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kyrasantaeAnother one of those underlying reasons, it seems, as to why other low-level jobs would work for me -- rather than fast food and retail -- is that of creativity.
Well, Scott generalized it as discovery, but even in retail there is discovery -- say, a new shipment of merchandise which you get to look through and put up on shelves.
It is definitely creativity. In landscaping you not only get to see new plants and landscaping material, you get the opportunity to think about and visualize what you want a space to look like, whether you get to actually make it a reality or not. In warehousing you might wonder what the lot numbers on the sides of the pallets mean, try to figure out what the buttons on the forklift that you didn't learn to use actually do. Stocking groceries you get to figure out how you could get more apples in a stack, or make pictures stacking the different colours of bell peppers. Heck, even cleaning computers you can admire the patterns on the circuit boards. With groceries you even get to examine and speculate on how produce goes rotten!
So yes, it is sort of about discovery. But not any old discovery. It is excitement that there will be something new to discover every day, that every day will be different. Something to look forward to.
Looking forward to seeing what kind of clothes tomorrow's customers will be wearing or who the customer with the weirdest accent is just isn't possible. It's nowhere near the same thing. It does nothing for curiosity, there is nothing about it that lets you be inquisitive. You might see someone with a nice shirt but you can't ask where they got it. It's depressing to have to forcibly suppress curiosity, but even worse to do so in a more or less static environment.
They only call it a "dynamic" environment because the customers change all the time. But your tasks never change, never give you even an illusion of freedom, of using your brain in a process called "thought."
Well, Scott generalized it as discovery, but even in retail there is discovery -- say, a new shipment of merchandise which you get to look through and put up on shelves.
It is definitely creativity. In landscaping you not only get to see new plants and landscaping material, you get the opportunity to think about and visualize what you want a space to look like, whether you get to actually make it a reality or not. In warehousing you might wonder what the lot numbers on the sides of the pallets mean, try to figure out what the buttons on the forklift that you didn't learn to use actually do. Stocking groceries you get to figure out how you could get more apples in a stack, or make pictures stacking the different colours of bell peppers. Heck, even cleaning computers you can admire the patterns on the circuit boards. With groceries you even get to examine and speculate on how produce goes rotten!
So yes, it is sort of about discovery. But not any old discovery. It is excitement that there will be something new to discover every day, that every day will be different. Something to look forward to.
Looking forward to seeing what kind of clothes tomorrow's customers will be wearing or who the customer with the weirdest accent is just isn't possible. It's nowhere near the same thing. It does nothing for curiosity, there is nothing about it that lets you be inquisitive. You might see someone with a nice shirt but you can't ask where they got it. It's depressing to have to forcibly suppress curiosity, but even worse to do so in a more or less static environment.
They only call it a "dynamic" environment because the customers change all the time. But your tasks never change, never give you even an illusion of freedom, of using your brain in a process called "thought."
