I was wondering why my job as a grocery bagger felt extremely pointless today, when I realized that it was because my job is to do what someone else is too lazy to do themselves.
My official title is “service specialist” (lol). I push carts in from the parking lot and bag groceries for eight hours a day, five days a week. My training took half an hour. It's about the easiest job I could think of, but it's hard enough on the body. I'm young, but I'm on the heavier side, so by the end of the day my legs are killing me from walking on tile and concrete all day.
No sitting, of course, unless you're on break. Whoever thought that one up, I hope wherever you are, you never get to sit until we all get chairs at work. But I digress.
I think that “minimum wage jobs” are the tasks that we as Americans have deemed pointless, because they are neither profitable nor are they enjoyable. In my case, bagging groceries doesn't generate any value. It also doesn't bring a feeling of accomplishment, either. But it's got to be done, to bring the things you buy home.
Enter the capitalist. They see an opportunity to charge customers just a little bit more, while hiring a poorly paid worker to bring that about. That's me! The grocery bagger. And so, instead of the American buying and bagging their own groceries, they pay more for an employee to do it for them. That way, they can watch a sweaty, bearded man anxiously bagging their groceries, while the customer… awkwardly stands there.
Maybe my “service specialist” title would mean something if I was specialized in some way. But it can't. Bagging groceries will never be a special talent, nor a meaningful use of my time. But it makes even less sense that instead of each person bagging their own things, which take a few minutes at maximum, they get to stand there, and ogle as I do the same thing, over and over, for an eight hour shift, five times a week.
I can't quit, because then I'll have no money for college. I'm trying to find a job with the city, which has better pay and benefits, but I'm not hopeful with the amount of people probably doing the same. Not only that, but since I'm living with my parents while school isn't in session to save money, if I were to quit my job, their response would be to pressure me to leap into the next terrible job, so that they can feel like they've raised a good, productive son. And most importantly, I really want to propose to my partner of four years, and they're proud of me for holding a job. So at the end of the day I tell them “work is good” and smile. I cried in my car after my shift today. I'm so tired of this.