What it's Like to Work...

So, I've been asked recently by a good number of people about how my summer job at the grocery store has been going and how I'm enjoying the job. Here are some answers to those questions.

I really underestimated the physicality of the work I'd be doing at the store. I commented to Sarah earlier today that I'd like to take a pedometer to the store with me someday in order to calculate the number of steps I take during each shift and the total number of miles I walk in a day while working. I might also someday count the number of times I bend down into a crouch and then stand up again. I am constantly sore in my knees and lower back after I'm done working and want only to come home and put my feet up when my shift ends. Standing on concrete for eight hours does little to comfort one's joints.

For as much as it sounds like I'm complaining in the description above, I really enjoy working at the grocery store. As a Hall Director, I have very few working hours which are definitely set each week. Thus, I have a schedule that shifts with the needs of my students and which keeps me constantly primed for having to work. My schedule at the grocery store, though, is set each week with a definite start and end to each shift I work. I know that I'll start work each morning at 7am, that I'll get an hour break from Noon to 1pm, and that I'll leave the store for home each afternoon at 4pm. There are no questions about when I need to be thinking about work and when I don't. While I rarely feel like I've accomplished much or have something to show for the work that I do as a Hall Director, I leave the grocery store each day feeling like I've really had an impact on something and knowing that I have proof for the labor I've provided. In other words, I feel accomplished in my summer job in ways that I don't think I'll ever feel accomplished in my career. Also, I dress better when I'm working at the grocery store (slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie) than I do when I'm working as a Hall Director (jeans and a hoodie).

I don't think I'd choose to ever leave my career in the Ivory Tower to work in a long-term physical blue collar job, but I'm certainly enjoying the experience for right now. I've talked with some people who have commented that working as a stocker at a grocery store is "beneath" someone with my level of education, but those people clearly don't know what they're talking about. I make a fair wage (and time and a half on Sundays!), my work does not consume me, my coworkers are both fun and personable, and I get to interact with a wide variety of people. There is nothing about this work that is below me.

The only thing left to decide is whether or not I'll continue to work some weekend hours at the store once school starts again in the fall. I could continue to work on either Saturdays or Sundays and make an extra 60-100 dollars a week, or I could not work and have my weekends off entirely. While the extra money is appealing, the thought of not having to shave and being able to regrow my beard if I didn't continue to work at the store is attractive in ways that I can't even describe. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the rest of the summer goes.

And so that's what it's like to work as a grocery stocker. Hope this helps answer those questions of yours!

Stay Gold, everyone. I'll be enjoying a couple of days off...

MMK