Allow me to poke my nose into your life

[Legacy_of_Torment]

I've been away doing outdoor film projection with the onset of the great weather lately, so I've been kept well away from the sucky customers. It's been fab, minimal stress, doing something I enjoy and getting paid to relax with a beer once the show is on. Sadly that all came to an end today, and it didn't take long for the SC's to pounce the second the doors opened today.

My first floor cover shift in as many weeks and they had to find me.

So a bit of background - I look considerably younger than I actually am. Call it the effects of working in the dark for a decade or so, but it has its faults. As such, customers often assume I'm younger and will speak to me like an awkward parent attempting to have the "talk" with their teenage offspring.

Here's how it all went down.

A man and his teenage son arrive at the usher station a little too early for their film. I tell them that the current film is still playing in their screen and they will have to wait outside until it's done. They say that's fine and sit themselves down nearby. All seems fairly good until I notice them both looking at me all conspiratorial like, and then talking among themselves. I have a few unusual facial piercings and tattoos on my arms so I just assume they're either approving or disapproving of them as often the customers do.
Until the father speaks...

Him: So you must be at sixth form college studying, right?

Me: No I graduated a long time ago.

Him: Uni then?

Me: That too.

Him: Did you get anything?

Me: *doing my best to resist sarcasm in 3...2...* Yes, I did as it goes.

Him: Then why are you working here?

Me: *A bit dumbstruck and feeling my restraint slipping through my fingers until....oh crap there it goes!* At least I HAVE a job. Not many people can say that in this city. I consider myself lucky.

Note: This kind of attitude annoys me more than anything. Most of the people I work with either have a degree or are studying towards one, they stay because it's a good place to work for, and because there are next to no degree level jobs going. Everything is taken and thousands apply when one comes up. So, needs must!

Son: Dad, stop being embarrassing!

Him: *goes beetroot red but stays silent*

Thankfully he had enough insight to keep schtum until it was time for his movie.

[Catwoman2965]

I get that with my PT job sometimes. While no one has come out and said anything, I can tell that some of the customers, by the way they act and treat me and the others, act like we are simply lowly retail workers. Sorry, but I have both a BA and MS, and do it for fun, and to keep me busy.

[tom8907]

A customer asked the exact same question to a work colleague and she too was fairly taken aback I mean first off its incredibly rude to ask and it is snobbish as well thinking that graduates are better than us the nerve..

[Legacy_of_Torment]

Precisely! I've lost count of the times people just ignore your greeting and can't even make eye contact with you until they want something from you. And heavens forbid they actually have to put money in your filthy pesant hands, they might start smelling of minimum wage!

[Sliceanddice]

i got that from everyone i work with at hell too. i have an associates. funnily enough it should be usable here, as this town is basically a military fort and half the buildings here are for some kind of company that does government contracting. (yes im including houses too seriously you can't go anywhere without seeing some kind of business that either basically works for the fort or the people who work there) so 99% of people with some kind of college degree even an associates work for them. im in that sad 1% where i can get a job as a lowly data clerk at one them. so when i talk about school with coworkers and they find out i have an associates they get surprised. the weirded is the one girl who we work with who has her nursing licenses and works fast food cause she likes it better than nursing.

[Tama]

Fast food better than nursing.

What kind of nightmares has she endured to get to THAT point?

[drjonah]

When I used to work at Awful-mart, we had FOUR cashiers who all had their RN license but left the field after too many terrible happenings.

[MoonCat]

I know a funeral director who used to be a surgical assistant.

He changed careers because there are fewer complaints from the, uh, clients...

I only wish I was joking.

[mathnerd]

I have a master's degree in math. I've waited tables at the barrel of saltines in the past while trying to find a degree in my field. There is nothing (legal) that's beneath me. Right now, I'm one of those who wish I could even find a job. I'd dig ditches if I could get somebody to hire me.

[MelindaJoy77]

It's like that all over the place, with degrees. Before I got my job at HellMart, I had been completing my associate's in medical billing and looking for a job for a year and a half. I needed SOMETHING to pay the bills. Two years later now and I've started looking for billing/reception jobs in health care again and it's just as tough out there as ever. I don't have any actual job experience in a medical office either which makes it tough.

[Gilhelmi]

I have no degree, but I am very lucky to have a job in a precision machine shop. It helps that the company tries to hire locals (most of whom do not have the money, will, desire, or patience to go back to school) and trains everyone in-house.

I suspect that the 20 months of experience would be equivalent to 10 months at a technical college. Of course, I doubt a school would accept that for course credit. (heck, "Mr. Masters Degree in this field" got fired for incompetence. Really? Did they not teach you to check your parts after making an adjustment, sir 85% scrap?)

[Racket_Man]

heck I have a 2 college degrees (a 2 and 4 year) and I did work in the "white collar world" for many years BUT I got really really tired of the corporate rat race, the politics, the backstabbing, and the stupid logic of it all.

Now all I have to worry about is getting the pizza there in a reasonable time NOT whine about how "poor we are and can not afford another Ivory back scratcher."

I like my pizza delivery job thank you.

[Seshat]

Every job, no matter how "humble", is valuable and valid.

Floors need to be swept. Food and medical surfaces need to be sanitised, less health-critical surfaces need to be cleaned. Sewage needs to be processed. Gardens need to be weeded.
Stones and metals need to be mined, plants grown and harvested, paths in national and state forests kept clear and not-eroded, the ecology of such places protected.
Tailings dams and other nasty by-products of industry need to be constructed, maintained, and eventually processed into less-nasty and preferably healthy things.
Biohazards need to be cleaned up.
Bridges and roads and power lines and water pipes and all sorts of other infrastructure things need to be constructed and maintained.

All these jobs are dirty, most are nasty, all would be considered 'beneath' the snobby sort of person.

Many of them require skilled workers; with no less knowledge of their field than your average degree-holding professional. Some require the same level of knowledge as a brain surgeon or other highly, highly skilled professional!

So basically, the snobs are just showing how ignorant they are.


Sadly, because of this sort of attitude, many countries have a shortage of tradies and other skilled people in the 'low status' 'blue collar' type of job.
Mamas, please let your babies grow up to be tradies! Encourage them to, in face.

(My brother is a sparkie. Er, electrician. I'm so proud of him....)

[MelindaJoy77]

Every job, no matter how "humble", is valuable and valid.

Exactly. And with the job market and the economy the way they are, sometimes we've got to do what we've got to do.

[jedimaster91]

Fast food better than nursing.

What kind of nightmares has she endured to get to THAT point?

You don't wanna know. Especially if she worked an oncology, ICU, or other unit where patients are really, really sick. you can only be surrounded by so much sickness and death before it takes too much of a toll on you mentally.

I know a funeral director who used to be a surgical assistant.

He changed careers because there are fewer complaints from the, uh, clients...

Does it make me a terrible person that I find this hilarious? I blame being in healthcare myself for my twisted sense of humor. Yeah. That's the reason.....>.>