J-O-B

Originally posted May 23, 2017, on "The Leftovers" at WordPress.com

Edited: 02-26-2018; Grammatically 
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The theme of jobs in America isn't really taking a turn for the better. The rise of automation has crept into restaurants, retail stores are claiming bankruptcy at alarming rates, and the industrial sector is taking hits from the receding coal industry. These changes take care of almost all the avenues of work in the town I live in.

Between a general lack of information and the amount of misinformation combined, it has caused a lot of things to be said and written, most of them untrue, about people who are unemployed, millennials in particular.

I spent the majority of my adult livelihood serving the public in one way or another. Working the fry station at McDonald's, running a register at Wal-Mart, serving tables at Ruby Tuesday, and even playing a role in mining coal underground for public consumption.

When I see the same public I once served to earn my paycheck turn back and look in wonderment as to why no one wants to serve them anymore, I have to laugh a little.

These are the same people who made fun of me for working the fry station at McDonald's in my twenties, hurled vulgarities at me for not giving them their money back per policy at Wal-Mart, purposely left low tips or no tip at all for their own amusement at Ruby Tuesday, and bullied and harassed me out of a number of jobs, including working underground, for many different reasons.

I can agree, on some level, gainful employment in this area isn't for everybody. I don't see why saying so should disturb anyone either, especially if I was told during my first week on-site at the mine I worked for was, "Coal mining isn't for everyone.".

I even have family members who wholeheartedly agreed with the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Hobby Lobby and Christian Values over federal legislation because, "If they don't want to work for a Christian company, they can work somewhere else.".

You're right, somewhere like Chick-fil-A or Cracker Barrel even...

I don't have all the answers to employment in America, but here is the conclusion I've gotten to at the end of all the conversations I've ever had about employment on a personal level. If you can find dignity within employment, then dignity can be taken away within employment as well.