My company recently underwent a major re-structuring.  To my surprise, the company hogs very kindly created a new position for an older worker whose prior position had been moved to a sister company some distance away.   I talked to this man, our new daytime custodian, and he seems to enjoy his new job.  He has much more freedom to order his daily tasks as he pleases, he reports to a good boss, and he even has a cubicle with his name on it, probably for the first time in his life.  I am grateful for his sake; he surely deserves it.  He rides the bus two hours every morning to empty my trash, and then he rides two hours home to his wife.   He said, “I’m just happy to be working.”   Only a few years ago, he bought his own home.   Knowing him troubles my pride and discontent. 

I hope I have learned a few things from my time at Imaginative Mechanization (name changed to protect my job status), so if I may, I’d like to share a few lessons.

Lesson #1: Be Grateful

I have hitherto been sheltered and blessed far beyond my recognition.  My luxurious college education of engaging intellectual activity and voluminous free time is not a life experience most people of the world share.  For that matter, the life I live now, the job I complain about, all this isn’t so bad, not in the big scheme of things.  My cubicle prison cell with my name on the wall nonetheless affords me ample money to meet my needs.  If my husband and I were certain we would stay in this area, we could start looking to buy a house.   My neighborhood is safe, my financial situation is secure, my closet and cupboards are full, and my bed is warm.

Lesson #2: Just Work The Job

Any job.  Any job at all.  The first three jobs I worked after graduation paid me $10/hour or less.  I worked part-time at a tutoring center, part-time at JC Penney, part-time at Trader Joe’s.  Eleven months after I earned my bachelor’s degree, I landed a job that paid the bills (all by itself!).   I got to the point where I would take almost any job that would pay me money.  I could not afford to be too proud to work (and probably, neither can you).   I have learned, somewhat painfully, that I have been taught, in all my emotional and economic privilege, to expect unrealistic levels of fulfillment from employment.  My friend Stephanie is right to call this thirst for fulfillment a kind of greed.   So I would say to others in similar positions: Pace yourself.  Just work the job, any job.  Start small.  Learn now, while you’re a cashier, that your job does not define you, and find fulfillment elsewhere.  I have a wonderful husband.  I enjoy my friends.   I volunteer at church.

Lesson #3: Patience Is Your Secret Weapon

Most importantly, never, ever-ever give up.   Discouragement wreaks havoc on your work performance (trust me), and it contributes to more and more expenditures on stuff you don’t need as a “reward” for all your drudgery.  Don’t give up.  Patience is hope in daily doses.  Keep applying to other jobs.  Save your money.  Get it into your head that eventually, somewhere, a better job will hire you.  Or, eventually, you will have saved enough money to live off your investments.  Point being, other options will reveal themselves.   Time is on your side.   So is God.

Anyone else have some wisdom to add to this list?