(no subject)
There's a phrase I've hate.
”These days you should be glad to have a job at all.”
There are a thousand versions but the implication is the same. Any job is a good job. Cleaning up after the elephants at the zoo, washing dishes, making copies. Because they are jobs, that means they are good jobs and we should be grateful to have one.
It's a sign of the times.
It's also garbage.
Now I've never cleaned up after elephants at the zoo or washed dishes to make a living but I have made copies for a wage and I can tell you that gratitude at being employed is conditional on many things.
Tell me should I be grateful to have a job that doesn't pay my bills? Should I be grateful to have a job that turns me into a faceless object? Should I be grateful if my managers reprimand me if I am working at anything less than peak productivity? Is it a good job if I have to ask three and four times in a row for permission to go on my legally mandated rest and meal breaks?”
Ok this is starting to sound whiney. I'll try to calm down.
Working at OMax I had a mantra that would start when I got up any day I had to go to the store. “I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I don't want to go.” One I clocked in the mantra would change to, “Just quit. Just quit. Just quit.” After work it would change again to, “I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back.”
This is not a healthy state of mind.
If my job makes me feel this way then why should I be grateful to have it? Bear in mind that doesn't mean I will stop doing it. I had that mantra in my head for months before I quit OMax. I went to work every day and I did my job like a professional. I helped my customers, stocked those shelves, sorted ink and put up with such rafts of bullshit as are rarely seen. Sure I complained. But I still did my job.
So let me ask, if you think I should be grateful to have a job that makes me feel like less of a human than the self-checkout machines at the grocery store who else should feel grateful to have a job? There are people in America who have been on unemployment for two years. They are on unemployment because they were let go from good jobs though no fault of their own. These jobs paid well enough for them to feed their family, make their car and house payments and provided health benefits for them and their children.
There are people in this country who think those unemployed people aren't entitled to unemployment insurance. They think unemployed Americans aren't entitled to anything at all. They think unemployed Americans are being too picky about employment opportunities. There are plenty of jobs available. I know OMax is always looking for new associates, so is MacDonalds. They think unemployed Americans should get off unemployment and work at jobs that don't pay as much as unemployment insurance does.
Should unemployed Americans be grateful to have a job that doesn't pay the mortgage? Should they be grateful to have a job that doesn't pay the bills or let them keep their kids healthy?
Why should I be grateful to have a job where I feel like the assistant manager is watching me, waiting for me to mess up even when he isn't working that day? Why should I be grateful to have a job that makes me want to kill myself?
I've heard this line from different people and it means something different each time. When a family member tells me I should be grateful I think that maybe I would be grateful if I was still living with my parents and trying to save money to move out on my own. When my boss tells me I should be grateful I wonder how badly they want to fire me.
So yes I quit OMax and no I don't think I should have been grateful to have that job. I was grateful to have it when I didn't have any options. Now I have options and I'll let some dumb and desperate kid be grateful to have it instead.