I
grew up hearing that there is dignity in labour. Whatever a man does for a
living is to be respected as long as it is honest, decent and does not violate
the good laws of the land ( yes, there are bad laws but let's save that
discussion for another day perhaps). How can a person's job lose its 'dignity
of labour?'
Sam (not real name) says that as a pioneer creative person in a particular company, part of his numerous duties included taking a snap shot of the men's restroom when someone did the 'number two', and left the place in a mess. Yes, he would be asked to take a picture of the 'number two' at the 'scene of the crime'. To what end, I am not sure he ever knew.
What would you have done if you had been in his shoes? I guess it was something that he could live with and so he continued to do so as and when requested. What with the popular jingle that there are no jobs out there and that you were created to take 'workplace crap' because you have no other options. What about that clause in your appointment letter that says “…your job also includes any other duty assigned to you”. Yes, you appended your signature to that letter. What about that?
My sentiments are, you would have to draw the line concerning this 'other duty' assigned to you. My argument is, that you have appended your signature to the clause, does not mean that you have to accept 'every other duty' that is way out of your scope of work . That you would not sweep the office parking lot of the big company where you work for instance, if you were the cost accountant, does not mean, that you would not possibly sweep your parking lot back at home if you had one. A creative person taking snapshots of poop in the men's rest room? Now, that is totally messed up
in my own opinion.
How do we deal with this, I am a cleaner and I work in a big fashion company but nobody gives me respect because I do not occupy a 'big' position or I am not as educated as the 'others'. All they do is
talk down to me, and my take home pay is measly as well. I also have no other benefits from being a staff of the company. While I am an advocate of continuous education in order to better our lot in life, I really would like to say that all working class people should imagine what seven days (and that's taking it far) would be like without a cleaner or cleaners at the office. I suppose that we might want to try taking up the cleaning temporarily as it concerns the 'any other duty' clause that we signed to in our appointment letters. So, you see, everybody is important in the company as long as they have been employed and are performing their duties adequately.
I once got into a conversation with a marketing executive who was planning a program towards product sales with a particular company whose patronage I believe they sought at the time. He spoke of the refreshment segment and clearly stated that the lesser cadre of staff would not be catered for. If my memory serves me right, the lower cadre of staff here was either the gateman or driver. I clearly let him know that the gateman or driver might by far be one of the most important person or persons he might require to get to the 'big boss'. Ignore them and you might be surprised that one day, when you go knocking at Mr big boss's gate 'Mr not so important gateman' might be the one to tell you that oga (the big boss) is not available even when oga is actually available to see you!!! Mr gateman is not doing the right thing in this case, but really, these things do happen.
What happens to the work dignity of the web designer who works in a law firm and can not get that sense of belonging in his work place because he is not a learned colleague. If he is not important perhaps, he should not have been employed in the first place. How do we treat others? It is simply important and should never be downplayed by our own sense of importance and by the belief that we are up here and they are down there. Time and chance happen to men and we are not always in the positions that we are in because we worked harder than others. Sometimes, time and chance happen, so we should be thankful for where we are and not disdainful of others even in the inner recesses of our minds. You may not say it, but at times people can sense what you have not said. We should treat people with great respect regardless of their perceived status, high or low. This can not be overstated
and it is something that gives me great concern.
"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." - (Ecclesiastes Chapter 9, Verse 11)
At this point, I rest my case and hope that I have been able to convince you that we should uphold the dignity in our neighbour's labour.
