Nobody’s work is “less valuable“
This week’s weird idea
The people who stocked the kitchens in our building at Microsoft, keeping them supplied with coffee, tea, sodas, juices, and milk, did more for the bottom line of the company than another person or even team in the building.
I’ve worked at companies without such amenities, and it’s surprising how much of your day can get tied up with hydrated and caffeinated. Now multiply that time by the number of people in the entire building. That’s a lot of time not getting the business’s business done. The kitchen people literally created time for us.
That why I grind my teeth when some people say that work in janitorial, facilities, food services, etc. is somehow less valuable than marketing, finance, etc. Or when I see various mythologies of the “great man” whose obscene salary is justified because they're “indespensible” to the success of the company. Guess how “great” they’d be if they also needed to clean their own toilet, carry their trash out to some dumpster, maintain their wifi, do their own coffee runs? Their time spent being “indispensable" was gifted to them by their staff.
Go see
I’m a sucker for both monsters and mechanical devices.
Have a listen
Max Richter is a contemporary composer who divides his time between “post-Classical” projects and film/TV scores (Hamnet, Ad Astra). As part of Deutsche Grammophon's “Recomposed”, he wrote Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons. It’s a reimagining of the classic, using modern techniques and new voices.
If you enjoy this, there’s also a Recomposed version of the Bach Cello Suites by Peter Gregson. Beautiful stuff.
And keep breathing
Especially try to breathe different air. I spend a lot of time in my office, breathing office air. So when I go out into the yard and garden, I get different air. It kind of shakes things up, in a good way. And if I leave the house entirely to get out and about in the wide world? Whoa Nellie, that’s some quality breathing.
Until we talk again, I remain,
Your pal,
Jamie
