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February 19, 2008
Work Ain't Really Work Anymore
My job is kinda like being in Fight Club b/c you know the 1st Rule is no one can talk about it. Most of the stuff that happens at work I can't even talk about, let alone post. But here's an exception I think.
One afternoon I was helping out a co-worker by copying documents & preparing them for use as trial exhibits. One of the office staff expressed amazement that I would do that, which I eventually figured out that he thought such mundane labor was somehow beneath me. At the time I just gave him the Spock raised eyebrow...but later I thought of what I should've told him:
Dude I grew up on a farm and my mother cleaned houses. If I ain't got my arm up a cow's ass or cleaning someone else's toilet, it ain't really work to me.
Like I tell my kids all the time, there's no shame in an honest day's work for an honest wage.
It is, however, a great incentive to get an education so you don't have to do those things anymore.
Posted by Rita at February 19, 2008 07:36 AM
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Comments
First, your "there's no shame..." statement reminded me of my favorite "no shame" saying. George Hamilton in Zorro the Gay Blade when he says, "My peoples. There is no shame in being poor. Only in dressing poorly.". Out of context but it made me laugh. And second, I was in my forties when I started teaching and until that time I had never had a job that wasn't primarily hard physical labor. I remember walking around school for the first couple of months, in shock that I was actually being paid for what I was doing. I swear that I kept expecting someone to tell me to dig a ditch. The first week the school administrator caught me cleaning a classroom and made an issue out of making me understand that that's what custodians were for, (although he never said a word when I spent most of my paycheck buying supplies that the kids couldn't afford and the school wouldn't furnish.) It took me a while to realize that there are certain things which properly conditioned teachers won't do.
Posted by: kenneth at February 21, 2008 09:02 PM
LOL that's a great quote!
I think people who've never done hard physical labor regularly just don't get it. There's a certain visceral satisfaction in seeing the results...and the zen-like state you get while doing it. Nothing demeaning about it at all. I've had the same problem, in part because like you I was older when I became educated. And because I was raised in an environment where if you saw someone needed help, you pitched in & helped. It may not be the easy way, but it's the hillbilly way.
A way of life that sadly is disappearing fast, and unfortunately few care to record it.
Posted by: Rita ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://res-ipsa.the-blinding-white-light.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 22, 2008 05:31 AM