It's A Job, Man

I must have the best job in the state of California. They almost don't have to pay me to do this work.

My sister just commented on her blog how individualized happiness is, and she's on the mark -- very few others would find transmission line protection interesting work. But I've found my calling -- this is a field that will likely be my last; I might not work it at SMUD forever, but I'll be a protection engineer for the rest of my life somewhere.

Many of us would call it fortune to have a job they love and I think the U.S. leads the world with the highest percentage of people who hate theirs. I might be totally wrong about this, but there aren't many people around me who are really, really passionate about what they do. This is so unfortunate, because I keep harping on the dignity of work as a value that really defines a society -- if any society's individuals believe that their work has inherent worth they become better individuals and better social animals. If not, they become monkeys --they don't give a shit about their employer and they don't give a shit about the work they do. They just do, as any monkey can just do.

My coworker from Bangladesh...we go to lunch quite often...he's so god-damn picky about what to eat, and me with the ability to eat anything, I go for the ride. We ended up at a Boston Market today, and the people working behind the counter, man, you could just see their contempt for what they were doing. I don't know if I should feel bad for them or what.

I don't know if I should feel bad, because I really don't know if they love their work. But I don't think they do simply based on their mannerisms, their body languages, their actions. I look to my sister's comment and I quickly realize that I might be terribly wrong regarding the 24-year old server -- she might have found a job she'll stay at forever because it's what she loves. But everything about what she did screamed hatred and contempt. "It's a job, man."

So here we are, losing manufacturing jobs that many people highly regarded and creating strip retail jobs selling shit made overseas in their stead. Booming are our defense jobs and health care jobs, 'cause Obama can't get us out of our wars and our baby boomers have shitloads to spend on recreation drugs and surgeries. Perhaps there are quite a few Merikans who will find dignity in working to sell shit to other people, to bomb brown people, or to repair old people. And if they do, I would be happy for them.