Honest labor is worth doing, and worth doing well, even if it's dusty, smelly and sweaty. I've never worked in a coal mine. I've had summer vacation jobs in heavy industry, though. If the coal mine is up to standards with regards to safety attitude and keeping the working environment as healthy as possible then I'm sure you'd learn much more valuable lessons there than at a fast food joint.

Note that I am not stressing safety and working environment only because you can get killed in that environment (either very instantly or very slow). If you're sloppy in those areas when you work in a dangerous environment then it affects every other single aspect of that work place in a very negative way. The lessons you'll learn will then only be negative, as in "this is how bad it gets when you're sloppy".


I'm not recommending anyone to work in a coal mine, but if you do get that kind of job, you'll learn some pretty important lessons. Just don't grow old in that kind of job...