IN A DAY’S WORK

THE LESSONS AND SKILLS THAT ACCOMPANY ESSENTIAL JOBS ARE INVALUABLE, SAYS SUPERDAD

T

here’s nothing quite like starting the day at 5 a.m. with piles of diapers.

Not to mention toilet paper, tissues and other assorted personal hygiene products.

Thankfully, they were all of the pre-soiled variety, still packed in boxes, stacked on pallets, waiting to be put on shelves.

But for the six years following high school, this was how the majority of my days started as a member of the early morning stock and backroom team at the local big box store.

From there, only the scenery changed, really, as the action moved into the store’s dim backroom, where the remaining hours — until about 2 p.m. — were spent climbing ladders, maneuvering forklifts, processing and unloading trucks, baling cardboard, sweeping floors and generally doing whatever else needed to be done to keep the freight moving throughout the store.

It was in many ways the very definition of a “crappy job.”

But it was, in many other ways, a perfect job — for me, anyway, at that time of my life.

For starters, it fit perfectly into the schedule of the busy college student I once was, giving me the flexibility and income to graduate college without a mountain of debt. (Don’t worry: This column is not going to turn into “Random Old Dude Launches Tirade v. Today’s Students.”)

Beyond the obvious benefits, the job imparted invaluable skills and priceless knowledge.

The team was diverse. Female. Male. Young students and wandering souls. Less young retirees. Single moms and other folks working second jobs, trying to make ends meet. Black, white, Latino, Asian, gay, straight, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, atheist. Name a demographic, and over those six years, I likely worked with them or for them, and got to know them, for at least a brief time.

My Spanish improved markedly, from un poco to almost passable, más o menos.

I found my voice, and could make myself heard in a room full of adults without offending (too often).

The importance of being on time and ready to work was impressed, and reimpressed.

Workplace disputes became easier to spot and avoid, or at least navigate. I learned how to be familiar — but not too friendly — with bosses, and how to rally coworkers to the defense of a colleague singled out by the aforementioned bosses.

But perhaps most importantly, I came away from those first six years in the working world knowing the world runs on these jobs — and having a deep respect for those willing to work them.

This should have never been clearer to us than over the past 18 months. When so many of us retreated to the safety and comfort of our living rooms, it was those working the crappy jobs who kept the world spinning.

I can’t possibly name them all. But you know who we’re talking about here.

The certified nursing assistants and other health care workers, covered in PPE, supporting doctors and nurses in our overburdened hospitals. The plumbers, HVAC techs, electricians, carpenters and others who responded to our needs for repairs and maintenance. The truck drivers who worked tirelessly to haul the freight we need to stock our pantries with the necessities of life. The meat packers who kept our supermarkets stocked, our backyard grills sizzling. The fast food and other restaurant workers who kept preparing burgers and other tasty takeout treats. And, yes, those retail workers, stocking shelves, ringing up orders and otherwise getting us what we needed, as close to when we needed it as they could.

The months of often thankless work endured by these workers is why I am not very surprised to hear so many have had enough.

But equally so, the color will always rise in my cheeks anytime anyone wonders, “Who would want to work these crappy jobs, anyway?”

I shudder to think what the world would be like without the jocular crew who turned out to blacktop my driveway on a brutally hot summer day. Or the people who have dutifully picked up my household’s mountain of trash at the curb every week. Or the kids out whacking weeds that never slow their ceaseless attempted conquest.

Among so many other lessons, I can only hope to impart that appreciation to my young ones as they rush headlong toward joining the working world.

That, and a healthy knowledge that, in reality, all jobs are essential — and most jobs are only as crappy as you make them.

 JonathanBilykwritesabout thetriumphsandtravailsof beinga modern-day dadwho legitimatelyenjoystimewith hisfamily, whiletoleratinga dogthat seemstoadore him. Healsodoesn’treally like the moniker “Superdad”because itmakesitsoundlike he wants towearhis undergarments on theoutsideofhispants. (Also,thecaperemains on back order.)