Can you please define "real job" for me

I have taken a job in a restaurant delivering orders and cleaning. Honestly i make more here than any factory i ever worked. A month or so ago my friend of years comes up to me and says he just quit his job because they gave him a raise and now he doesn't qualify for welfare anymore and his meds are far more than the 25 cent per hour raise he got. He told his boss i wanted his job. He told me how much i would make and its far less than what i make now. I told him I've been here for a year and make way more than he does. He said "yeah now you can finally quit and get a real job" I said "i like it here" and he said "DUDE! You. Work. In. A. Rest....taur....rant." I said "i know and i like it here." He took a step back and put his hands up and said "whatever." Later on i noticed he had unfriended me on social media and when i tried to text him i was blocked.

I took a few things to storage yesterday and seen him there. He is living in a storage unit. I asked whats going on and he said "do you know how embarrassing it is being seen with someone wearing a restaurant uniform?" I told him if he needs a job we are hiring. He laughed at me and said "I'd rather be homeless til a real job comes along"

plungesponge · 41-45, M

It's a historical "everyone agrees" viewpoint, and to be fair it's not without reason. Traditionally manual labor leads to no further promotions, and pays far less than working in a cubicle. That's not necessarily true any more, and the nature of commerce means we can make money doing all kinds of non traditional ventures, and in some cases it's much more than a traditional job (the onlyfans crowd is an obvious example). AI is going to make that even more questionable, the "learn to code" mantra is about to be upended, and almost all functions in a office in front of a computer can be automated.

Do whatever you like and makes you money, try to make sure whatever you do has a parachute option if it ever disappears, and that's all a job needs to be