Thursday, November 03, 2011

The Option


Have you ever heard a group of white collar employees bemoaning the bureaucracy and petty politics of their daily grind?

If each of them had the chance to work as a professional gardener for a year, how many do you think would want to return to their current job?

3 comments:

John said...

One of my best employees in the cafeteria business was an illiterate fellow promoted from the dishroom to the kitchen where he eventually learned to do everything from butchering to cooking. Last I heard he was passing forty years service and was one of the most beloved employees on the property for his cheerful smile and willingness to help anyone or do anything that needed doing, no matter how disagreeable or hopeless.

Many years back I had a situation with the potsink in trouble. The potwasher didn't show up for a meal and messed up kitchenware was everywhere. I asked a couple of the part-time young men in the dishroom to go get the place caught up and they refused. They said they weren't hired to wash pots. (They preferred the much smoother environment of the dishroom -- machine and all that.)

Although he had just worked all day and was getting ready to go home, Arthur went to the potsink and went to work.

I'll never forget what he said when I thanked him. "Let them boys go to South Georgia and haul pulpwood for a year or two and they'll be glad to wash pots, or do anything else in this place."

Too many people have no clue how much worse a job can be. And in today's economy, many still take being employed for granted.

Dan in Philly said...

If I could make the kind of money as a day care worker (a job I once had) as I do as a corporate accountant, I would. But I can't. So I don't.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and get a lot out of it, but the money is a lot of the reason I went into this profession. In terms to non-financial rewards, there are many other options which are far more fulfilling, starting with being a professional philosopher, which don't pay the bills...

Michael Wade said...

John and Dan,

Good points from two different perspectives.

Thanks!

Michael