The 9 to 5

On this trip I’ve watched all kinds of people go to work. Some moan and groan not wanting to go. Some people merely mention anything. And only a few said they love work. I’ve seen a selection of various jobs so far, log truck driver, radio DJ, community college marketing director, elementary art teacher, rancher, producers, film crew, waiters and waitresses, Mary Kay and Pampered Chef sales, real estate agent, and one of my favorites is Dave from South Dakota who worked at EROS where they do satellite imaging. I have to say it’s a pretty good span of careers that I’ve witnessed in some part. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that no matter the job there is always much more to it than people realize.

While in the car today with Ricardo and little 2 ¬Ω year old Alex, Alex asked me if I had to go to work. Well, I told him I just play all day like he does, and take long naps when I want to. Sometimes I feel guilty to watch people go to work and I feel lazy. But I won’t get into that.

Studs Terkel is one of my greatest inspirations for a project such as this. There is one tiny anecdote he shares quite often that I believe sums up a lot of what it’s like to work the 9 to 5. The following is as told by Studs, taken from this dialogue. He’s telling another person how he gets pieces of American life out of the people he interviews.

So in this case, it’s a gas meter reader. You know what a gas meter reader is, don’t you? The guy who comes into your basement with a flashlight. You’ve had that, haven’t you?" He visits you – a gas meter reader.

So I asked him, “Tell me about your day. What goes on in your mind?” He says, “Two things: dogs and women.” As he’s talking, I realized the first is the reality; the second, the fantasy.

…I say, “Okay, let’s talk about the women now.” He says, “Oh, well, nothing has happened, you understand. Nothing’s happened. However, in my mind, you go to a house – " and he names a nice suburb on the north side of Chicago. “And the lady of the house is very pretty. And the sunshine, the summertime, and she’s on the patio taking a sunbath. That is, she’s lying on the blanket with her back up, her chest down. She’s in a bikini and the bra is unbuttoned so that the sun can shine on her back in full. What I do is I creep up very, very softly. And when I’m right next to her, I holler, ‘Gas man!’ and she turns around – !” And then he says, “You know, I get balled out an awful lot. But it makes the day go faster.”

That is what goes on in the minds of many people – “How do you make the day go faster?”

I remember relating to this throughout most of my jobs in high school and college, even jobs I loved, and even on great days. People always try to find those little things at work that make the day go by faster or to take a little bit away from those boring days.

A few days ago while in San Diego Teddy came up to me and said, “I have a bone to pick with you, you’re not making as many blog and photo updates, it gives me something to do while at work.” He may have even said something along the lines of it makes the day go by faster. That’s an honor. And he’s not the only person to tell me that. To know that there are people across the country looking forward to that next post really gives a lot of meaning to what I’m doing. And to all those people this one’s for you, there is nothing better than those small things during a long day at work that give you a little smile. They go a long ways, and some of them are things that last a lifetime.