Get a “real” job

No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance, and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

~ Dr. Martin Luther King

Once upon a time, I worked for years at a convenience store, starting there part time first and then eventually moving to full time since the job suited my needs. Was it something I thoroughly enjoyed? Sometimes…. but not all the time, especially towards the end of my tenure there (which you can read a little about here). But it paid the bills and suited the needs I had at the time. It also was a supplement to the income I made as a substitute teacher and was work in the summer.

But the job was one that was looked down upon by many. I was teased because of where I worked by both students at the school as I substitute taught and grown adults who should have known better and kept their comments to themselves. One day, as I was checking people out and trying my best to remain pleasant, a woman plopped her beer down on the counter in front of me, gave me a sharp, sneering look, and said:

“You still work here? You need to get a real job!”

The vehemence with which she spoke still sits with me all of these years later. It was then that I realized that some people viewed me as less than because I was working a job that was “beneath” me, even though it gave me enough at the time to live off of. It was a real job. It really paid the bills and was perhaps one of the hardest jobs I ever worked. But the words still stung.

And even today, I work a blue collar job that some would say is “beneath” me, even though I love it. I have been told I am “too smart” to be working there. I have had comments made about how I am just (insert my work title here). I have been told I could “do something better with my life” even as I find purpose where I am. And those comments sit with me long after they’ve been made.

“Get a real job”…… but what could be more real than having regular pay? What could be more real than having benefits and paid time off and a retirement fund? What could be more real than doing work that one loves, even if it’s not something others expect them to be doing?

Could I be making more money with some other line of work? Yes, I could. Could I find something that actually utilizes the degree I have? Perhaps. But I don’t want to right now. I have a purpose where I am at and a sense of community there too, so much so that I choose to commute seven miles every work day instead of transferring to a location that is just a mile away. And I have compassion for anyone who has any sort of job that they enjoy even as others look down on them, be it working at a fast food restaurant for decades or making their own way in the world as a small business owner, to spending all day in a cubicle or even dancing at a club. And I will argue with anyone who says otherwise.

No job is insignificant. No job is any less “real.” And everyone has the right to spend their days in excellence working whatever they want to without being told they less than because they work it. Because at the end of the day, that paycheck gives us a bit of peace and refuge. That labor ensures us a place to hopefully lay our head. And there’s magic even in the most menial of jobs, if one knows where to look.

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