This is Not Rocket Science: Why Some People Take Their Job Too Seriously

Would it be redundant for one person to tell another that only the work of rocket scientists can actually be considered rocket science? It sounds like it would, but there are some people who need reminding. Most of the jobs held by the American public do not require decisions that have the potential to affect life or death. So, why do some people take it so seriously? Homer Simpson holds a quite dangerous position at the Springfield power plant and he never allowed the gravity of his work to keep him from having a few laughs, a cup of coffee and a few boxes of donuts. He didn't even freak out when a radioactive bar attached itself to his back. He just went home, had dinner, and went right back to work the next day. Again the question is posed, why all the seriousness?

There may be many answers but here is one explanation. Some of us, our bosses and/or coworkers are seeking a kind of self-importance that is lacking in other areas. We are not important in our relationships, can't keep up with the Joneses, and we are too tired to find a hobby or a past-time, so the only time one of us can assert his or her value is at work by being the know-it-all or the unofficial supervisor. Just what does knowing-it-all about being an administrative assistant or a customer service representative really mean anyway? The truth is that there is very little important attached to knowing the inner workings of library cataloging or automobile insurance in the real world, just so long as your job gets done and the customer/client/company has been served. The truth is that when each employee ends their employment, the company continues just as it always did.

Then again, some people lack the experience to know that one job tends to be like every other nowadays. The fifty-three year old supervisor that has held the same position with the same employer for thirty-five years probably doesn't realize that many jobs involve learning a software system, a bunch of company jargon and applying a set of policies and procedures that could be condensed into two or three basic rules if anyone took the time to reduce the redundancy. Anyone who has learned it once can learn it again. Additionally, recognizing that although a variety of unrelated tasks have been smooshed into one position because upper management is stingy, the essential duty is filing, or data entry, or what-have-you goes a long way in accepting that this job involves neither science nor rockets.

Finally, some people are taking their jobs too seriously because they missed the point of employment. People prepare themselves from infancy in the latest years to earn a job that will enable them to make a living. For what purpose are we making a living? Are we working five, six or seven days a week, day in an day out for upwards of thirty years in order to hoard newspapers in the homes we finally paid off as a part of our active retiree lifestyle until a few years later when we kick-the-bucket? Or perhaps we were working just to overspend ourselves and find importance in pseudo-living so that when we finally do retire, we will be bankrupted by one major illness that won't kill us until we have a major debt-egg to pass on to our children? We earn a living so that we can fulfill the parts of our lives that really do matter. The job is a means to an end even for a rocket scientist.