Roughly
a year and a half ago, I walked into a restroom in Allen. In this restroom a young
man was standing at the sink with soap and paper towels in his hand. I was
confused, but proceeded to accomplish my mission, and then walked to the sink
he appeared to be guarding. As if in a mad dash, he jumped in front of me,
turned the water on, and tried to pour soap in my hands. I told him quickly,
sternly, and with the best intentions that I could handle it. I hit the soap
dispenser on the wall, and washed my hands. When I was done, again he jumped in
front of me, turned off the water, and adamantly pushed a paper towel at me. I
laughed and refused, then turned and grabbed a towel from the wall hanger. I
asked him where he was from; I noticed he had a strange accent. He responded he
was from the Cote D’Ivore, and smiled at me. I told him I appreciated what he
was trying to do, but I wasn’t going to make him do what I was more than
capable of doing.
It wasn’t until much later that I
realized how badly I insulted him. I’ve worked many years in retail,
gymnastics, at a horse barn, and now coming up on a year in waiting tables. I’ve
done a little bit of everything, and one thing never seems to change. Ignorant
people always ask me to do things beyond what I considered my job description.
When I was cleaning up a mess I didn’t make, finding random things, giving
information, basically catering to needs I thought customers could handle
themselves, I would become infuriated. Didn’t they know I had enough other work
to do? Didn’t they know they could do it themselves? Am I really so beneath you
that you’re going to make me do this?
When I went to Africa, this mindset
immediately ceased. We have constantly been complaining about the unemployment
rate in the states. Right now we’re sitting on a little over 7%. Let me take a
step back and say that’s still not good enough. I have family, friends, and strangers
I’ve met out of work and deserving of a job. When I went to South Africa and
Mozambique however, unemployment took on a whole different meaning. South
Africa’s unemployment rate is almost 25%. Mozambique’s unemployment rate is
sitting around 17%. That 17% is actually substantially higher though. Most
people in the country don’t record their unemployment. What I’m aiming to imply
is that it’s significantly higher than here at home. The result was me seeing a
very different work ethic across the ocean. People who worked as grounds
keepers, gas pumpers, door openers all worked harder at these simple tasks than
most of us would dare to. I was shocked, and would get very upset, to see
people ask these workers to do things that I would consider out of their job
description. Then I noticed something: these workers were not angry like I
would be. They did these tasks faithfully, with smiles, with joy even. They
made tasks I would consider beneath me look like they were running a fortune
500 company. Why is simple. They were just thankful for a job.
When I wouldn’t ask for these
workers to do things for me, things I didn’t think they should have to do, it
was interpreted completely different than we would take it. To them it was an
insult. The fact that I would try and do something for myself was inadvertently
saying that they were BENEATH me. They took it as if I thought them unworthy of
their job, hence the insult to my African friend at the restroom earlier that
year. I had to set aside an American guilt, and ask to be catered to. For a
long time I struggled with this, and then I realized that we have it all wrong,
not them. These people were so excited to have a job, but more than that, it
brought them worth. The result was that they were all faithful servants.
I think we get so wrapped up in
the American dream that we forget the importance of little tasks. We have been
made to believe that in anything we are worth more. Our arrogance of what we
think we’re worth, is always keeping us from having a joyous heart in menial
jobs. To a college kid like me, I know my degree is coming soon. With this
degree I will be able to work a job I like more, make more money, and have the
ability to advance. With this foresight in mind, waiting tables feels insulting
to my intelligence. I’m almost ready to move into a better position; therefore
what I’m doing right now is just to help me scrape by. I belittle my occupation
because I believe I deserve better. For some who start a new corporate job at
the bottom of the ladder, they sometimes think they deserve more than starting
at the ground floor. Someone who has lost a good job might have to work retail
again. This often hurts their pride, and maybe their ego to some extent. I
think the reason behind this is that we have been taught from a young age that
we could be anything. If you want to be a CEO, Astronaut, President, Lawyer,
Doctor you can if you work hard enough. In fact I remember a common saying in
high school was: work hard so you don’t have to flip burgers. I get disgusted
at this now. I think our mindset needs to be geared in a different direction.
Work hard to work hard. Work hard to advance is of course a good incentive, we
should strive to better ourselves, but we should work hard too because it’s
biblical, it’s humble, and we should do all things to their fullest. I consider
myself no greater than the burger flipper by word, and yet I would be ashamed
of myself to work their job? Not to mention, I love eating the burgers they
flip.
Last night I served a table of
many children and rambunctious adults. By the time they left, they had spilt a
drink and didn’t tell me, their children tore up their menus into thousands of
pieces, and somehow their food missed their plates and fell all over the table.
The sweet couple stationed next to them kept apologizing to me for their
rudeness. They were shocked that these people would leave me such a mess. It
made me feel good to have someone show sympathy for me. Then I thought about
Africa and the man working in the bathroom. I looked at them as I cleaned,
smiled, and said “It’s okay, it’s part of my job description.”
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