It's only a job in a retail store framing other peoples art and memorabilia. Heck it just barely pays the bills and doesn't buy me any nights on the town, but to me it's more than just a job.
I think it odd that we tend to give some jobs more respect than others when the fact is that the sewer workers' job is no less necessary than the Doctors', Lawyers' or Policemans'. Now before some one jumps up and says "but Doctors have to train for Years. . .", You're right. But without the sewer man disease would soon outpace the Doctors' ability to control it (LOL). All jobs are important to the whole. I think that respect for the job should be based more on how well one does it than on what one actually does. That being said there is also a great respect due for the commitment to learning and skill that certain jobs require, but that respect is and should be due the individual; not the job itself. I've always also believed and was taught that any job can contain the elements of craftsmanship: A desire to do the best work one can do.
I currently have what some would call a menial and unnecessary job but I like to think of it in other terms. I perform a service. The service of taking peoples' memories and preserving them against time and sunlight as artfully as possible while staying within their budget. In these times that can be particularly challenging. It can also be very gratifying...
Take for example the woman who lost her best friend in a terrible fire.
Her best friend was her horse and she brought to the store everything that the fire had left her. My dept. manager was on the counter that day and being an animal lover, was moved almost to tears by the womans' story. When my manager later relayed the story to me, who had been given the job of making the shadowbox; I was similarly moved. I tried to honor her memories with the respect they deserved. They lost eighteen thoroughbred horses in the fire that day. She said that she was sifting thru the ashes at daybreak after the firefighters put out the fire . . . heartbroken.
Then there was the man who paid a small fortune to have his Heroes' autographed jersey framed with pictures of the signing, framed in a simple black shadowbox (it was VERY large).
He'd waited all day to get them and paid a lot for the jersey. He said his hero had greeted him with the same warm handshake and friendly smile he'd given everyone else after 8 long hot hours of signing autograph after autograph. The customer said that it was worth every penny and every time he looks at it he'll remember the feeling of shaking his heroes' hand that day.
And the Mother who brought the symbols of her sons' achievements in to have framed and protected to give to him for his birthday. She said that playing baseball had given him lasting values about teamwork, personal effort, and never giving up; and she wanted to celebrate him with something that he loved. 
This customer remembered that her grandfather while not rich was always dressed smartly, and elegantly. The silver watch (50 yrs), and brass key fob (25 yrs); were tokens of a job well done and are engraved with his initials, the two tie tacks, both set with his birthstone; a gift from his wife. He was never without them. All are mounted on black velveteen which the customer supplied because she said, he always wore a black velveteen vest at Christmas. To her these were the symbols of a good man and a loving husband.
She made my day....
Some may think "it's only a horse", or "it's only a game", etc., etc., but I think of all the things we humans have in common when I think of these things, the little ordinary everyday things, the milestones, the losses, and the causes for celebration. What means a great deal to one may seem foolish in anothers' eyes, but don't we all hold our own memories precious?
Others may think, "but they only pay you slave wages, why do you care?" What am I worth if I don't do my best, and what good is a job that only feeds the body? I feel it a privilege every day to have the opportunity to share in something so intimate as another person's memories, and my honor to try and do justice to them. And I'm making art with whatever small talent God has given me. I won't die rich but I have a job that feeds my soul and let's me express my creativity. To me that is far greater than wealth.
I leave you with this thought: no human is insignificant who has touched the life of another.(I don't remember who said it first, but it's true) I consider it my goal to touch them for good, not for ill.
