Labor Day 2019

To All Those Who…

…Hold down steady nine-to-five, Monday through Friday jobs with no weekends.

…Work shifts so complicated, they must follow a schedule to keep them straight.

…Toil away at highly physical yet mentally monotonous jobs.

…Drudge through desk-bound yet cerebrally complicated jobs.

…Are hardy enough to work outdoors in the heat of summer, the cold of winter, and the stink of port-o-potties.

…Are fortunate enough to work climate-controlled indoor jobs with break rooms and bathrooms.

…Juggle two or three or four part-time jobs because they can’t find a full-time one that pays enough.

…Work one part-time job after retirement because staying home drives them (and their spouse!) crazy.

…Got today off as a paid holiday.

…Are working to serve those who got the day off.

…Have managed to score their own sweet, sweet corner offices.

…Can’t seem to advance their way out of the crowded cube farms.

…Have dedicated their working lives to one company they believe in.

…Endlessly job-hop and have lost track of all the places they’ve ever worked.

…Stand out in a self-employed company of one.

…Are lost to obscurity as one of thousands in a megacorporation.

…Are still working their way through school.

…Are still searching, applying, and interviewing to find a job post-school.

…Stay in jobs they hate because they need or want the benefits.

…Stay in jobs they love even though they don’t pay benefits.

…Make do with okay jobs with okay benefits.

…Are returning to the workforce after staying home to raise children.

…Are leaving the workforce to stay home and raise their children.

…Get paid more than perhaps they should (because who is going to say, “pay me less?”)

…Don’t get paid near what they’re worth and are afraid to ask for better compensation.

…Work unpaid internships.

To all those who work in front of the cameras, behind the cameras, and build and service the cameras.

To all those who grow and harvest the food, stock and sell the food, and purchase, prepare and present the food.

To all those who have defended their quarterbacks, defended the innocent in a court of law, defended a thesis, and defended our nation.

To all those who’ve driven nails, driven forklifts, driven transport trucks, pushed brooms, pushed papers, pushed strollers, flipped burgers, flipped houses, flipped scripts, written code, written songs, written traffic tickets (could you please give me just a warning this time?)

To all those who account, build, create, dig, educate, fabricate, garden, heal, investigate, jump, knit, landscape, market, network, operate, paint, query, restore, serve, train, underwrite, vend, wire, x-ray, and zookeep.

To all those who did, who are, who will.

This post is for you.

Happy Labor Day!