And The Moral Of The Story Is Work

My first job was as a courtesy clerk at Vons. It involves a multitude of tasks with the basics including: bagging groceries, assisting customers to their vehicles, sweeping the floor, and returning carts to the corral by the entrance to the store. Most of the tasks and straight-forward, with little to no customer interaction so that's the easy part mentally, but more physically demanding. Particularly if somebody calls out so you're tasked with covering their carts duties, in the middle of the day, in Southern California, during summer. That being said, I found the most difficult thing to learn and adapt to was the volume of customer interaction. The major chunk of this is, of course, while bagging a customer's groceries; imagine trying to have a positive demeanor as you gently, but quickly stack in either the store plastic bags, customer personal bags, and straight into the cart. Also, customers tend to like the smaller carts which results in a Jenga style tower of groceries. The real bummer was walking to get something to eat for a 10 minute break and getting asked 5 times for the location of an item. 

Even through all of that I stuck around for two years and I think the real reason is my biggest takeaway, being humane. I always took for granted all the minimum wage and "simple" jobs that have to get done but get no recognition or respect. Being more in touch with people helped me become a more empathetic person, watching and talking to others about their problems. I got to connect on a more personal level with many regular customers who I still see when I shop at my old work place. 

In Mirabelli's discussion, he states,"Meaning is constructed... through more than one mode of communication." This reminds me of a specific type of graph I had to learn in Physics called a VvsT graph. While seemingly simple in that it is merely a graph showing how velocity changes with time, it holds multiple aspects that can be derived from it such as acceleration and distance. I can imagine having to interpret all sorts of graphs and multilevel documents as I occupy the identity of a mechanical engineer.

I feel that part of the reason that people stereotype servers is that television and movies always portray them as low-lives or that they're merely there as means to fund their career goals. Most people associate a direct connection between gross income and job difficulty/intelligence. Which seems contradicting with the criticisms of CEO's when things go awry, wherein anyone and everyone believes they've come up with a miracle solution. Very few people give the unfavorable jobs the respect they deserve. The way Mirabelli defies these stereotypes, however, is through various examples of how the skills required to succeed at such a job far exceed what might be seen at face value. While not taught in a standardized classroom, the literacy skills exemplified in the article hold great value in the industry they're utilized and should not be underappreciated.  I think people look at mechanical engineers with respect but I don't know what other stereotypes exist about them. One tried and true method of preventing stereotypes is by actually experiencing the subject matter. Theories can't hold a candle to practical applications. Ideas don't solve nearly as many problems as inventions do.