Getting The Job

Landing a Job is Not a Big Deal

The time I landed my first job is a very clear memory for me. Growing up in the rural parts of South Carolina, our downtowns were one-story shops with old men sitting outside them – smoking at times and greeting you always. As it has been and still remains, that the good-naturedness of the south is un-exaggerated.  It isn’t unusual for everyone you pass to tell you “G’mornin’” and mean it. That same timelessness is even represented in the buildings, and this was especially true for the small town of Pendleton.

The Pendleton Square had a courtyard about the size of a football field, and was hugged by the local shops and restaurants that were characterized by sharing the same walls. A paved road paraded around the square with a 25 mph requirement, but people stuck to the 20 mph rule because it just seemed right.  

My favorite shop was this coffee and brunch place that still remains one of my favorites. It was called The Pendleton Cafe and Coffee. I like businesses that just tell you what they are all about, and this one was through and through about 1. Their Cafe Items and 2. Their Coffee. When I worked there, specialties included the fried green tomato sandwiches, shrimp and grits, and the the most amazing assortment of pastries.

Although I didn’t have a car, I was motivated to find a job so I put in an application at the Pendleton Cafe and Coffee around the age of 15 years old. I’d babysat for years, but this was the first “official” big kid, put-on-your-pants type of job. It was a huge deal for me – a momentous occasion – a tape it to your fridge and glue it to your scrapbook type of thing. My stomach was a cauldron, churning excitement and nervousness and dishing out a plate full of Proud Pie. I had landed it: my job as a janitor.

I’ll start off with saying that this job holds only pride for me. There is this dangerous misconception that we need to have a certain position, title, or income to feel pride in our work.  I’ve seen and experienced this struggle to strive and to attain what people think will help them sleep at night. You know the people who sleep good at night? The ones who are satisfied in knowing they gave their work their best.

One of my favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King who said:

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Landing a job is a major accomplishment, but a bigger deal than landing a job is being content in a job. Being content in the quality of your work has this amazing peace that comes with it, and often the outflow of joy and humility will promote you above your peers.

I’m not sure if it was my young age or lack of experience, but I have fought to find the same content that I had in my job as a janitor. I did the things janitors do. I swept, vacuumed, mopped, wiped down, and spruced up. However, there was not one moment that I felt my job was in some way lowly. In fact, it was the opposite – and I felt proud in what I did and I gave it my full attention.

Without a thought of promotion, I got promoted. My work was good, and in simple conversation I unintentionally gained their confidence to be given greater tasks. I was left alone with valuables, included on minor business decisions, and my favorite: given new dishes and desserts to try and give my opinion on. Within about 6 months, I began helping prepare dishes and then ultimately I was hired to do catering events with them. I remember vividly picking overgrown mint and basil from the garden for elaborate 3 course dinners.

When I look back on that job and the contentment I felt at every level, it challenges me to work differently. Everyone’s experience is different, but I’ve learned these lessons:

• Balancing your output in relationship to your income does not equal contentment. Apply yourself to the fullest no matter what you get paid.

• Comparing your income to others will not bring you contentment. This is conditional contentment and you’ll either be proud or frustrated.

• Striving in any area of life is exhausting and counter intuitive. Again, be the best you that you can be, and let the promotions come as they come

In my experience, landing a job is not the big deal. Being proud of your work is the big deal.

By: Katie Barnett