The young boy at the cash register looked annoyed but managed an angry and lackadaisical, “What do you want?”
A room full of people sat nearby, trying not to lose their cool. This was one of my favorite places in town to get chicken. Usually. Today there was evidently not a manager on duty. And the four teens left in charge were breaking rules, taking their time, angry at the customers, and messing up orders left and right. The food is always excellent. But this time the horrible service was majorly outweighing the coming food. So after waiting 30 long minutes they said our order was never placed, we left and I’m not sure I’ll go back.
I share this story to remind you that the work you do matters. I’ve been told that many people have the idea that different jobs have different gradations- that some work seems more important than others. I’m told that as I am a doctor, my position is one of the most important people on the totem pole. But I honestly don’t see it that way. I think if everyone in the world was a doctor we would soon admit that the world was quite dysfunctional without everyone doing their individual calling excellently. (Seriously, ask me to build you a house- I guarantee you you’ll regret it!)
People demand and expect excellence from the doctors they see. Why don’t we expect the same of ourselves when we’re doing “regular jobs?” I think of the number of times I have spent on the phone with a cable company for hours; or the number of years I’ve waited at the DMV. Mostly, these things take up a lot of my time and energy and leave me angry and despondent at the end of it all.
But even more than they impact our emotions- the work you do matters- whether that work is curing cancer or answering the phone- it matters! Whether you do it well or not and the attitude you have while doing so determines not only your day but also that customers, that vendors, that co-worker’s day. So, I’ve been on the lookout for some job that doesn’t sound “important” but that made a huge impact by doing their work excellently.
A few weeks ago, I pulled an old t-shirt out of my drawer and smiled at the memories it brought back. I designed these t-shirts when I was in high school. It always reminds me of my friends from that service club, the fun we had, the people we met. I wore it to every function for years in high school and then since then hundreds of times for dance practices and random workouts. But this time when I pulled it out, I noticed something different. The t-shirt is still the same color, there are no holes in the shirt, and the gold emblem is still bright and legible. Twenty years later. And though I had to throw away many other, newer t-shirts many times, this one is still with me.
This company was owned by family friends. Thankfully, the experience I am left with from this company is twenty years of incredible memories just for their commitment to use good products, for their commitment to work well, and to do if for a good price.
This t-shirt represents the comradery that was built between our team when we got to go out and serve the homeless. The amount of fun involved in working with a group that was trying to make small changes to improve the environment we lived in. And I even remember working with business owner herself who didn’t have to listen to a bunch of teenage girls who had no idea how to make a t-shirt (like, I didn’t know I had to design the emblem before ordering the shirts- I was so lost!). They put in an incredible amount of patience and care into something that didn’t have to be a big deal. They put in an incredible amount of excellence to a t-shirt- something that we generally don’t expect to have years of impact. But they gave me twenty years of beautiful memories because of their commitment to their work.
And that may not have echoes of impact the world around. I can hear the complaints- It’s not like they cured cancer or anything! But honestly guys, neither have I! If that’s the only mark we have for a worthwhile existence we are demeaning ourselves and our day to day jobs before we’ve even began. That t-shirt company had a twenty-year impact on me! Isn’t that more than enough for one days’ work? Blessing one person a day?
I keep hearing it said that millennials want to take positions and jobs where they “have an impact on the world”. It’s a great goal. But far too often, we limit “changing the world” to some huge nonprofit that works with impoverished. Maybe changing the world for you is building houses so a family can live safely and happily in them for forty years. Maybe changing the world for you is making a cup of coffee so it makes that person’s bad day better. Maybe changing the world for you is correcting that number so this account it isn’t overdrawn causing a world of other problems. Maybe changing the world for you is doing what you are great at and doing it so excellently it impacts and blesses and restores that one. And even if you aren’t great at your particular job and using your God-given skill- staying dedicated could teach you skills you might need one day for the career that matters most to you.
If you continued with that level of excellence, and attention, and dedication to your work every single day to change one person’s day… how many thousands of people’s lives would you change in fifty years? At least 12,000 lives. That’s the kind of life changing work that we should all look for both today and for years to come.