Its Been a Hard Days Night, I've Been Workin' Like a Dog

I am two and a half weeks into a new job doing remodels.  Again I have searched and searched and searched for work outside my immediate area of experience and have come up with nada the result being carpentry once again.  I don't mind carpentry.  Working with my hands, thinking critically and outside the box to accomplish the task at hand.  These are things that appeal to me, that I'm good at, and, apparently, the only work I can get hired for in Whatcom County.  Carpentry is well and good, but it is definitely not what I want to do with the rest of my working life--there are other things to explore.  But more immediately on my mind is the nature of getting acclimatized to working with a new company.

After six odd months of unemployment it is refreshing to find a job.  Making three contacts a week (the conditions of unemployment insurance) eventually paid off--however, suddenly I am accountable to someone else for my time, energy, actions, and habits on the job.  It is kind of a shock to the system.  Having had small projects of my own here and there and showing up anywhere between eight or nine in the morning to getting  a slight reprimand for being five minutes late (albeit every day) is shocking.  Truth be told I was a little put out!  So it struck me, as the day progressed, that I have lost a great deal of promptness in the past few months, but also fail to see the importance of having such a strict starting time.

This notion that we should be five minutes early, to start the day a little ahead of schedule is admirable--I guess.  (Let me say, before I progress, that I am thankful for my job.)  But it makes implications about the relationship between the employee and their job.  Such as commitment, dedication, passion, and energy.  I gotta be honest, I can't seem to muster a whole lot of that for another job swinging a hammer.  At least, not for the work I've been doing lately.  When I'm working for someone else I feel the stakes drop a few levels, there is nothing at risk for me, nothing to really fight for, and I feel, in some respects, like robot in my daily routine.  Some might say a robot badly in need of reprogramming.  But my awareness of, my reaction too, and my relationship to work is changing.  I fail to see how showing up five minutes early (I remember my 9th grade careers teacher talking about how important it was) is important or reflects on my craftsmanship.  I fail to see the value in the puritan work ethic we are brought up to embrace.

My work is not my life, I don't get paid enough to be consumed by a day fixing someones house or condo or garage or whatever.  Nor do I have the mentality to let myself fall into a career-rut, following the tracks of a job to retirement whether I enjoy the work I do or not.  I am in the process of retraining, taking the preliminary steps to return to school, but for now I have to struggle with a carpentry job that I am close to being completely indifferent about.