Minimize the Tedium, but Use It, Too

A while back, Allison Green gave a great answer to a question (Item 3) from someone for whom the public-facing part of his job drew frequent comments. The comments were friendly, but were becoming annoying because the part of the job people saw resembles a hobby -- and they were presumably in monotonous or stressful jobs.

Indeed, the questioner was even starting to see the comments as mildly insulting:

It looks like a cush job, but somebody's got to do it. (Image by Samule Sun, via Unsplash, license.)

What do I say to people who tell me my job has no stress and is easy? My job is challenging, physical, requires critical thinking, and involves taking care of living things! The implication is, I feel, that I don't have any special skills and that I just float from plant to plant with an empty head. My job garners a lot of comments from the peanut gallery, which I usually brush off, but sometimes it feels very frustrating to not be treated as a professional. These comments come from people who aren't directly involved in my work (they have no contact with the company) and who I may or may not recognize. In a big office, I know that I am seen by many people, but I don't know everyone.

Green's answer, which I recommend reading, reframes the apparently thoughtless remarks. This will both help the questioner see the context of the people commenting on his work and, more important, will help this person by giving him a way to turn such comments into an occasional reminder of some of the things his job is freeing him from, namely the more humdrum or stressful aspects of working in an office. In addition, she suggests a good way for the person to acknowledge the thought and end the conversation quickly and gracefully.

-- CAV