What effect does taking a Mcjob have on the self-esteem of those who are highly

1. 86

   gmwilliamsposted 9 years ago

   What effect does taking a Mcjob have on the self-esteem of those who are highly educated & are
   
   above such jobs?  Besides, what valuable skills, if any at all, can a person with a Bachelors, Masters, or Doctorate Degree gain from taking such Mcjobs?
   
   

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2. 86

   Annsaloposted 9 years ago

   Valuable skills that a college degree does not give you: Humility which can not be taught. It can only really be learned when put in a situation which forced you to acknowledge it.
   
   Hands on customer service service. No I don't mean handling a phone call of an unhappy person or knowing how to say the right words to land a sale. I mean real hands on customer service. The kind you learn when you deal with the average and often ignorant high and mighty customer.
   
   True team work. Not the kind you get in an office working together to finish a draft of something. The type of teamwork a person learns in fast food is fast paced. You are only as valuable as your weakest employee and you all have to work together to get out food in less than 5 minutes. True team work is often found in blue collar and below jobs.
   
   No one is above any job regardless of education. There is ALWAYS something new to learn no matter how educated or intelligent a person is.  Can it be an ego bust? Of course. We are trained to think certain things are below us, and sometimes they are, but this takes me back to my first point. Anyone who thinks they are too good for a McJob, especially if they are unemployed, needs a lesson in humility.
   I have 2 college degrees and a couple different licenses that required me to go back to school. I found times when I was unemployed that I had to (what felt like) lower myself for jobs in order to pay the bills. I guarantee there were things I learned that college didn't teach me! One of those things was my self esteem was not attached to my location of work, but how well I did the job.

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      fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Awesome answer.  Perfectly stated!

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      Annsaloposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Paula!

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3. 82

   tamarawilhiteposted 9 years ago

   It is only "bad" for you if you see it as a step down. It can be good if you see it as better than being unemployed, or as a way to retain the dignity of paying your bills while you look for a job you've actually trained for.

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      fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      A-MEN!

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4. 74

   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   I have two university degrees and just recently left a minimum wage retail job that I LOVED.  No, it made no significant use of my studies and I actually worked with a few people that were still in high school, and a few other people who were retired, but I never considered myself "above" the position.  I learned a lot from the people I worked with, I think everyone has something to offer if you're willing to listen.  I also loved working with a team again (I was either a full-time, unemployed student or working solo from home for the past 8 years). 
   
   My province is going through a huge recession right now and unemployment is the highest it's been in 20 years.  But my minimum wage retail job was the first job I applied for after moving and I was hired the day of the interview.  It was SO easy to find work.  And there are "hiring" signs all over the place - at restaurants, fast food places, retail stores.  But of course people DO think they're too good for those jobs so they still complain about a lack of opportunities.  I'm not sure how sitting at home unemployed is a better use of skills or education than working a job that's outside of your comfort zone.
   
   I have massive respect for anyone who works at McDonald's or Walmart or whatever other jobs people look down on, because hey, I'm sure they know that.  I'm sure they themselves probably looked down on it once, too.  But they're working to support their family, or to stay in the workforce, or to save money for school so they *can* get a Masters degree or a PhD, and the list goes on....
   
   Good for them for being realistic and not sitting around feeling sorry for themselves for not finding exactly what they're looking for and doing something else until they do.  I think that's a very positive character trait and I hope they see that in themselves, too, instead of it affecting their self-esteem negatively.

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      fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Great!  Very well said, Aime!

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5. 61

   fpherj48posted 9 years ago

   As far as I know, the last time someone offered to pay their mortgage with "self-esteem," the bank wasn't amused.  WHO can say with a straight face that they are "above" a job, any job, if they are UNEMPLOYED, have a family, bills & enjoy eating once a day?
   
   A decent, legal job is ABOVE collecting welfare checks as one sits on their butt, or worse, choosing an illegal activity to make money. 
   
   IMHO, the higher the degree, the MORE someone can learn by taking "such jobs," as you call them.  I must say I find Annsalo's answer BRILLIANT as well as beautifully said.  I agree with her completely, so it's not necessary for me to reiterate what she said so perfectly.
   
   I do recall many years ago, as I was "busting butt," so to speak, before finishing school, meeting a woman my same age working right beside me. This woman had at one time, a very high-paying administrative position with influence and respectability (or so she thought.)  When this mega company went bankrupt & down the tubes, obviously so did her job & her influence.  Unfortunately, she was charged along with everyone else in this company with book-cooking, fraud & few other unpleasant charges. 
   The "waitress" job she worked alongside myself was how she was paying her massive legal bills.  In other words, she had NO choice than to take that "lowly" job.  Need I repeat the term, "Humility?"
   
   Last Chapter?  I went out to dinner to that same restaurant about 10 years after I'd worked there.  You guessed it.  That woman was still working there & had been promoted to Manager.  She was happy & her life was back in order, with her priorities quite healthy!
   I didn't have to ask her what she "learned."

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6. 70

   Tusitala Tomposted 9 years ago

   When I left school way back in the early 1950s I assumed I was fairly well educated at a technical college: Math, English, Physics, Geometry, Chemistry et cetera.   When I went for my first job I was asked, "Can you ride a push-bike?  Yes?  Good, you have the job."  (I'd become a messenger boy)
   
   Many a school leavers have high hopes of a great job, only to find themselves sweeping the floor or making the tea.   Nothing wrong with this.  But many of those same people go on to become managers, leaders, captains of industry.   It is in having experienced the mundane, lower-paid, unskilled work that one learns to appreciate what one has worked up to and obtained.   If you start at the bottom there's only one direction you can go.   
   
   I left school early.  But by developing a habit of Life-long-learning, landed, over my  years of paid employment, some very interesting and quite prestigious jobs.  And sure, I dropped in pay and prestige from time to time as one career ended and I started another.  That is life.
   
   Certainly a stint at Mcjob isn't going to do anyone any harm - rather, the opposite.

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