On Celebrating an Anniversary

I say I'm on summer vacation, but that's a lie. What I mean is that instead of working TWO jobs, I work one--the one often less valued by others because it is in the food service industry, and I'm highly educated.

On one hand, I understand why to some it seems ridiculous for me to work a job that pays on hourly wage less than $20.00 given all the time and money I've spent on my education. But, that's also because I've always viewed education as a means to learning--for knowledge's sake, rather than as a way to advance in my career and get rich. I wanted to know things, not necessarily because they had any direct and explicit use-value (though I do enjoy that kind of learning and knowledge, too), but because it was interesting to understand how things work, to see the processes all around me, both those trying to become established, and those long-ago entrenched as "normal," "tradition," and "common."

But I'm starting to stray away from what I meant to be the focus of this post, which was my 10-year anniversary at the aforementioned food service job that I celebrated this past May. And, I have to say, it's an anniversary I'm quite proud to have celebrated. So here's to me, my fellow co-workers (we call each other "partners") both past and present, and to all the customers over the years, and the pieces of life we've shared over the years!