On the job, pride is overrated; gratitude is more like it

Money has caused more problems than it has fixed. I say this because people are thrown into all sorts of jobs in order to survive. However, in some areas of work it is insensitive to tell employees to be proud of what they do when clearly, the job at hand has nothing even remotely worth taking pride in. I can understand being proud of oneself regardless of what the individual is doing but it takes a lot of guts to walk head high and content and say scrubbing toilets is the way to go. Clearly janitors are not out there because they want to—circumstance and the need to put food on the table forces them to do what they do. Without a single education certificate to their name, all one can do is take what is given to them. I don’t think they are out seeking self pity but it’s possible that what they do feel is gratitude. After all, isn’t that better than begging on the streets daily without assurance that a penny will drop your way? They are grateful to be employed even with the little they earn because money doesn’t come easy. Should that now mean they are supposed to take pride in the fact that they clean up after people have helped themselves? Asking them to be proud of what they do is abit far fetched; that is why they are forced to give an inaccurate chronicle on what they do exactly. They will tell you they work at Eco Bank, which is true but as the sanitation or maintenance manager which is false in every sense. All they have left is to be grateful that at the end of the day they can put food on the table and even educate their kids with the little source of income they earn. At least it is legitimate no matter how unbearable the situation is. It doesn’t matter whether it is the glossy bathrooms of Serena, some shady bar rest room or our very own public toilets. There is nothing to be proud of in scrubbing a toilet but there is something to be grateful for; being able to take care of family and meet individual needs. This is more than I can say for prostitutes who also share the burden of humiliation but seem to be less concerned about how grave their matter is. A couple of them do indicate that they are not proud of what they do by asking to have their faces covered when facing the media. How can they be asked to be proud of what they do? There is nothing to be proud of at all. But still at the end of the day, they do it for the money and to survive even in the most ridiculous way! rachelgaruka@yahoo.co.uk