“Why did I choose to do the sweeper competition? The rules: just donate time to work”

Sometimes the answers come through choices, as in an action-reaction mechanism, without even the intermediate part, i.e. without asking the question. You react on impulse and make a choice. Then the fact settles and we explain what happened, as they say, “with bowls still”

Domenico is one of the many who chose to access the competition for street sweepers in Naples. Thousands of adhesions, many compared to the places actually made available. Graduates and people who already have a job have also applied.

Precisely the latter are the question: because who already has a job do you agree to “start over” in a job that is certainly not easy – waste collection in a big city like Naples is not a walk in the park – and above all with a basic salary?

Domenico answers this question on one of the many discussion groups of the Asìa contestants. And it is such a clear answer that it can be analyzed:

I work in the office of a company near my home and I also have a full-time permanent contract. Anyone asks me: why then did you participate in this competition? Because in the field of work in the private sector, especially in small businesses, unfortunately it is more the disadvantages than the advantages that dominate.

I will always thank those who give me work and I will always honor my duties, but if I can avoid working 10 hours a day earning as if I didn’t even do 8, I’d be happy.

What then, in general, I would like not having to work 10 hours a day and have a little more time to dedicate to myself, my wife, my son, my loved ones. If the thirteenth was really a thirteenth, I’d like to.

If I don’t have to feel terribly guilty about a sick day or a leave granted, I’d appreciate it. It’s a whole series of things that wear you down so much over the years.
I’ve been living this life for 8 years and I think I’ve reached the end of the line.

At 35 I no longer want compromises but solid rights and solid duties to be respected by both parties: employer and employee. Let’s not kid ourselves, this in the South can only be guaranteed by the state or parastatal. So whether it’s an exhausting job or not, I don’t care.
I care about the criteria. Guys, it’s called dignity.

There’s no joking: it’s years-miles away there parody of Checco Zalone on the civil servant of the «permanent position». It’s a matter of contracts, hours and quality of life. In the same thread another user, Raphaelagrees on the same concept:

I am a heavy vehicle driver, I drive tankers for the transport of petrochemical products classified as dangerous goods.
I have been traveling on the entire national route for twenty-three years, starting the working process on Sunday evening and returning home on Friday night. Day, night, cold or hot, they are 24 hours a day on the street, staying overnight in 4 cubic meters of sheet metal, stopping either in a lay-by of an autogrill or in industrial areas where the unloading address is indicated on the bubble.

When you wake up in the morning there’s only the door of the truck that separates you from the sudden impact of a good morning, there’s only the door to open and then find yourself in a restroom toilet.
A toilet with a coming and going of people who observe you while you brush your teeth and you give yourself a rinse to the smelly scent of who knows how many piss and more. I will never deny the choice I made […]

Yes, I earn 3 thousand euros a month, thirteenth and fourteenth, but nothing becomes more precious than the time that passes while you slowly realize that the important thing in life is to always try to find the right balance in all things.

This is what pushed me towards the competition, the certainty of more calm and rational existential rhythms with respect to a just and unique act that we have available in this unique and extraordinary life.