I have been fortunate to have two great jobs that I loved. I have also had a couple of jobs that objectively sucked and I really hated. Probably most people can relate to this sentiment. Some jobs amount to little more than wage slavery. But other jobs are so great, we often don't even think about the connection between the work we do and the paycheck we get.
At the moment, I'm transitioning from a job I loved to looking for a job I'm almost certainly going to hate. The reasons are complex, personal, and not especially relevant. From the fact that I'm sitting here ruminating about such things, though, you can clearly assume that I'm presently unemployed.
Take a moment to tell us what your work means... and take the poll!
Our work may be an essentially apolitical issue, but I would argue that the way we understand our work says something about our values and our philosophy. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I look for a job that will occupy me for an upcoming period of uncertainty where I can't commit to anything long term but still need a revenue stream in the interim.
Here are a few perspectives I've identified. See if you can relate.
Positive: My job is an expression of my best gifts and talents
This is the category of people who meld their personal identity with their work: "I am what I do." I think a lot of people who love their jobs feel like their work is an extension of the things they like best about themselves. We've all heard people say, "I can't believe I get paid for doing this!" I find this to be a very idealistic view, but one that has resonated with me in one or two of the jobs I've held. Since, at the moment, I'm a long way from a job like this, I certainly look to this perspective with pining for what once was and longing for what yet might be.
Neutral: My job is an economic transaction: My time for their money
When we're honest, I think this is the default position where most people fall. We'll see if the poll bears this out. I think the positive view described above is what most educated, ambitious people aspire to, but it's a pipe dream for most of the world's people most of their lives. Our happiness is found in the love and relationships we nurture largely outside of our workplace. We want to enjoy our leisure time, but work is the price we pay. In the rough and tumble world, your job is a place you go for 40 hours a week so that you might possibly be able to get some modicum of enjoyment out of the other 128 hours. The market, such as it is, places a value on your time based on the monetary value of the work you do, and you strike a deal, essentially selling your time for their money.
Negative: My job is a way to make other people rich
This is a cynical view, but there is a lot of truth here. Almost all people who do actual work (defined as moving a force through a distance) experience the feeling that they are enriching their overlords by the sweat of their brow. I definitely felt this way when I was waiting tables. I felt that corporate fat cats and shareholders were getting rich while I was working my ass off to barely get by. I was bringing low-quality, unhealthy food to overweight, overindulgent people in exchange for the promise that they might leave me a few bucks, as long as I pretended to give a crap. Anyway, I think at one time or another almost all workers are aware that, for reasons that are not altogether fair or even clear, someone is getting very rich off the work you do. The amount you make is essentially a pittance to measure your dignity in dollar signs, at best, or enough to keep the poor from breaking into the rich people's houses at night and stealing their shit, at worst.
Maybe most of us don't spend a lot of time thinking about these sorts of things. But there are important questions. Why do we expect that work and satisfaction are related? Why do low wage earners top job happiness polls? What is implied here about class? Status? Expectations? Fairness?
What do you think? More importantly, what does your work mean? Feel free to rant or rave... and remember, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.