
2. I often finish drying the final panel when a t
t of a neighbour, attempting humour, shouts 'you can do mine next'. That somewhat takes away the satisfaction and almost results in a dead neighbour.A car related one. Doing a service on the car yourself, seeing the dirty oil pour out and replacing it with new stuff. The main satisfaction comes when you take the car for a drive after a service, just to check it still works, and it instantly drives better than before (at least it does in my head, certainly after changing coil packs and spark plugs).
StuTheGrouch said:
marmitemania said:
How have we got two pages into this thread without anyone mentioning cleaning the car? It is a time consuming and tedious job but when done correctly is extremely satisfying.
I thought about it, but then decided against it for two reasons:1. I find it far more satisfying to hand over a fiver to the hand car wash people whilst I sit in the car listening to the radio (unless I personally fancy doing a machine polish- that is highly satisfying);
2. I often finish drying the final panel when a t
t of a neighbour, attempting humour, shouts 'you can do mine next'. That somewhat takes away the satisfaction and almost results in a dead neighbour.A car related one. Doing a service on the car yourself, seeing the dirty oil pour out and replacing it with new stuff. The main satisfaction comes when you take the car for a drive after a service, just to check it still works, and it instantly drives better than before (at least it does in my head, certainly after changing coil packs and spark plugs).
StuTheGrouch said:
A car related one. Doing a service on the car yourself, seeing the dirty oil pour out and replacing it with new stuff. The main satisfaction comes when you take the car for a drive after a service, just to check it still works, and it instantly drives better than before (at least it does in my head, certainly after changing coil packs and spark plugs).
My car drives betters after I've cleaned it. 
I spent 6 hours today on my mate's M5, which has suffered from the acid that they use at the local hand car wash (he won't be using them anymore if he ever wants me to work on his car again)
It was an absolute bd of a job but I strangely enjoy it and I think the before and afters show why
Before-
After-
ETA - maybe spending 6 hours on it means it's not mundane?
So I'll suggest one extra job, hoovering the living room, all the footprints disappear from my carpet and I get nice lines where Henry has been at it.
Oh christ I've just realised, I may actually be "one of those" OCD types.
It was an absolute b
d of a job but I strangely enjoy it and I think the before and afters show why Before-
After-
ETA - maybe spending 6 hours on it means it's not mundane?
So I'll suggest one extra job, hoovering the living room, all the footprints disappear from my carpet and I get nice lines where Henry has been at it.
Oh christ I've just realised, I may actually be "one of those" OCD types.
Edited by Blue Oval84 on Monday 31st August 00:01
richcorsavxr said:
Mowing the lawn, headphones in blasting out random music on 'generic MP3 player' trying to do the straightest of lines.
Whenever I am around my parents house, I sometimes mow the lawns with their push mower - very satisfying way to spend twenty minutes, and is nice to see a noticeable difference when going back and forth. 
Turning a pile of random logs and branches dumped on my drive way by the tree surgeon into cut and split firewood under the log store, stacked and drying out fully for the winter.
The bottles one reminds me of an occasion many years ago when I had a Saturday job in a big department store as a behind-the-scenes general dogsbody. Two of us were asked to take some trolleys of rubbish to the skips. One of them had about 30-40 long broken but intact fluorescent tubes, probably 4 or 5 feet long. We stood as far away as we could from one of the skips and threw them like javelins into the back of it. Explosions, glass flying, puffs of white powder, most satisfying.
The bottles one reminds me of an occasion many years ago when I had a Saturday job in a big department store as a behind-the-scenes general dogsbody. Two of us were asked to take some trolleys of rubbish to the skips. One of them had about 30-40 long broken but intact fluorescent tubes, probably 4 or 5 feet long. We stood as far away as we could from one of the skips and threw them like javelins into the back of it. Explosions, glass flying, puffs of white powder, most satisfying.
Edited by Shaolin on Monday 31st August 11:03
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