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Does your job define who you are?
You might think this is really weird, but sometimes by just hearing what type of job the person has I get this feeling about whether they are trustworthy and nice or not.
With lawyers for example I used to think that they are those little weasels who try to find any dirt on people to discredit them or how they try to defend monsters who should be locked up. After my hubby’s work accident we’ve had to deal with lawyers a lot and even though I think our own lawyer is alright and there are many exceptions, I still don’t have a good opinion of them. I know they are just doing their job, but it’s not always pretty.
Mortgage lenders and insurance sales people are other people who don’t score too high with me. Why? Maybe because I expect the negative. I have been scammed by an insurance sales person and ever since I just don’t like them. Nurses, volunteers and other people in the social welfare industry just seem like they are much better people because they take care of people. But does that make them better people than the lawyers, sales people and the likes? No of course not.
A person should not be defined by their job. You can not stereotype them all into one category. But even though I know that, I sometimes can’t help shake that feeling…
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July 19th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Well, what one does begs the question of . . . does the profession shape the person, or are certain people drawn to certain jobs based on their personality characteristics? If the latter, of course, most sales people and/or lawyers might not score too highly on your scale (or on anybody’s!).
But if the profession shapes the person to some extent, then maybe the individual who does job X can be, like you said, a good person, but the overall group isn’t so hot.
I think both statements are true - what we do shapes who we are, and we are naturally drawn to certain professions based on personality, temperament, intelligence and other things. I’m not sure which is stronger (kindof like a ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate, I guess).
So how about this one. I was planning on being a lawyer - got an undergrad degree in economics and applied (and was accepted) to a decent law school. I was working at the time as a paralegal in a major law firm.
At the very last minute (literally a week before classes were to start), I backed out of law school. I went into therapy at that time (I was about 30 years old) and stayed in therapy for a long time, but I believe me, I needed something at that point in my life. I eventually went to graduate school and became a psychotherapist myself.
However, because I’m early in practice, I still work as a contract paralegal at another major law firm (only about 25-30 hours a week).
So who am I? And am I a better person to be in a “helping” profession than to be a paralegal? I don’t know. I think it’s interesting that I have two very distinct jobs/professions that draw out different parts of myself.
However, given my druthers, I’d not do any paralegal work at all (that is, if we could afford for me not to, which we’re not at that point yet).
Kindof complicated.
Anyway - your post got me to thinking about these things, so that’s a good thing.
Warmly,
~Laura
July 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Jobs do not define people for who they truly are. One of the first people to teach me this lesson worked in a church day care and yet she would happily break up any marriage to see the unfolding drama.
People sometimes take a job because it will support their family, not because it truly is all about who they are.