Random Rattle – Are you a Job Snob?

I watch, read, and listen to news reports in one form or another everyday, and the position of Americans on the job front comes up more frequently than you would think. Most recently, yesterday, I was reading some comments on the position of immigrants in America; who should come, who should go, who is legal/illegal, on and on. Without getting into any political debate (I hate political debates and will not participate in them), I read one comment from a reader who had employed “illegal aliens” because he had no other choice. They were the only ones responding to his employment ads.

You can walk down the street in America, and if you ask 10 people what they would do for a job if it meant the difference between employment and unemployment, you would likely get 10 people that would respond with “I would do anything it took to make money.”. That may be completely true…in theory. So why then in this grand country did we have such a high unemployment rate until recently?

The answer is honestly for a variety of reasons. I will not get “deep” here, or political, but reality is this.

For some, it make fiscal sense to remain unemployed and receive benefits from state and government programs. Between a slow wage rate increase nationwide, and a variable (yet still low) wage rate increase on a state level in comparison to tax hikes on both the state and national levels, it can be hard to make ends meet. When you add the complications of Medical among other things, there is a small percentage of the population that can only survive by living off programs. The fall into the nations financial no-mans land. They can’t make enough to live without the programs, yet even if they held a minimum wage job would make too much to make use of even minimal aid. For those with physical capability just high enough over the borderline to make them capable of holding down a job, yet low enough to make it sufficiently difficult for them to do so; this is the case. At least where I live. In this case, even working a part time job can put them over the monetary cutoff for medical assistance, yet trying to afford medical insurance (which in many cases is not offered through employment) privately is prohibitive to sustaining financial independence. In this case, unemployment which will keep them below the cutoff is the most fiscally reasonable answer.

For many though the choice to remain unemployed is not financially reasonable, but nothing more than Job Snobbery. What do I mean by this? Well in the case of the above referenced comment by the employer that hired “illegals”, it was a matter of having available, a perfectly good job, a dishwasher, that no one wanted.

Job Snobs: what are they? These are the members of our society that you would ask the question, “What would you do?” when they are gainfully employed and they cannot imagine a time when they would be otherwise, so they can with comfort answer “Anything”. But when they time comes that they have been handed their pink slip, for whatever reason, and they choose NOT to take the farmhand or front end customer service jobs that are available out there because they think they are above them. Their view is, they went to college, they have an education, they can (in theory) find another job in their sector, if they just wait it out long enough. They have not swung a hammer before, driving a trash truck stinky, painting a house is labor intensive, laying asphalt is dirty, cleaning dog kennels is base level work. For whatever reason they have in their mind, they CHOOSE not to take those jobs that are available. So in truth, they would NOT do “Anything”.

Don’t get me wrong, I can completely understand the concept of being used to living a certain lifestyle. But when it comes down to keeping your house and car, vs loosing it all, I would choose to do “Whatever it takes.”, and have.

There are also more esoteric reasons for taking whatever job you can in those circumstances. The feeling of self worth gained by simply doing something rather than sitting around the house feeling sorry for yourself. The satisfaction you can gain from learning something new, something that expands your ability as a human. The gratification from being able to maintain, for those you love and care for, in some way, their lives.

So the next time you think about the question “What would you do?”, take a moment and really consider your answer…… would you? or are you a Job Snob?