Comments on: Is Any Work Beneath You?

By: Should You Take a Low-Paying Job?

Should You Take a Low-Paying Job? — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:01:25 +0000

[...] year, responding to a Dr. Phil episode, I asked if any work was beneath you. On the whole, your answers were that in a crisis there isn’t anything truly [...]

By: deepali

deepali — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:00:15 +0000

Mike – Don’t ruin my good impression of Canadians! But I think it’s a symptom of prosperity – you don’t see that attitude in my parents’ homelands, for the most part, except perhaps among the very elite.

Mrs. Micah – I think the difference is that in America, entitlement isn’t limited to class. In other countries, I think it’s growing in the “consumer” classes, but isn’t anywhere near what you see here.

I blame TV commercials.

By: Living Off Dividends

Living Off Dividends — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:44:53 +0000

looks like some people are too dignified to earn an honest living, but still mind sponging off their old relatives.

on the flip side I know someone who’s worth 50 times more than my mom, but is uneducated and works as her chauffeur! there’s always dignity in labor.

By: PM

PM — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:26:49 +0000

After I graduated college with a B.A. I discovered that it’s very difficult to get a low-paying job because I was over-quailified. People expected me to instantly find a good higher-income job. I was willing to work because I needed money, I just couldn’t find anyone willing to hire me. That being said, I did manage to find work at an inn doing cleaning and waitressing. The same perseverance that took me through college got me through cleaning toilets. I even started selling holiday crafts at local craft shows for a friend. I now have a salaried job with my own staff 4 years after graduating. I still sell crafts, not for the glory but because it gives me extra money. Debt doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as you pay every month.
While waitressing, there were this party that I was serving that struck up small talk with me. After learning I was a recent college grad, a man a the table that actually told me I was a disgrace for stooping to do work at a restraunt with a college degree and several other insulting things. I went home crying that night. The point is that part of American society does think that some jobs are beneath certain people. While I happen to be terrible at waitressing, I would do it again if I needed the money that badly. Even a low paying job is better than no job. I don’t know what that guy’s problem was, but I do know that I paid my rent on time every month regardless of the work I had to do. Perhaps he was the ex-prisonguard that Dr. Phil interviewed.

By: vh

vh — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:11:40 +0000

OMG, don’t get me started.

I have this admin secretary…make that “had,” because she at last announced she’s quitting. This woman thinks it’s an embarrassment to have an honest job: she imagines that being a secretary is so far below her royal self that she demanded I change her title on our Web site. Then she humiliated one of our young asst. editors when he introduced her to a client as the office’s secretary, ordering him, in public, never to call her a “secretary” again.

When I suggested to her that a secretarial job is honest work, she actually yelped, “No, it’s not!” Like, maybe part of the job description is ferrying dope to the inmates?

Last week I learned she has been telling people she’s the director of our unit…that happens to be my job.

As a state employee, she’s almost impossible to fire. We were in the process of RIFing the position, just to get rid of her, when she finally did us the favor of resigning.

I used to believe there’s no such thing as “overqualified”–that if you want a job and you need a job, you’re qualified, even if you DO have two master’s degrees. But after this long-drawn-out (three interminable years!!!) and miserable adventure, I’ve had to reconsider that opinion. I don’t think I’d ever hire anyone whose experience and training might give even the vaguest cause for that person to consider the job “beneath” her or him.

By: CatherineL

CatherineL — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:26:22 +0000

Hi Mrs M – This guy sounds like a lazy tike. He was probably making so much from selling drugs that he thinks most jobs are low paying.

When I was younger and needed work, I took just about any kind of work to keep money coming in, and this was not always a smart move.

But, it doesn’t sound like this guy has a lot of choice. He’s lucky he’s not in prison himself.

I wonder if he realises the dangers he was putting other guards and prisoners in by supplying inmates with drugs?

By: Toxic Money

Toxic Money — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:08:36 +0000

And living off of someone isn’t beneath him??? Please! Even $5/hour is better than $0/hour. Besides, his previous job doesn’t sound glamorous, either. It’s not like he’s a doctor!? He’s lucky that he didn’t marry my daughter.. he’d be on the street long time ago!

By: FourPillars

FourPillars — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:58:54 +0000

I would definitely work for minimum wage if I had to. I wouldn’t like it but I would do it.

Deepali – if you think that only happens in America then you need to come to visit Canada!!

Mike

By: mrsmicah

mrsmicah — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:15:44 +0000

Interesting point, deepali. At the same time, while I think Americans are much more likely on the whole to have an entitlement attitude, I’d say that aristocrats anywhere or upper class/caste people are also likely to behave the same. It’s just more people here consider themselves “above” things…

By: deepali

deepali — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:11:22 +0000

So I’m likely to upset someone with this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Only in America do you find people who think a paying job is “beneath them”.

If you need a job, you need a job. Suck it up and take the minimum wage, and be thankful you at least have that option.

I can understand that you choose not to take a job because you’ve got something better to do with your time (ie, try and find another job), but those tend to be the rarer exceptions. Most people can hold down the minimum-wage job while looking for something better.