What Makes a Job Meaningful?
Against the imaginary hierarchy of jobs, and our arbitrary acceptance of it, and in favor of a richer concept of work.
When I was 16, I attended the graduation party of a guy that I worked with at the local supermarket chain. He was a year older than me, and was being pushed into that next phase called adulthood. I recall a conversation taking place, much like so many others I had engaged in around that time. It revolved around the question of what was next for us young adults. Where were we all going, and what were we going to do with the rest of our lives? In this particular conversation, someone made the joke that no matter where they end up, they just don’t want to be asking if people would “like fries with that.”
It’s an easy joke to make — the implication that someone behind the counter at a fast food place has surrendered to the drudgery of meaningless work. Many of us make that joke all the time. The other implication of it is that there is a clear line — existing somewhere — between meaningful work and meaningless work. But what is that line? What separates meaningful work from a soul-crushing job? Is that line objective or subjective?
I suspect that like many things we use as the basis of easy jokes and comforting adages, we have no ever-loving idea.
