I have been reading threads from several of you and thanks for all of the help. I found this cool video on YouTube which shows the 2016+ Prius being assembled.
Many thousands - possibly millions?? have worked on assembly lines since the started over 100 years ago - it's a job - probably better than being an accountant balancing other people's money.
That's why Ford, in the early days of the Model T, paid twice the prevailing wage to his workers. Today, most of the boring tedium and heavy work is done by robotics and lift assist machines. Yet, individual workers still long for the days of mindless assembly line work requiring very little education and mental dexterity.
Some people make a career out of it. The smart ones see it a just another step toward a more fulfilling job. When I did that stuff, I looked for ways to make it easier and faster. That kept me occupied, made the job easier for me and others, and got me promoted.
I enjoyed watching that; poetry in motion. See some familiar techniques and machines from the 3rd gen videos. Handy for screen-grabs: why-oh-why the front jacking point fail: This beam was used on 3rd gen:
Yes, I hated the accounting side of my job!!! I was Business Manager of a large school - I far preferred the other aspects of my position (Human Resources, Facilities and IT). Then I'd come home and play with my kids, dog, garden or a broken car, or some furniture construction - even better.
but would you have preferred an assembly line job? there were parts of my job i didn't like, but they were at least just parts. i can see why some people are addicted to tobacco, alcohol and drugs, and etc.
Maybe they switch it up, you get to different tasks, and not all of them are assembly line? Or at least they're varied. I notice near the end, the fit-and-finish guys, that looks pretty cushy...
Apparently, the assembly line job hasn't changed much since Fritz Lang's Metropolis or Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times,
Probably not - but I'd wanted to be a motor mechanic, but after I'd finished High School, they considered me too well educated for an apprenticeship - so I went into clerical work till I worked out what I wanted to be. Still - I loved the job as school Business Manager - I had staff who did most of the boring accounting stuff - and they thrived on it. I worked there for 24 years.
I kind of stealth did that myself, in my job. I was a draftsman for a lot of years, got increasingly proficient at AutoCAD, competitive, hogging the work, detail obsessive, and just about blew out my wrists. I had to get cagey, switched to being a checker more than drafting, volunteered for variety jobs, research, whatever. I still did a fair bit of AutoCad (just quick work, for checking), but did other tricks to ease the load: learned touch typing, be more ambidextrous, and just work smarter.