The Nature of Work
Oct. 25th, 2007 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebMy philosophy of work is that it is something that is so boring, unpleasant or difficult that people will pay you to do it so they don't have to. Ideally, you find something that is hard for other people, but easy and fun for you.
But I'm reading a book by someone who is convinced that for most people, work is something that is fulfilling and fun. It gives them not only structure and a paycheck and thus economic power, but also a sense of purpose and a source of socialization and positive feedback. They get the thrill of solving real and important problems.
I don't know. Many of the problems I hear about don't sound so great; they sound impossible and depressing or pointless: We shipped our software, but it won't work for most people. These clients are falling through the cracks of both our economic and social welfare systems. Another company's product will come out earlier than ours unless you quit sleeping for the next month.
I guess it's satisfying to find work-arounds to impossible-seeming problems. My favorite impossible problem I solved was to fit two pages of text into, say, a four-by-six inch box for a grant proposal. Professors wanted me to shrink the font; grant people wanted us to submit only a paragraph. So I recommended editorial changes rather than 4-point fonts. I'm not a biologist, so some of my abstracts ended up ludicrous, but it would give them the inspiration to fix up a proper abstract.
Actually my favorite impossible problem was fishing a girl's shirt out of the latrine and making it so that she could wear it again without people making fun of her. Someone told me about the shirt problem which occurred when the girl was changing clothes in the latrine so she could have some privacy. I asked everyone to look for a very long stick. It was fun to watch their eyes widen when they figured out my plan. I washed the shirt in front of everyone with soap in the big sink. Then gave it the sniff test. Then passed it around and made all the other kids give it the sniff test. Everyone agreed that it was okay. If anyone was to be made fun of after that, it was me. Heh heh.
I'm not one of those people who could never retire because I don't know what I'd do with myself all day. That's partly because there are way too many things to do around here, but it's also because I have the kind of job you would have to pay someone to do. I don't even get much social interaction. Except for my boss, I rarely see anyone from my office, hidden back in my cube. Some of them seem really cool, but it's hard to imagining inviting them to parties. I do see some people outside my office in meetings of people of another profession who use my system, but I'm an outsider there.
I think in addition to job hunting, I'm going to start looking for ways to improve my work life.
I tried my first idea today. I knew we were having a Halloween costume contest. Today I learned that there will be a prize for the best section theme. My section consists of two people: me and my boss. He doesn't dress up. So I could dress as him, in slacks, a button-up solid shirt, and perhaps a tie.
The gal in Athletics Certification also has a section with only two people in it: her and my boss (who is also her boss). So I told her my idea so we could have a little chuckle over it. She will be out of town that day, though, and thus not involved.
She recommended I talk to my boss's other section, which has several people. She said they had several ideas. But they've already picked out an idea and little longhorn headbands have been purchased for all of them already. I said I could come as a red cape. One of them said, no, a matador. I don't think I have the stuff for that, though.
So then I started thinking of other ideas that I could turn into a theme when paired with my boss. I could wear an interview suit and we could be cube people from the private sector. Supposed suicide victim and quiet neighbor next door whose typewriter matches the one used to type the suicide note. I could be his old hippie mother, telling embarrassing stories about his childhood. "He used to run through the neighborhood in his Superman outfit saving unwilling pets from invisible arch enemies. Did you know he tried to hide his spinach in my jewelry box? Have I told you about the time he painted the Mona Lisa on his walls with nothing but peanut butter and chocolate syrup?"
I prefer the kind of costume where I get to hand out candy. Hmm, hippie Mom could hand out special brownies. With spinach in them! Ha! But really I'm not that good at costumes where I have to talk for you to be able to tell who I am.
I also got invited to participate in the pie baking contest. I love that.
More fun at work--and yes, some of it should even be work-related. That's the plan.
But I'm reading a book by someone who is convinced that for most people, work is something that is fulfilling and fun. It gives them not only structure and a paycheck and thus economic power, but also a sense of purpose and a source of socialization and positive feedback. They get the thrill of solving real and important problems.
I don't know. Many of the problems I hear about don't sound so great; they sound impossible and depressing or pointless: We shipped our software, but it won't work for most people. These clients are falling through the cracks of both our economic and social welfare systems. Another company's product will come out earlier than ours unless you quit sleeping for the next month.
I guess it's satisfying to find work-arounds to impossible-seeming problems. My favorite impossible problem I solved was to fit two pages of text into, say, a four-by-six inch box for a grant proposal. Professors wanted me to shrink the font; grant people wanted us to submit only a paragraph. So I recommended editorial changes rather than 4-point fonts. I'm not a biologist, so some of my abstracts ended up ludicrous, but it would give them the inspiration to fix up a proper abstract.
Actually my favorite impossible problem was fishing a girl's shirt out of the latrine and making it so that she could wear it again without people making fun of her. Someone told me about the shirt problem which occurred when the girl was changing clothes in the latrine so she could have some privacy. I asked everyone to look for a very long stick. It was fun to watch their eyes widen when they figured out my plan. I washed the shirt in front of everyone with soap in the big sink. Then gave it the sniff test. Then passed it around and made all the other kids give it the sniff test. Everyone agreed that it was okay. If anyone was to be made fun of after that, it was me. Heh heh.
I'm not one of those people who could never retire because I don't know what I'd do with myself all day. That's partly because there are way too many things to do around here, but it's also because I have the kind of job you would have to pay someone to do. I don't even get much social interaction. Except for my boss, I rarely see anyone from my office, hidden back in my cube. Some of them seem really cool, but it's hard to imagining inviting them to parties. I do see some people outside my office in meetings of people of another profession who use my system, but I'm an outsider there.
I think in addition to job hunting, I'm going to start looking for ways to improve my work life.
I tried my first idea today. I knew we were having a Halloween costume contest. Today I learned that there will be a prize for the best section theme. My section consists of two people: me and my boss. He doesn't dress up. So I could dress as him, in slacks, a button-up solid shirt, and perhaps a tie.
The gal in Athletics Certification also has a section with only two people in it: her and my boss (who is also her boss). So I told her my idea so we could have a little chuckle over it. She will be out of town that day, though, and thus not involved.
She recommended I talk to my boss's other section, which has several people. She said they had several ideas. But they've already picked out an idea and little longhorn headbands have been purchased for all of them already. I said I could come as a red cape. One of them said, no, a matador. I don't think I have the stuff for that, though.
So then I started thinking of other ideas that I could turn into a theme when paired with my boss. I could wear an interview suit and we could be cube people from the private sector. Supposed suicide victim and quiet neighbor next door whose typewriter matches the one used to type the suicide note. I could be his old hippie mother, telling embarrassing stories about his childhood. "He used to run through the neighborhood in his Superman outfit saving unwilling pets from invisible arch enemies. Did you know he tried to hide his spinach in my jewelry box? Have I told you about the time he painted the Mona Lisa on his walls with nothing but peanut butter and chocolate syrup?"
I prefer the kind of costume where I get to hand out candy. Hmm, hippie Mom could hand out special brownies. With spinach in them! Ha! But really I'm not that good at costumes where I have to talk for you to be able to tell who I am.
I also got invited to participate in the pie baking contest. I love that.
More fun at work--and yes, some of it should even be work-related. That's the plan.