Sacrificing Ones Values To Get By
My last post spoke a lot about making choices that have positive implications. I believe we all feel better about doing good. That is why recycling has caught on with so many people. It gives us a warm fuzzy feeling. However, we are also faced with decisions or choices where we are not forced, but left with few alternatives. One such example is work. The fool has a couple photos on one of his posts from a German Ad campaign about "Life's Too Short For The Wrong Job". Indeed. But how many of us have been in a crumby job because we need the money? Then to make it worse, what if the job goes against our morals?Well, I have been fairly lucky to have jobs I have either enjoyed or felt like I was at least doing some good. I have worked for several libraries, done some community support work, and worked in the environmental health field. I have also worked in a plastic factory.....and it was only a year ago. I was out in Oregon and in really a tough bind. It was the rainy season so we could no longer camp. We had to pay the rent. The job market was very competitive and there were few jobs to be found. It was in a town where more than 50% of the population had a bachelors degree or better, so was just another jobless grad. I ended up at a temp service that set me up with a job packaging accessories for electric toothbrushes for $7.90 an hour. I had a really hard time accepting what I was doing. I was creating disposable, totally unnecessary objects for a multinational corporation. My only consolation was that I often biked to work and I spent a lot of my money at the co-op buying local food. I worked there for a couple months until they began laying people off-in which I volunteered for. Luckily, shortly afterwards I ended up working for the library and the co-op.
Still, how many people out there are doing jobs that either demoralizes them or goes against their morals. So in response, this post is dedicated to the independent-minded showgirls, the vegetarians working at grocery store deli counters, the pacifist soldiers, the anarchist factory workers- I feel your pain.
Please feel free to share your compromising jobs.
Labels: Enough About Me, Random Thoughts
posted by BurdockBoy @ 5:40 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I guess I am lucky, my husband loves his job as I love mine.
I work for a large, privately owned printing company. The amount of waste - paper and plastic - that goes into the trash is staggering. Almost solely because there are no recycling programs here at work. No one has the incentive to place their plastic water bottle into a recycle bin because we don't have any.
I talked to my boss about contacting the owner and asking if recycling was an option he'd look into. I was told not to bother, it had been tried before. I ended up placing a large cardboard box by the fridge, wrote "Recycling" on it and bring home all the plastic, glass and cans and bring it all to our town dump, which has recycling containers. Not exactly kosher, I know, but I have to do something.
I'm looking into what I can do about the paper situation. Unfortunately, the tonnage of waste paper coming off the presses is going to continue.
I'm in one of the most wasteful industries there is: construction. Luckily, there's a whole incentive system now in place that more or less canonizes the idea of "green buildings," and mostly it has caught on. It's called LEED. (www.usgbc.org/LEED/)
I used to do big buildings, and most of my clients were universities (Macalester, Augsburg, U of MN). Persuading smart university administrators to do LEED or other things like putting in a wind turbine, use 100-year materials, do low-E glass, etc. was really easy to do.
Now I build second houses for rich people. I have immense problems with it, often; for the most part, though, I am able to recycle things like foundations, etc., and I am very conscious about construction waste and I avoid using polluting materials (formaldehyde, etc.). It still galls, but then, I made the conscious decision to simplify my own life by moving to the country (where jobs with smart university clients are few and far between).
I have been at a crummy job for the last 10 years as a secondary source of income as we weren't able to make ends meet just on my husband's wages. I started out full-time and now work part-time.
I work in retail. I have worked in various positions with the same employer. I have no ambitions to move into the higher ranks as I cannot see how a 60+ hour salaried work week would improve my standard of living.
Until recently, I didn't give any thought of my job going against my morals. I recently took a pledge to voluntarily drop out a consumeristic lifestyle for a year. What an eye-opener! I wanted to ask customers in the store if they really needed all of those items in their cart. Were they shopping because they were bored? Did they really need that $2000 edition when the $600 one would suffice? I noticed the signs plastered around the store, some of which I have to hang myself, encouraging customers to go into debt and that if they pay off the balance in a certain period of time, there will be no interest. Other signs encourage them to buy more, save now. It practically screams at you when you walk into the building.
Then there is the amount of waste this company produces is obscene. They recycle none of their white paper used for printing. It all goes in the trash. Same with store displays, reusable materials like wood, tile, and even plants that could be given a second life. Or we get a credit for the vendor on a damaged item with other parts that could be reused and then the vendor destroys it themselves. The only things that are recycled are the pop cans in the break room.
I only have a year or so of local college under my belt from right after high school. I would like to go back to school, but not to find myself in another job that does not reflect myself or my values. I'm not sure if one exists but I'm always on the lookout.
Yeah, I've been there. I'll spare the details. I even worked on the pipeline.
At a similar point in my life to where you are now, right after my first son was born, a reprioritization of priorities occurred. Children can do that.
On a 4th of July, I declared my independence - quit my job, went into debt and back to school and became a teacher. At 32, I began teaching. My eldest son and I both entered kindergarten at the same time. I have taught for the last 16 years, kindergarten through eighth grade, here and in Japan. I currently teach middle school english and literature.
Although entirely political, and at times demanding, heartbreaking, and downright ugly, teaching is extremely satisying work. I love what I do. One teacher can make a difference. The butterfly effect is incredible.
Teaching, in its best form, is an art. Being an artist is the greatest freedom. Teaching is all about assisting others to become the creative producers and constructors of their own knowledge, which is not exactly the current practice. Consequently, the best teachers work against the grain. They just close the door, roll up their sleeves, and get right into the mess with their students.
My posting of the ad was geared towards my eldest son, who is now in his 3rd year of college. He's at a decision-making point, and I believe he too has decided to take up teaching. It warms my heart. Not only did I manage to have the privilege of teaching him in my class when he was in second grade, I also had the joy when he graduated from high school, of a hug, and him telling me that I was the best teacher he had along the way.
This is not to brag. It's to entice. I believe what I am trying to do is recommend to you that you consider teaching as an option as you try and determine what it is you wish to do for employment for the next interim. For me, it's been great, and I think it will prove a good segue for whatever it is I decide to do "when I grow up."
I posted about this.
wow, what great responses. I spoke of these types of dilemmas with other people and they were like "you're too picky" I'm glad there are other people who share similar concerns.
Phelan: You should feel blessed. I bet you had an awful job in the past though.
wolf: I worked for a printing company right out of high school and I do remember all of the waste. I took a bunch of the paper home one time after they cleaned the presses because the paper was all tye-dye looking. Luckily I didn't get caught. That's great you were able to put up some recycling bins at work. Not only does it contribute to a little less waste, but other workers will get more accustomed to recycling-even if they are only chucking a bottle in a bin.
el: I just heard on Wisc. Public radio the other day about the push architects are doing to design more and eventually all energy efficient buildings. Hopefully people will get over their McMansion infactuation soon and start looking at greener homes in which you would feel better about building. I do see more and more people at least considering alternatives in their building. If the tides begin to change you will be in a very exciting, progressive industry.
M: Retail is a force that sadly preys upon many. I have never worked in retail, but my partner has describing similar stories to yours. If you choose to go back to college try to forsee a job you would like to have, then figure out the schooling to get there. I went to college with the intention of figuring the job out later and after being almost 3 years out, I still don't know what I want to do. I wish you the best of luck though.
the fool: Inspiring story. I have toyed with the idea of becoming a teacher, I do feel like I have something to offer. I do agree about the best teachers being the ones that go against the grain. I remember one of my favourite teachers in high school suggested that I drop out, briefly homeschool, and hurry up and get my GED so I could start college at 16 because HS was a waste of my time. I wish I would have, but still many of her teaching stuck with me. This next year will be a huge moment of truth for me and I will be making some important decisions about my career path. I have been aimlessly floating for too long, but I will look more into teaching-I have also had a couple other people suggest it. Thanks.
Nio: I'll check it out.
HS is a waste of time. Check out my post "Educational Reform" 3/18/06. Also, while your scrolling back in the archives, check out "Illich on Education" 3/20/06. If you understand, or have ever felt these sentiments, then education needs you. Feel free to erase this comment...it's not to shamelessly promote my blog. It's info for you.
the fool:
Of course I share those thoughts, because I was living it about 15 years ago.
I believe one of the biggest problems with the current school system is it's length. Children are being academically pushed much too early and the later years lack creativity and variety. Those two combinations result in school-burnout by around age 15.
Another problem I have with education, including college, is its lack of community involvement. This is especially true for public schools. School has become so segregated from the rest of the community, students do not know how to relate with the rest of society. I have seen private schools do a much better job-whether it be growing a garden for the food pantry or singing carols at the nursing homes.
I also have a problem with grades. School is supposed to be an institution of expression, but when it comes to providing feedback for a child all he or she receives is a one sized fits all "letter". What does this teach the child? Black/White Good/Bad? You will succeed or you will fail?
I am also against public education. I don't believe the federal government should be setting the regulations and policies for schools. I am more in favour of schools being founded on philosophy and religion. Education should include moral and spiritual teachings along with the arts, trades, and academics. By allowing the federal government to control what is being taught, the focus turns to creating little workers to be cogs in the machine.
All right that was enough ranting for one evening, but believe me I could go on. I believe I am too much of an anarchist when it comes to formal education-I'm not sure how teaching would work for me. I am planning to homeschool my child though, hopefully in a homeshool group.
Great [sarcasm], now I'm going to have to take a break from ag/nutrition issues and look into education.
Well, I pretty much agree with you - it even sounds familiar - so what's the conflict? Those of us trying to rework this notion and practice of education could use a hand. You have the first realizations - education is entirely political, to pretend otherwise is to support laissez faire...which is a political statement...and there is no such thing as a "valueless education." Anarchist? So? Even cockroaches have discovered that anarchy can be an ordered democracy. ;)
Loved my job as a checkout person at Safeway except for the lobsters on special that looked at me as they came down my aisle, and all the meat, since I'd been a vegetarian (still am) for more than a decade and rarely even saw meat up till that job much less had to grab a package of it and ring it up and put it in a bag.
By the way, I laughed at the photos of you as CEO, and I loved the progression of you through the ages. Especially the photo with the Dead shirt which so reminded me of my own high school days and beyond, when I could be found in a Grateful Dead shirt and/or tie dye just about any day of the week. Those were nice times for me in many ways.
Love what I've read of your blog so far. I'm an urban dweller with a soft spot for open space and nature so I love seeing the photos on this site. Hard to coordinate those two very different extremes within me though (love of cities and love of nature and open space, which do not usually exist in large cities). Anyway point being, love your blog, and sort of loved my job at Safeway except for the meat thing.
And I have had plenty of jobs that demoralized me(but not the Safeway one) so I appreciate your post--it's a crappy position to be in and I think many have gone through it some time or another.
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