Just a Job?

I’ve read and heard a lot of interesting stories about jobs.  I read once about a young man who was a bagger at a supermarket who shared nice thoughts and quotations on small cards that he gave to customers.  I read about a commuter train conductor who gave his passengers a tour every day, describing the areas that they passed and pointing out connector buses that were at each of the stops.  I’ve read about people in all sorts of jobs that turned their work into something more than just a job–they turned it into an enjoyable experience because they took every opportunity they could to do something special for the people with whom they dealt while on the job.

It’s an interesting concept–can we make our jobs more enjoyable by adding our own touches to them?  Can we turn work into a pleasant experience by finding ways to contribute to the lives of others with whom we have contact during our work day?  Perhaps it would be nothing more than an encouraging word here and there to people to whom we normally wouldn’t give encouraging words.  Perhaps we could find some little gift that would be very inexpensive, but that might mean a lot to someone else.  Would a business card with a beautiful saying on it work?  How about a small piece of chocolate or two to share with someone else?  With a little bit of imagination and creativity, we should be able to find something that could brighten someone else’s day, for no reason at all other than just to do so.

A lot of people dread work because of the tedium of the day-to-day job that they do.  But it’s only tedious if we allow it to stay tedious.  With a little bit of thought and care, each of us can turn our jobs into something more, something special.  And if we enjoy our work even more for having done so, well then–all the better, no?

The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it, whether we arm
ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be
vanquished before night comes–or whether we open our eyes with
the sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep
us delightful company and who will make us feel at evening
that the day was well worth its fatigue.

Lucy Larcom