Career Superiority- A job does not define my worth

Recently I finally found part-time work while at university, having applied to over 20 jobs over the course of the past year. Finally getting a position as a waitress in a good restaurant, working with friendly people and getting a good wage felt like I had struck gold.

I quickly realised though that there are many people who don’t respect me in my means-to-an-end job.  My ability to do brisk mental arithmetic is constantly questioned. I am frequently on the sharp end of passive-aggressive complaints from customers who doubt my ability to do the job I was trained in.  I have been shouted at, talked down to and condescended.

Obviously I didn’t expect to be treated like royalty, and I do still very much enjoy my job, but it did lead me to question how we treat staff in service industries.  Most people at university, students and staff alike, are under the impression that they are destined to better things in some way.   Like I already said, my job is a means to an end. I want to study a postgraduate course next year and I need to earn the money to fund this.

I quickly realised though that there are many people who don’t respect me in my means-to-an-end job

However there are many people on this campus alone who always have and always will work in the service industry. The academic divide on campus just acts to exacerbate that difference. Careers, work experience and job prospects are all very contentious topics at university. Deep down we’re all a little bit scared of where we’re going to be in ten years’ time and how much we’re going to be earning.

The job that you have or end up with isn’t indicative of your worth: you are much more than your career.  We are encouraged throughout education to believe that if we don’t turn out to be some sort of CEO then we are failures, but that simply isn’t true.

The job that you have or end up with isn’t indicative of your worth: you are much more than your career

As much as getting a job after university is fairly necessary, the exact nature of that job scarcely matters.  Work hard, do your best and try to achieve your career ambitions.  But if your ambition for the next five years is to be a waitress and go travelling, then do it!  At the other end of the spectrum, we need to remember that people are worth more than their job.  A number of people have been rude to me and a lot of people have assumed they have a sense of superiority over me.

What they could do with remembering is that even if someone were to choose to be a waitress forever, that doesn’t reflect poorly on them and is no marker of their intelligence.

Also, don’t forget to leave a tip.