Wait! You want me to work?

I mentioned last week that I spent a couple of evenings sitting in the green room waiting for Jonathan, being apparently invisible, overhearing lots of conversations. I was trying to read my book, but there was one woman in particular who seemed to want to be sure that every single person in that very large room was listening to her. And I was about five feet away.

Her first topic was the job that her daughter had recently quit at a moderately high end accessory store because she felt like they were making unreasonable demands. My attention was caught because I am well-acquainted with the store and the employees. It has extremely low turnover; there are several people working there who have been there for six or seven years.

This daughter, who is 20 and "had a little trouble" and is "taking some time off" from college, quit what can only be described as a pretty cushy gig--as retail goes--because she was expected, on the nights she closed, to clean the bathroom. One toilet, one sink, one mirror. And her mother agreed with her that that was an unreasonable expectation. The mother went on to complain that many nights her daughter ended up spending half of the evening "dusting and straightening." And she didn't "raise her to grow up to be a cleaning lady." Plus, "she just wasn't having fun."

 Oh, where to start? How 'bout with the attitude that certain work is "beneath" a person? I have heard this quite a bit in the last year, mostly from young people or their parents, but also--more than once--from Boomers. I find it unfathomable and more than a little annoying. Unfathomable, at least in part, because it was ingrained in me that, if you need money, you work. And that all work, done well, has value. Work is good; not evil.

I probably react somewhat on a personal level, too, because I have done the jobs that so many spoiled teens and self-important Boomers seem to find distasteful. I've worked fast food (and cleaned the bathroom.) I've worked in large and small retail establishments (and cleaned the bathrooms.) I worked in the college food service, much of that time in the dishroom. I've worked in a movie theater (and cleaned the bathrooms.)  I bartended and waitressed and cleaned LOTS of things worse than a bathroom. I've cleaned houses.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot: I was a real estate agent for three years, and in our smallish office we all took turns cleaning the bathroom.

Most of those jobs weren't fun. Sure, I had fun while I was doing them, because that's who I am. But they weren't fun jobs.I worked hard and went home exhausted. But I did them because I needed money. When I was in high school I wanted to put gas in my car and buy clothes and pizza. When I was in college I wanted spending money, clothes, books, and gas for my car. After I was married there were bills to pay and later a family to help support while my husband earned a master's degree. And then there were piano lessons and soccer teams and books and....

Right now, I'm fortunate. I have a part time job as our church secretary that is mostly fun. I'd rather not have to work, but it is paying most of our oldest son's college tuition, so it's worth it. But, if our circumstances changed, I would do what I needed to do, including clean toilets.

I don't believe that there is never a good reason to quit a job. I quit a pretty cushy one once because my boss wanted me to lie to customers. I encouraged my daughter to quit one because she had an abusive boss and it was affecting her health. But bringing kids up to think that they are too good to do certain work isn't doing them any favors.


More from the green room next post.

Saving money

I've been working on getting our financial life in order for six months, with more discipline at some points than others. Reading Dave Ramsey's books and using his materials has helped a lot, but the biggest issue is still the same as it was before I started working so hard on this.

We spend more than we should.

I have cut a lot of our spending, but I keep having to adjust certain categories because of changing costs. Everyone knows what is happening to gas and food prices, which are already the second and third largest items in our budget. (In May food was actually number one!) Much of our driving can't be avoided. I've managed to cut back on my weekly gas expenses with the arrival of summer, but that will be offset by adding in a few long trips.

We have always kept our thermostat low--64--in the winter and high--78 when we use it--in the summer. We drive older cars with low insurance costs and no car payments. Colin would like to ride his bike to work, but it is 18 miles, and there are no facilities to shower or change after he gets there. We've cut our cell phone minutes in half, for the three of us who share an account.

There are lots of cuts that can still happen, but this is where they start to hurt. We can cut our satellite bill by getting rid of our DVR and dropping a few channels. We don't have any premium channels, but we do get a lot of channels. The biggest problem with this is that the three channels Colin really watches--outdoor and shooting programming and soccer--would disappear if we did this. I love the DVR because I can watch the few shows I really want to see in just a little over half the time, speeding through the commercials. (I can watch an hour of American Idol in about 20 minutes, because I only watch the performances and the judges reactions.) And even if I made all of these changes it would only be $15.99/month.

I could save money on clothes and shoes. I don't buy very much--for any of us--but what we buy is good. I could save money on coffee, by drinking cheaper coffee, but that would be way down the list of possible cuts. (I've already cut my Starbucks trips back to almost none.) We could take cheaper vitamins, but then we could go back to spending more money at the doctor's office and the pharmacy, so that wouldn't ultimately be a savings.

I could find a place to get cheaper hair cuts. For the boys, too. (Although I'm not willing to go as cheap as I do for Andrew!)

But I can't do anything about house and car air conditioners going out or cars needing new tires and other repairs. I can't make the boys slow down their growth and wear their pants for more than a couple of months. (Have I mentioned they also eat an amazing amount of food?)

So, I'm at the point where there's going to be some pain. And yes, pain is relative. I admit I am spoiled. We have a nice income, and for me pain is cheaper haircuts and no new sandals and eating a few more meatless meals.

My decision is what the pain is going to be. Am I going to make more cuts or earn more money?

I'm leaning toward earning more money. Then I have to decide if I am going to be disciplined and put some effort into my business, which has treated me incredibly well for the tiny amount of effort I've made the past couple of years. Or am I going to impose outside discipline on myself and get a job?

I think I'll spend some more time with Dave this afternoon.

Awarding Innovation

I went with my husband last night to a patent award banquet for his company. I expected a night of boredom, but it was really fascinating to see the patents that were awarded to them last year.

Some of them were design-related, like the shape of hoods, headlights, and grills. Some of them, like those that my husband received, are for very technical aspects that make the trucks more efficient and dependable. A huge majority are driven by two concerns: fuel efficiency and driver satisfaction.

I see how hard my husband works and how much he loves the trucks.But it was very interesting to see that company-wide they are working hard every day to improve some of the most mundane, yet vital, vehicles on the roads, things like utility trucks, school buses, and ambulances, along with the big trucks. They also are working hard to find ways to make safer vehicles for our military.