The first job I had out of high school was as a dishwasher for a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant during the late seventies. My industrious best friend worked there, and he said it would be a good place to earn some spending money. Plus, some foxy girls would be waitressing, and maybe we could get to know them better.
I instantly fell for his delusion and diligently applied myself to the job. I was delighted to receive my fifty dollar-paycheck at the end of the first week, which was promptly spent on gas, movies and fast food.
But after a few weeks I was overcome with boredom. I couldn’t bear to put one more lousy plate through that steaming washer, so I announced my resignation and spent the rest of the summer in an aimless leisurely stupor with my other unemployed friends.
Luckily, no one else was relying on that income, and my lifestyle standards were quite meager at the time. This job clearly had been nothing more to me than a brief stint to make a couple bucks and move on.
I proceeded on to college and then grad school, whereupon I entered my first real professional job. I was delighted to receive a few hundred dollars at the end of the first week, which promptly went towards rent, meals, and a never-ending stream of parking tickets made out to “The City of Boston,” where my new wife and I had dreamily established our first apartment in the Back Bay.
I was proud to be a professional, and thus began my track towards a true career. I leveraged the experience gained at that job to get the next one, continued honing my strengths and skills, and for the next two decades focused on promotions and advancement.
“Slacker Boy Makes Good On His Education,” might well be the moral tagline of this story, but it didn’t end there. As I matured and became more concerned about God’s purpose for my career, I considered that it might be more than just all about me. Perhaps the emphasis of my work could involve helping others, rather than self-seeking promotions. This led to a much more integrated and fulfilling view of my employment.
Okay, blog-slackers, you need to click here to finish reading the rest of this post over at The High Calling. It will change your life forever! See ya there.
