the “working in the service industry” experiment
Hi everyone! Betcha didn’t think you’d hear from me again here, now that 2015’s over, eh? Think again. While I’m no longer on a regular experiment schedule, I still value experimenting in my life, and I’ll still use this blog to write up the results.
My latest experiment has been a four-month experiment in working in the service industry. A little bit of background: I never had a job in high school or college – never had the experience of working at McDonalds, or Brusters, or the mall. And I’ve always felt that because of that, I was missing out on something valuable – the experience of working hard and serving people, and empathy for fellow service workers. Finally, at age 22-23, I’ve intentionally made it happen. Upon moving to San Diego, I set out looking for service industry jobs. I initially really wanted a waitressing job, but soon found jobs at both Chipotle and Trader Joe’s. Y’all, I quit Chipotle after just two weeks. It was that hard. I feel so privileged that I was just able to up and quit when things got rough, when many people don’t have that easy option. However, I stayed at Trader Joe’s for the full four months, and it was an incredibly rich experience. Here’s what I learned:
Food takes a lot of steps and people and effort to arrive in your stomach. Whether it was the prepared food at restaurants like Chipotle or just groceries at stores like Trader Joe’s, I don’t think I’ve ever given much thought before to how the food got there. How early did the employees have to wake up to stock those shelves? How many tomatoes did someone dice this morning to make that salsa? How stressed are those employees, as they try to ensure the food doesn’t run out for even a minute? Seeing the behind-the-scenes of all of this was eye-opening. Now, when I go to restaurants, I have an idea of what’s going on in that kitchen. It’s not relaxing and fun, like cooking at home. Those chefs are more than likely running around like crazy people trying hard to get your food out in a reasonable amount of time. This has made me so much more thankful and tolerant when things aren’t as fast as I might hope.
A lot of people in America work HARD for very little pay. As you might expect, the difference between my biweekly salary at IBM and my biweekly salary at Trader Joe’s was pretty stark (and even more so at Chipotle). And when I think about how much less work I was doing at IBM, it just stuns me. I was making double what I made at Trader Joe’s, and I was doing probably a third of the work, in terms of hours spent actually working on things and exhaustion levels at the end of the day. When I think about how many people are working hard like this for even less money than I was making, it makes me seriously question the wealth disparity in America. Many of these workers will never—not in fifty years—be able to work up to even the salary rate that I was making my first year out of college. I only was privileged enough to make that amount because of wealthy upbringing and schooling. I want so badly for other people to have the opportunities that I have, but many of them never will.
It’s easy to worry about money when you aren’t making much. When I was in NYC working at IBM, I spent a lot of my time and mental energy feeling like people should be less focused on money and more focused on their passions and on making the world a better place. While I still fundamentally believe that, this new experience has given me a more nuanced view. Of course I felt like people should worry less about money – it was easy for me, as I had the privilege of a big paycheck. When one’s paycheck doesn’t have much of a cushion, it makes sense that financial security will be more of a priority and even an anxiety. Even for me, someone who has a cushion of savings that meant I never truly needed to worry about money, I found myself growing stressed about it, constantly thinking about money and trying to avoid dipping into any savings. I gained a new level of empathy for money-anxious people that will hopefully help me to connect with them and continue to work towards a world where everyone feels free to spend their time doing things they care about.
Service workers put up with a lot of sh*t from customers, and it takes a serious toll on their mood and disposition. I hate to say this, but these jobs made me like people a little bit less. The customers that would come through my line and be rude, arrogant or self-important, and never say “thank you”? They were unfortunately the ones I remembered at the end of the day. There were plenty of really wonderful customers as well – ones that would make a point to ask about my day, and smiled a lot, and helped to bag their own groceries. But those ones sadly were trumped by the ones that left me exhausted, frustrated, and resentful. This was an important reminder to (a) always be a pleasant customer, and (b) have empathy and patience with service workers, as they’ve likely dealt with a LOT of rude or ignorant behavior.
While I am out and having fun on Saturday night, other people are working. One aspect of working in the service industry that I failed to foresee was the FOMO that results from having to work late shifts when your friends all are having a board game night and you can’t go. Some people, I realized, do this regularly! They work night shifts on weekends, and their lives are eternally off-kilter from those of the people they love. The freedom to bond with those I care about when they and others are conventionally free is one I desperately missed.
I became so much more of an environmentalist, and a stricter vegetarian. Seeing the vast number of paper bags we went through at Trader Joe’s, and the amount of meat we stocked, I couldn’t help thinking about how many landfills we were filling, and how many animals were being tortured and killed to arrive in our store and be handled by me. I started really judging customers’ meat purchases and their bag preferences, which was probably not good. But at least personally, I have a newfound commitment to not contributing to causing suffering in the world.
There is a level of humility gained through cleaning toilets that can’t be gained elsewhere. The same goes for taking out the trash, or even rounding up shopping carts. I’m realizing that I’ve subconsciously spent my whole life judging the people who did these jobs, assuming on no basis that they are somehow lesser than me. Here I have been, going around making messes like the rest of the population, and these unseen people have been cleaning up after me and the rest of us, never thanked. It took actually experiencing the disgust and mild embarrassment of cleaning a toilet, or tying up the trash bag and hauling it to the dumpster, to really make me understand what it means to clean up after our species.
I am not my accomplishments. A big part of this experiment was an exercise in ditching my Ivy League identity and being treated like anyone else who works in a grocery store. Being insulted or looked down upon by rude customers, being asked if I ever thought about going to college, having people give me judgmental looks if they did find out I went to Penn, as they wondered why I was working in a grocery store. I couldn’t explain to people that this was actually a very intentional decision, and so I had to be okay with people judging me, and realize that it doesn’t really matter either way, because I’m no better than people who work these jobs because they’re the only thing they can get.
It is absolutely possible to make a positive impact on the people around you (and therefore the world) no matter what your job is. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to do great, ambitious things. But working at Trader Joe’s, I learned a lot about smalltalk and what it takes to connect with people in a short period of time. Several times, people told me I “made their day” with my positive attitude, or told me I was “awfully pleasant”. Enthusiasm is infectious, and it’s a gift I’m blessed with. Even in just the short interactions I have with people every day, I can make this world a better place, injecting kindness, positivity, and empathy.
If you got to the end of this (rather long) post, thanks so much for reading! Hopefully more experiments will come in the future. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to try this if and when you find the opportunity! I can guarantee that it will change your outlook on many aspects of your everyday interactions and your perception of the people that serve you.