A job is a chance to serve someone’s actual need, even if it’s just their need for fries.

Most work is small requests from people you will never see again. Somebody is hungry, or lost, or in a hurry, and you are positioned to fix that in ninety seconds. Framed as a transaction it is tedious; framed as a need being met it is tedious and also means something. The need does not have to be profound to be real.

On Saturday’s shift, pick a few customers and notice what they actually came in for. Get it right, quickly, and look at them while you hand it over. The shift will be the same length and will feel different.