A Job is a Job

The ability to get working fast is a characteristic that most people cannot obtain. Most people prefer to look for work for months rather than do certain kinds of jobs. However, it is really the very hard working that ends up climbing to the top position. The idea of the hard workers is to enjoy work at the very first opportunity and do is as positively and as actively as possible. It is not about the pay or the dirt that comes with some jobs that matters; instead, it is the contribution that one is able to make on a daily basis to the rest of the society.

The idea of doing only that work for which people are trained or experienced is absurd. Skills are earned and various people train on their jobs. It is the role of the person to take advantage of the opportunity and get moving. In Workers by Rodriguez, the narrator lies that he has experience in manual labor to get accepted for the job. Had the narrator told the truth, he would have gained no experience of manual labor. He no longer has to lie about manual labor. Within his job, the older workers teach him how to do the job right. They feel that he is putting in too much energy into the labor and achieving too little. The lessons he gets from them serve to make him learn that the laborer who does manual labor all their life is to use his body as economically as possible. He must learn soon enough or he may not be able to stand the strain in later years. Margie Piercy’s poem has similar doctrines. She points out that she prefers those people who dive into work head first. She does not like those dally in the shallows. This means that she prefers that one trains on the job rather than getting training first. To her, it would be more developmental if one got into the job first and learned while working.

Work should also be developmental on both the community and the individual. While working on the job, an individual should choose a job that helps him improve in one way or the other and contributes to the growth of the community. Rodriguez calls this kind of work “real work.” It is the king of labor that is reserved for the cream of the society. The strong hearted. The narrator argues that the work used to make him sweat in just a few minutes. He explains how the rigid muscles would get into work in just a few minutes.  Margie Piercy argues that real work is getting into the task rather than supervising. She wants people to go into the farm to harvest and “work in a row and pass the bags along” (line 14). To her, for work to be done, one must be willing to get into the mud and get his hands soiled. It is, according to her, necessary for a job to be both normal and real. The job should eventually be something that contributes to the society. A pitcher should not be stored in the museum but instead be used be put to its real role.

Finally, one should be willing to get tired on the job. It is necessary for one to accept to get tired on the job. In Rodriguez’s worker, the narrator says that the mornings had “too much pressure”. He however did it with excitement on the first and every other day. He had put his heart to the task and actually points out that he loved the strain that comes with the job. He says that he “would feel his chest silky with sweat.” This is a sign that his job was really tiresome. He had accepted to take off his shirt and work tirelessly each day. Similarly, Piercy argues that one should get into the job and get into the rhythm of the work. She says that loves people who harness their strength and get into their mud to get things done. He however, like Rodriguez, wants people to come and do their work just once, but over and over. It is therefore evident that people must be willing to get to work intent to get things done, however hard they have to work.

In an attempt to get a job, some people may think that any job will do. However, certain characteristics must be present for a job to be suitable. First, the job should help the individual to improve his skill level. While one may not have any experience, learning on the job is a suitable method of gaining valuable experience. Second, the job should be contributive to both the individual and the rest of the society. Finally, a job is often tiresome and those willing to work should also be willing to sweat. All in all, not every job is worth doing. Instead, one should be ready to do a real job.

Works Cited

Rodriguez, Richard. Workers. 1982

Piercy, Maggie. To be of Use. 1936