When I first began this website and the videos on it, the voiceover in the very first video included the line: “Be grateful you have a job. And that you work with at least some people you like.” Well, I think I’ve written many true lines, but this has got to be in the top one!
Most of us work in a job that if we’re lucky we enjoy what we do—but the people we work for—whether that be bosses or clients—well, we don’t like them so much. Sometimes, we work for someone we actually respect and can learn things from—and if you’ve ever had that experience, as I did when I worked for Larry Hilford, Z”L, going to work is really a joy.
But generally we’re not so lucky.
We work for stupid, venal, small-minded, lazy, selfish people. Whether in a kibbutz, academia, or a high-powered corporate environment- those kind of people are endemic.
What gets us through it all is the people we work with, not for- the people around us who we genuinely like, respect, are funny, sometimes brilliant, that we’re actually friends with, have over to our homes, who stand by us, and who just make us laugh out loud. The friends who will come out with an astonishing concept, become equally obsessed with trolling the files of the state’s recalcitrant financial disclosure filers and understand at the same moment you do, when the stupids jam their feet in their mouth.
And that’s why, without a doubt, I am one of the most grateful of the grateful. Here’s to you Isabel, Melissa, Nancy, Tamar and Vicki. This one’s for you. And Howie, but of course.
