The New York Post reported a court reporter firing. Over 30 court cases, instead of transcribing courtroom activity, the court reporter typed “I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job” over and over again. Alcoholism is to blame.
Or is it?
While officials are “scrambling to repair the damage.” we might ask a deeper question: Are we cut out for jobs?
A worthwhile question The Guardian reporter Dawn Foster asks in, “I Hate My Job, I Hate My Job, I Hate My Job — The Truth About Work” published on AlterNet.
Without debt, money, jobs, and the need to earn a living, some say people would get lazy. Production would drop. The “economy” would be destroyed. Could these people be confusing “work” aka “job” with “work” as it is defined in the dictionary?:
“Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.”
I left my job a long time ago. I’ve been working ever since. My purpose/result? Build a great company I can be proud of that expresses my talents and passions while making the world a better place. People work. They don’t want jobs.
After three long stints at “jobs” (averaging 8.5 years) I got the message my essential self was telling me: I don’t belong in these places. While stimulating and engaging at first, in every case, tasks assigned to be became boring and rote. More important: my spirit craved more.
The jobs weren’t bad. I learned a lot in each organization and feel indebted for all the experience, experience which I pull from daily. Even feelings of boredom, exasperation and “quiet desperation” had value: they propelled me into entrepreneurism where I feel at home (finally) occupationally. Ultimately my work has more value when aligned with my passions. I’m convinced that “value” will include sustainable income.
I feel empathy for this court reporter. That he had to seek “recovery” for alcoholism, a major point in the Post article, should be seen as a symptom of a larger problem, not an explanation for his acting out, or even a “path to recovery” as 12 step programs would call it.
We aren’t meant to work jobs that are menial. Yet we force our individualized pegs into ill-fitting holes. Why do this?
Humans are passion driven. That which squelches passion becomes prison….no matter how much we are paid or how many toys we buy in an attempt to convince ourselves otherwise.
