This blog post has been inspired by a combination of events such as observing a diligent young man working on one of my home maintenance projects, President Obama’s Netflix series “Working” and the TV reality show “Undercover Boss” episodes. These examples are just a small drop in an endless pool of awe-inspiring real life diligent people across the globe. The stories shared in this post is an attempt to be a part of the celebration and reassurance that the world affairs will continue to run smoothly because the working peoples’ conscience is always focused to earn the rewards based on the outcome of results expected by their stakeholders; be it their family, community, employer, and the society at large.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, all workers are classified into one of 867 detailed occupations according to their occupational definition. To facilitate classification, detailed occupations are combined to form 459 broad occupations, ninety-eight minor groups, and twenty-three major groups. No matter what category one gets classified, there’s beauty in any job that’s done well, no matter what it is.
1. Sharing a Story of Hard Work, Winning Admiration and Respect
Background
In 2022 summer, we had the home exterior painted by a professional painter. While painting, he pointed out that there are issues with gutter protecting metallic mesh (lots of debris, broken segments etc.). He suggested replacing the metallic mesh with a foam product. I got along with that suggestion, but I was not thrilled with that solution. You may notice that there are a lot of gutter protection ads on TV during spring and summer. Since I was not at peace with foam protection, my brain was working behind the scenes to look for a better gutter protection solution and vallah! I came across an ad from a company America’s #1 Rated Gutter Guard | Leaf Filter (https:/www.leaffilter.com). I called them to schedule an appointment for the estimate. The salesperson did a good job with his pitch, so I signed up for the project and the job got scheduled for that Friday of the week.
The Story
I was thinking that there would be a crew of at least 2 or 3 installers, but I was surprised that only one installer showed up around 9:00 am on Friday morning. His name was Cris, likely in early thirties, medium built, an easy-going talking style with constant smile and a confident voice. While getting to know him a bit about his experience in the field such as how long he has been with this company, where did he drove from this morning etc. When asked how many days a week he works and the answer was pretty much seven days a week, weather permitting. Takes a day or two off, once in a while when planned something by his family. He had an old battered pickup truck, loaded with supplies. I figured that he must have left his home at 8:00 because it is about an hour drive from his hometown to my home (setting the starting time stamp here as a context to drive a point later in the story). When asked in how many hours he would be able to finish the job, the answer was around 5:00 pm. Cris got to work around 9:30 A.M.
The first Challenge
The first part was to configure (measure, cut, sand), a couple pieces of the protection sheets around the front and side corner of garage. It took him over 30 minutes to install those pieces (I was working in my home office and watching this phenomenon directly from the office window, not snooping on him). Now at this point I was susceptible that he would be able to finish the job in one day so when asked “are you sure about finishing by 5:00?” The answer was that when he starts on the straight parts of roofline, it will go faster. He said he always likes to start with tough parts of the structure. And sure so, parts around the garage and front of the home are curvaceous making them the most difficult part of the job.
The Next Challenge with a High Degree of Notch up
The next part was to do the same repetitions in front of the home with half a dozen sections with curves and angular slopes. Added challenge of this part of the job was to reach at the target site corners, by positioning the tall ladder on a cemented front patio that is raised two feet from on both sides of flower beds. Now that balancing act has to be solved like a multi-dimensional mathematical equation, not solved on a paper or a physical computer, but the most sophisticated computer i.e., the brain.
The factors to be considered for this job
- height from patio floor to the gutter
- proximity of ladder bottom feet to the patio corner
- height position from the top step to the appropriate step ladder to reach end of the gutter
- arm sweep from front to the end of gutter section
- angular fluctuation of the body to reach front to end of the gutter length
So far it has become a five-dimensional equation. I bet there are at least four to five dimensions that
can be added. Ahh! this exercise of dimensional discovery has given me an idea to generate an academic mathematical research topic. Oops! sorry for the detour from the original story to leading into the weeds.
The Next Challenge with a Tall Order
The south side of the home is straight, but three stories high (about 30 ft) that poses different sets of challenges, i.e., to ascend and descend on the ladder that puts stress on the body. Being extra careful not to fall during ascending/descending and especially while working at the roof line at the top as indicated in the below picture:
After finishing the south (straight) side, Cris took about fifteen minutes of lunch break and got back to work to on the back side of the house. Before starting on north side, he took another 15 mins break, so altogether 30 minutes break through the workday. After completing all the installation work, he spent about 40 minutes collecting the garbage and cleaning up. So, the whole job finished around 6:45. After completing paperwork, he said (with a little laugh) that now he has to drive an hour to pick up supplies for tomorrow’s job. There was no tiredness, stress, or anxiety but rather the satisfaction of completing the job professionally, cleanly, and beautifully. Although there was still another an hour drive to the supply depot, loading up the supplies and then another half drive to home. All the day’s accumulated activities and yet remaining activities for the day, did not lead that young man to whine or complain of so much work, but a there was a satisfied persona with constant smile on his face. I am sure Cris must feel the same about finishing each job day in and day out for seven days a week.
The monetary transaction for this job was not a small pocket change, but $x,xxx. After driving, loading/picking up supplies for next day’s job, it would be 9:00 pm by the time Cris would have reached his home. So, it would have been 13 hours day of hard work. Installing gutter protection may seem like a trivial job, but as the story has related challenges; it is hard, dangerous, tedious, repetitive and seems like never ending (can you believe doing the same thing day in day out for seven days a week). The work has to be done during icy cold early spring days, and the dog days of hot and humid summer. I admired Cris for his sense of responsibility toward his employer, his family, work ethics, persona, and demeanor. This is a prime example of a job done with beauty.
2. Netflix Series “Working” Hosted by President Obama
A Brief Intro to the Series
In an ideal world, every job would offer every worker good pay, purpose, and a chance to grow. However, the ways in which we earn money and seek out a livelihood are much more complicated, especially when you consider the spiraling inequities many Americans face in the workplace today. Those nuances are explored in Working: What We Do All Day, a new limited series from Higher Ground Productions and Concordia Studio, hosted by former President Barack Obama and directed by Caroline Suh.
The Working series was inspired by a classic 1974 nonfiction work called Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Studs Terkel. Told through oral history, it chronicled over one hundred everyday Americans of the era, their jobs and how employment impacted their lives. In the nearly 50 years since it was published, Americans have faced explosive changes in the way they work, all in the face of increasing inequality. “We wanted to show how work looks totally different, depending on what kind of work you do,” Suh tells Tudum.
Working series applies the spirit of Terkel’s book to contemporary times, focusing on three different industries: home care, tech and hospitality, and shares the stories of twelve people representing the breadth of experiences therein.
In the home care sector, the story follows a company called At Home Care Mississippi, a home health service primarily funded through Medicaid. Over the course of four episodes, Working follows Randi, a home care aide; Sheila, a supervisor overlooking more than one hundred in-home care aides; Kenny Wayne Jones, a former state senator and lobbyist for At Home Care; and Jeanette, the founder and CEO of the organization who takes a lower salary to better support her employees and clients.
Working also follows the employment hierarchy of the Pierre Hotel in New York City, starting with Elba, a union-protected housekeeper who has worked at the hotel for almost 23 years. The hotel also employs Beverly, who has run the switchboard for 21 years, as well François, the general manager who oversees about five hundred workers. The final episode of the series introduces Natarajan “Chandra” Chandrasekaran, the chairperson of the multibillion-dollar conglomerate called the Tata Group, which owns the Pierre Hotel.
Finally, Working explores the impact of automation on the gig economy, first introduced by a single mom named Carmen who drives delivery for Uber Eats in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the following episodes, we meet Luke, a data manager for a self-driving vehicle company called Aurora Innovation; Karthik, a senior robotics engineer; and Chris Urmson, the co-founder, and CEO of Aurora.
As the series peels back the nuances of its subjects’ professional lives, audiences get a first-hand look at the varying degrees of job satisfaction for service employees; middle-class workers struggling to afford the rising costs of living; managers and knowledge workers who have the luxury of earning enough to explore other, more “meaningful” work; and company heads, whose decisions can affect millions of lives. Working also unpacks the disparity in work experience across generations, as well as the stark differences between skilled labor and creative work, which is less tangible. Ultimately, Working seeks to answer what having a “good” job really means today.
Suh also says that in addition to fair pay, stability is key. “People really want to be able to depend on a job, and to be able to invest in it,” she says. “And respect is a huge thing — how much you feel the respect of the people around you.” While pay, stability and a sense of respect may seem like obvious answers, Suh says that working on this series made her realize there’s a less tangible quality that stands out across industries and employment levels.
3. Stories Shared in Undercover Boss Episodes
Undercover Boss is one of the best TV reality shows. Although the episodes are staged, the underlying stories of people working hard to earn their living and challenges are common themes across the board.
The episodes can be watched at Undercover Boss – CBS.com that do require Paramount membership. Alternatively search for interesting episodes on this site and then find them on YouTube undercover boss – YouTube