The Fallacy of the Dead-End Job

If you're an advocate of the practice of mindfulness, then you just might not need to read this piece about how some of us put down our own employment status as "dead-end".  I recently heard, second-hand, about a loved one who has expressed that her current job was dead-end, with no real prospects for growth.  It was a striking criticism, for I had gleaned from her previous descriptions of her work life that she enjoyed the relative autonomy that the daily routine granted her.  It's a position that demands some physical fitness and endurance...lots of walking!  I think I might have liked that kind of work were I her age...but I get at least her "old" way of looking at work: it paid the bills, she could get through the work day without being bullied by managers or co-workers and when she left, she was done and free for the rest of the day.  I've always worked for the same things and never rated a job as "dead-end" or depriving me of growth...about which I think she meant "opportunities for promotion".  I worked at the US Postal Service for 37 years and had ample opportunities to seek entry into management.  But I was consistently focused on treating each workday as an opportunity to perform my duties well, and when I clocked out at the end of the shift, I was satisfied and went on to what was next for me.  I totally understand that people have differing ideas about ambition and climbing status ladders in their respective fields of employment...a lot of it has to do with cultural values and family structure, as well as with being around certain more alpha-personality types that promote such outlooks and who may be intent on exerting undue pressure. I've encountered some of these pushy folks whose idea of getting to know me is centered around where I rate according to their scale of respect...and that means how prestigious (or not) is my job title and how much money I make on it.  I don't owe anyone an explanation for my motives in job selection, but any revelation from them that they feel entitled to negatively judge me accordingly quickly and automatically condemns them as unworthy of friendship and respect. Back when I first started working for the USPS, they hired...outside the standard-practice sequence of the register list of candidates according to their exam scores...the son of a current supervisor.  He was arrogant with an entitlement mentality, and performed his assigned tasks sloppily, but escaped discipline because of his connections.  Well, one day he came to work full of the advancement promises that being an Amway member gave him.  With Amway, the important thing is to get people "under you", through which you get a cut of their sales profits.  His idea was that eventually he could live effortlessly through the efforts of those supporting him.  Fine if that works, but his sales pitch to us coworkers was that it was better than this "dead-end job" we were doing.  That aroused some offense from me and a colleague, and the matter was squelched among us.  A couple of years later that dude was fired for outright insubordination...since his "daddy" supervisor had already retired, he was no longer under that umbrella of protection and they were only too eager to get rid of this troublemaker.  So that's where I stand whenever someone starts playing the "it's a dead-end job" hand.  Do whatever you want as long as it's legal and you do no harm to others, but leave me alone if you're going to use that bullshit excuse for an argument...