Complaining workers are lazy has a history “As always, those insulated by wealth and comfort are willfully blind to the hardships they demand others cheerfully endure in service of their luxury,” writes Mark Frauenfelder at Boing Boing: People who don’t have to work have complained for centuries that other people don’t like doing poorly paid, dangerous, dull work, the kind that makes the lives of the affluent comfortable and convenient. This collection of quotes, dating back to 1894, all say the same thing — “Nobody wants to work anymore” — as if there was a time when people relished shoveling shit for the upper class. Members of the affluent class, who don’t have to work in the traditional sense, have unlimited choices about their activities and careers. Their wealth allows them to pursue interests, hobbies, and jobs that are personally fulfilling, enjoyable, and safe. When they criticize those who avoid bad jobs, they ignore their privilege and the role it plays in their own choices and opportunities. Snopes verifies the authenticity of the clippings from a search of newspaper archives. The meme described as “a brief history of capitalists complaining that nobody wants to work for starvation wages” has been floating around since at least last July. Snopes traces its origin to a July 19, 2022 tweet thread from Paul Fairie, a professor in the Political Science department at University of Calgary.