Must it be Thankless Work?

Posted on December 11, 2004 in Compassion

I thank those who serve me food, clear the table, or take my money at the cash register. Both conservatives and liberals alike think me strange. These people do, after all, receive money for performing these chores. But I think of it this way: we live in a free society. Supposedly, these people don’t have to do this job. Furthermore, I am not the one who hands out their paychecks. That relationship might be called a contract between them and their employer — it’s not between me and them. For the same wage, there are many ways they could act on the job. Theoretically, they could walk away at any moment. So I thank them for being there.

You’re repeating that line about money? How thanked do you feel when you get a paycheck that just covers expenses? Do you think of your boss and your customers when you spend it to go on a vacation?

It’s a symptom of our time that we don’t know the people behind the cash registers or in the restaurants or at the gas station. Some of the people who work at the Souplantation down the hill from me must come ten to twenty miles to work: I know that there isn’t cheap housing in the immediate neighborhood. So they’ve made an effort to be there, beyond the salary. I recognize that extra effort, try to remember faces (at least), and ask how they are doing.

We are a society, after all. What glues us more than we realize is respect and affection for one another. I try to do my bit to hold this country together through kindness and appreciation of the jobs people do every day.

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Yesterday, when I was on the trail, everyone I saw was white. Today, I saw a mix of peoples when I took a short jaunt over into Harding Canyon. We hear how lazy and shiftless minorities are. Who was it calling in sick yesterday? Who remained on the job and held off their Sabbath until today?