Observations on Working Poverty; Janitor

Many moons ago (but somewhat more recent than my stint unloading trucks), I worked as a Maintenance Tech at a truck-stop for a major gas station chain. You see, it's a pretty reliable fact that crappy day jobs have nifty titles so that, upon introducing yourself and your station, you don't have to bluntly admit that you are a glorified janitor that is occasionally asked to fix things.

That being said; in some ways I actually liked working at the truck stop. Management had a way of not bothering me too much (Either I was doing such a good job that they stayed off my back, or I wasn't important enough to mess with. Your choice.), so I had a lot of independence and a pretty wide degree of latitude to roam about the store and associated grounds how I saw fit. I basically got paid to do whatever I wanted (as long as my work was done by shift's end), how I wanted, and with little to no oversight. Cold outside? Stay in where it's warm and get stuff done inside. Blasting hot outside? Stock the cooler and enjoy that 40 degree temperature. Too crowded in the store to get anything done? Go pick up trash outside until the crowd dies down. We even had pay showers, so I could use the restroom with a certain measure of peace and privacy. Kinda like having my own office bathroom, in a way.

As far as crappy jobs go, you can't really beat that sort of deal. The work wasn't really meaningful in that position, but at least I wasn't being harangued by a some feckless idiot who would only make things worse by getting in the way. And, to be blunt, if (and this is a might damned big if) someone was willing to pay me to keep doing the same job, under the same operating conditions, indefinitely, on a reliable schedule, for $75k a year, I'd do it. The work was easy, low stress, and not all that taxing physically, emotionally, or psychologically. Well, sometimes someone would get rather anal expulsive all over the stall walls, but that's a hazard accepted concurrent with the position.

I got pretty good at doing a quick clean-up under a pretty wide variety of conditions. Being outside in all kinds of weather became much less of an issue as I acclimated, and I got some more experience learning how to fix things I'd never looked at the guts of before. That's not a bad set of skills to acquire.

Here's the thing, though; my job experience was abnormal. It is not the natural state of crappy jobs to allow underlings to roam around free and unfettered. It was bound to end, the ultimate fate of micromanaging induced entropy was inevitable. That's why my memories are fond.. I quit that position for another before it got to that point. Recon intel from the same store tells me that more requirements, more work, more duties, and overbearing managing became the "new normal" within six months of my departure.

Takeaway; I quite enjoyed working as a truck stop janitor, but ultimately the pay was simply too low to stay there long term. I'm glad I got out when I did.