As a little kid in school, grown-ups say that you must work hard and get good grades so that you can go to a good college and get a good job. What is a good job? A good job is a marketing manager, a development officer, a doctor, an engineer, something that pays well and has a retirement plan. There is nothing wrong with any of the jobs, but what is wrong with the jobs that don’t meet that standard? Work in the arts or teaching are not typically included but those deserve their own article. Let’s talk about the jobs that aren’t on that list that most people avoid. Let’s talk about janitors, plumbers, table bussers, waste management drivers, and construction workers. Do we need them? Yes.

Take waste management drivers for instance, it is very easy to take garbage collection and disposal for granted, particularly if you live in a city or suburb. You put your garbage bins out once a week and someone comes in their big noisy truck and takes the rubbish away, leaving you with an empty bin to fill up and put out again next week. Could you imagine what our cities would be like without their work? I went to New York City one summer and trash day there means the garbage from the week is piled on the curb and that was one of the stinkiest days of my life. Since the wonderful people who collect the garbage for a living were very much at work, it was all gone by the next evening but imagine if those piles just stayed and grew. Lack of proper waste management systems in Europe way back in the day is part of why the Bubonic Plague spread so quickly and so far. It is generally better that waste is managed rather than not, but would you think of a CEO as more valuable than a waste management driver?

You might say no, and you might mean it, but there is an irritating habit that many (including myself) fall into. As a child, I was told to study hard or I’d end up cleaning other people’s houses for the rest of my life. The adults in my life did not intend to demean the value of people who clean houses, but nonetheless, that creates an implicit hierarchy in a child’s mind. The idea of working as someone who cleans up after others or any other “undesirable” job becomes a mark of failure, something to be avoided. Even though these “undesirable” jobs are often necessary for our society to function as it does, people are embarrassed to admit that they bus tables to make ends meet when they are catching up at their high school reunion.

I am not saying we shouldn’t recognize and praise the ingenuity and hard work of doctors and engineers. I am saying that the hard work of those in service work or any work that is necessary but not respected should not be treated as less than commendable. Respect and thank anyone in those positions, do not feel like a failure if that is the work you are doing. Whether it is a step on the way to achieving your dreams or a dependable way to pay the bills for years to come, your work is worthwhile.