Working

It was the description of the waitress on the job that got me, the description she gave of how she loved to set the dishes on the table so quietly that she did not disturb the guests to her restaurant. I fell in love with this passage. This book became one of my first entry books into what has become a long personal study of happiness. The waitress mystified and intrigued me. How could a person with such a trivial job find such joy in her work? It was fascinating.

What I really liked about “Working” was hearing the voices of a cross-section of Americans and their thoughts on working. Because this was a Studs Terkel production, there was a larger sample from the Chicago area than others. However, since that's where I live, I found that rather compelling.

While there was more discussion about unions than I initially expected, it made sense upon further reflection. Unions played a larger role in many professions at that time; today, many of us enjoy paid sick time, a 40-hour work week, etc. because of earlier union activity, which has decreased the “need” for unions in some quarters. Also, it seemed to me that a larger percentage of the interviewees expressed some concern about the environment than I think we'd see today.

Some of the jobs in the book may no longer exist at all or in the same form, but there is still value to this snapshot in time. In our book club discussion, one lady mentioned that this book influenced her to go into social work when originally read it. And how often do we really get this intimate of a view into real people's lives despite the prevalence of social media and reality programming? Some jobs aren't all that different; I can attest to the fact that the auditor's description of early days at a large Accounting firm were still the same!

Although I enjoyed every vignette, a few stuck with me. The prostitute's story was absolutely raw and very interesting. The hockey player could have been a philosopher and provides great insight into the mind of a professional sportsman. I also particularly enjoyed the Fathers and Sons section where you get a sense of how each generation views the working life of the other generation right next to their own thoughts.