COULD  YOU  GIVE 

ME  YOUR  JOB  DESCRIPTION? 

  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Labor Day is, “Could You Give Me Your Job Description?”

I don’t know about you or other countries, but I’ve often heard there are 3 American questions:  Family? Where do you come from? What do you do for a living?

Of course it  depends upon age and other things, but when we meet strangers, we often want to know who they are, where they are from, what their job?

When we meet people at meetings, or on cruises or at  parish picnics….  When we’re by ourselves on a plane or a bus, we often wonder about this other person next to us?

Where are they from? What do they do? Who is this person I’m rubbing elbows with on the bus into Washington?

Robert Fulghum, in one of his books, tells the story about a guy who didn’t want to socialize. On a  plane, he just wanted to rest - grab some sleep. He was tired.  So when asked the job question, the  guy would often say, “Oh I’m a brain surgeon.” The guy must have found out, somehow this quieted inquisitive other fellow passengers.

Well, this one time, the other person said, “Me to?”

It started up a lively conversation and the guy who wanted sleep didn’t catch up on it.

TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE

I love to collect types of people lists - usually, “There are two types of people….”

Why type of person are you? Quiet or inquisitive?

Outgoing or ingoing?

There are two types of people: those who like to brag about the job they have, how much their salary is. It seems that those with 6 figures like to drop that info more than those who make 7 figures. I’m not that sure about that, but that’s my guess. Then there are those who never mention how much their salary is.

There are other types of persons: there are those who like to brag about how well their kids are doing and those who like to tell how many kids they have.

There are two types of people: those who show you pictures of their grandkids and those who like to tell you about food.

TODAY IS LABOR DAY

Today is Labor Day so I wanted to trigger some thoughts about our work - about the jobs we do?

What’s important to you: the salary or the job title.

Some talk about where they live; some tell about where they work.

Some say,  “I love my job.”  Some say, “I hate my job.”

There are two types of people, those who tell you about their job and those who tell you about their family.

There are two types of people: those who love their work and those who love weekends - more:  they like Holiday Weekends and vacations even better.

There are two types of people: those who are very happy with their work and those who spend their life - filled with regrets and missed opportunities. There are two types of people on Labor Day: those who feel bad about those who are out of work - who can’t get a job - and those who see their job - whether it’s a street cleaner or street vendor as one great job.

There are two types of people: the happy and the unhappy.

If you are a check-out counter lady - how do the customers at Shoppers and Giant see you? Do people want to get on your line, even if it’s longer?

If you are a podiatrist or a pediatric nurse, do your co-workers or your patients love you?

It’s Labor Day - do you thank God for all the workers of the world - whom you benefit from: the illegal Latinos who picked the potatoes or the peaches, the factor workers who cleaned the vegetables or the fruit, the truck drivers, the stackers and the shelfers in the supermarket, the advertises who got notice to you about a sale. Then there is Amanda, the Down Syndrome gal at Graul’s who is always a delight to say hello to. She was one of the best altar servers here at St. John Neumann. And ooops, there is  the car mechanic who serviced your car and on and on and on.

It’s Labor Day - are you relaxing? Do you have a good cookout planned? Are you dying for your kids to get back to school?  Are you grateful for all those folks who answer the job description question with the job title: “Teacher!”