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My Day Job Satisfies in Ways Writing Cannot
Three kinds of satisfaction and the biggest disappointment about my job.
For me, going to work is like going to a party. I dress up. I greet the elite (Steve, the main manager). I walk in there and start talking to customers. Other duties include filling up tubs of bulk honey or sorting out the beverages in the cooler. And, my partner in crime is there most of the time. Once in a while, I get the chance to make her giggle just for fun.
I am… a retail associate.
But not just any retail associate. I work at a health food store.
Well, I guess lately I could be called more of an assistant manager. I have done well enough at my job to call down more responsibilities as well as an exorbitantly high pay rate. But all jokes aside, I think it is worth explaining how and why this job is satisfying to me.
Annie Dillard, quite a famous essayist, says something in the Introduction to the book, In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. She says that all writers must do something that is “undeniably helpful”.
I could not agree more, Annie. I have been a writer for several years now and I know that she is right. Us writers need something that gives us that sense of real accomplishment.
