No Better, No Worse

Aravis, you're so right: the degree is just a piece of paper. That it makes you "better than this" is a false distinction: you might continue to work there after you get your degree, you might not, but it's not because you have a degree it's because of whatever is going on and what you want to do with your life.

On the other hand, *I* think you need to find a less dangerous job pronto! (oh, and btw, libraries aren't much safer - all those pulled muscles while reshelving, the broken toes from running over them with book trucks/dropping heavy books, paper cuts, dust...)

I too wonder where people get this mentality. I have heard people make comments before, including myself. After I say something like that to someone, then I wonder, "Why does it matter that they work at... at least they are happy."

I think we all have so many internal prejudices. I think we are a very judgmental society and it's really sad.

LG- we have those carts and also have to restock shelves, so I get those injuries too. Not to mention having to dodge other people as they wield their carts through a too-narrow hall. Paper cuts, however, is the predominant injury sustained, though. *G*

David- I suppose it's human nature, and I know I've done similar things. It's just not something that I like no matter who is doing it, including me. :0(

More days than not, I'd trade jobs with them.

I think thoughts like your supervisor's tend to firmly fall in the "grass is always greener on the other side" kind of thinking. And then you just get stuck in a rut and it hard to change your thinking, especially when you are so dissatisfied with your own life and the direction its taken.

I think that having any job is great, and if you're happy with it and the way your life is heading, that is even better.

You ARE a good person who decided what you wanted to be when you grew up:) And, I hate paper cuts, they are the root of all evil....not to mention the most painful!!

Well happiness is a state of mind and I have seen people who are happy in very strange circumstances. Studying however, fulfills a quest in all of us to learn. That quest should be filled regardless if you are happy in the current scene or not.

I move around with a lot of Investment Bankers who thought they were untouchables a few years ago. They were well paid, received crazy bonuses and lived on the fast lane. Where they happy? I am not sure in the past, but not definitely today.

I know this doesn't make sense :-). In short, you are doing the right thing. Learning is therapeutic.

I think that people often feel that someone else's job (or a better paying job) would be more fulfilling. But work is work. I have fantasies about having a job where I don't have to use my degree.

My pet peeve is the word 'just'. Recently we had a pipe burst and called a plumber. I was talking about the pride he took in his work and he replied, "I'm just a plumber." Yeah, you're just a plumber who can fix a broken pipe in my house when I can't.
Or how about, "I'm just a farmer." Yeah, just a farmer who makes sure I have enough to eat.
Or the person who is "just a mechanic" but keeps my car running.
Nobody is a "just" they are often a god send. Okay I'm sure you get idea - I'll quit. It's me Ralph "just" a blogger

Hey in this economy, a job's a job. So I agree with you, and don't feel bad. That is the attitude (of the guy asking you) a lot of people have that don't think they can work a job "beneath" them. You know what that results in? Them not working and collecting unemployment and what not . . . Oy I sound like a Republican! Must stop now! But seriously, I'm worried I might soon be saying "Do you want fries with that?" with a PhD. But you know what? A job's a job lol!

Quote from my blog:

"--booksellers really are a special breed. No one in their right mind would take up clerking in a bookstore for the salary, and no one in his right mind would want to own one--the margin of profit is too small. So, it has to be a love of readers and reading that makes them do it--along with first dibs on the new books."

From The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Additional from me - You have the right attitude when talking about quality of people. The diploma is an expensive piece of paper. One of it's biggest pluses is that it shows you are determined to get something done, even if it's only the education. You can have that same determination without the paper but it's not recognized as quickly.

(I love the bit about having the first dibs on new books. That's one reason I work at the Friends of the Library used book store once a week.)

I can't tell you how much pressure I've taken off my own shoulders when I realized I define myself, rather than being defined by my job. Took me awhile to realize that...but I'm grateful I've learned that lesson early.

Good post, Aravis! Great thoughts, as always...

You don't have to be superior or intellectual, clever or a natural leader to move into senior management, but you do have to be ambitious - I think that's we're a lot of us "fall down" (if you consider it falling down, which I don't). I'm quietly proud of my degree, which I achieved at night and weekends, while working full-time. It did change me as a person, but it would have benefited me to have done it sooner, and possibly even saved me going into my first marriage. Oh well.

It's not that I'm not proud of what I'm doing, or trying to accomplish. I just don't think it makes me "better."

Good to see you again, Ian! :0)