A first job teaches the price of time through the body as well as the payslip.

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Money earned by standing up all day is understood differently from money that arrives any other way. The number on the payslip is only half the lesson; the rest is in the feet, the back, the particular tiredness of a shift that ended at eleven. After that, prices convert automatically into hours of a specific kind of effort, and the conversion never goes away. It is one of the more durable pieces of education, and nobody sets out to teach it.

If you did this once, remember the rate before you complain about the cost of service. If you are doing it now, the tiredness is real and worth respecting.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

What did your first job teach your body about time?

MORE IN DISCIPLINE, WORK & STANDARDS

Free, with nothing to buy inside it.