Labor Day: Reflections on a Life of Work

Labor Day feels different today than in the past. Maybe it's all the talk about retirement these days, both at home and in the news. Maybe it's because I got an e-mail from Social Security today-you know, the one that shows you how much you've earned every year since you started working. $36! That's how much I earned in 1968, which isn't too bad considering I only worked during December. I made a whopping $1578 in 1969, then $1623 in 1971, the year I graduated from high school. However, after 45years of jobs, my Social Security earnings record is only a small and relatively insignificant part of my work story.

The Job I Had

As one of the oldest of 8 children growing up in a crowded, chaotic household, there was always work to do. Taking out the garbage and scrubbing floors led to paper routes and lawn mowing jobs. My first real job was at McDonald's, where I started the day after I turned 16. New employees began by wearing a hat that was blue and had "Trainee" on it in big white letters.  It might as well have said "LOSER" on it.  You wore the Trainee hat for about 30 days until you got your McLegs under you, then you were given the regular white crew hat that everyone else wore. You were still a loser, just not as big of a loser.  I started working on the milk shake machine and when I mastered that job, I was moved over the station where you "dressed the buns" which then put you in direct line of the most coveted job in the joint..the Grill Guy. Guys that worked the grill were like Maverick and Goose in Top Gun, the few, the proud, the grill guys. Milk shake guys ...losers. Bun dressers...wannabes. Grill guys.....studs! The term "guy" is intentional here because McDonald's was an all male workplace until around 1970.

The actual McDonald's at the time I had my first real job.

The highlight of my McDonald's career came when I was named the Employee of the Month in August of 1969. Now before you mutter "loser" or "want fries with that?" consider what I received for being named the Employee of the Month:
 1) Dinner for 2 at one of the best steak houses in Des Moines. Just sign the check. I took a date and ordered the 16 oz. Porter House, medium rare. Sweet. Not sure what she had.

2) A 15 cents per hour raise. I went from $1.50 an hour to $1.65 an hour.

3) 2 tickets to the new wide screen Cinerama movie theater where we saw "Krakatoa East of Java".

4)  $25 dollars in pocket money for incidentals. Is beer an incidental?

5) A trophy with my name on it and a color picture of me in my uniform. 

Employee of the Month, August, 1969

I thought the first 4 items were pretty cool. The trophy was alright. The picture of me in my uniform? I could have done without that. The trophy and picture were placed on top of a shelf above the fry station near the front counter where all the customers could see it. This McDonald's was in a college neighborhood and directly across the street from a  bar that was the place to be on a Saturday night. Students would wander over to McDonald's to grab some munchies and a few may have had a little too much to drink. Eventually they would notice the picture and then they would look for me. "Is he working tonight? Hey, there he is!" From back in my grill station I could read their lips and they weren't saying things like, "Oh, look  at that fine young man. He's the Employee of the Month. Isn't he cool?" 

When my month was over, they gave me the trophy and the picture and I took them home and placed both on a shelf in my bedroom. When I went off to college, I stuffed them in a box with my personal artifacts and they rarely saw the light of day.  That all changed in 1991 when I decided to share my McDonald's picture with as many people as I possibly could. And I have. You can count yourself among the thousands who've seen it since I began sharing it. I told my wife that I wanted it on display at my funeral. She said she'd think about it

The Work I do.

What lies between that first job at McDonald's and the job I have today is my life's work. Yesterday, a manager came to see me to talk through some challenges he was having with a couple of his employees. He left more encouraged. I spent an hour with one of our clinic supervisors and her boss talking about her growth and development. She left feeling valued.Today, I got an e-mail from a newly promoted supervisor asking for some ideas on how to get off to a good start with her new team. She'll spend the weekend feeling more supported.  That is the work I do. I encourage, listen, advise, coach, teach and counsel.

Like most people, I've had some really good jobs and some really bad jobs. Jobs I've loved and jobs I've hated, but I've always pursued work that I love. In retrospect, I can see the threads of my best work woven through every job I've ever had. I've feel very fortunate to have been able to do what I do best, most of the time. Not everyone is that fortunate. Out of economic necessity, many people toil in bad jobs or jobs where they don't have the opportunity to do what they do best.

Take a moment this Labor Day weekend to pay tribute to those around you whose work benefits you or your community, regardless of how much or little they are paid. My Social Security record will not tell you anything about the work I did. It will only tell you how much I earned. The day will come soon enough where I may no longer have a job. But my hope is that my work will continue as long as I live.