I have been at my new job for about 7 months
now. This seems like a good time to share some of my impressions. I currently
work in government as a Policy Analyst in Los Angeles at the county level. My
job involves doing research about many different issues and providing clear and
easily-understandable recommendations. I hadn’t appreciated the diverse nature
of my job until I took some time to truly think about it. If I describe the
kinds of projects I have worked on during the past few days, it will provide a
decent idea of what I mean.
Three days ago, I was researching massage establishments.
Before starting this job, I had no idea that Los Angeles has a serious sexual
trafficking problem. Young women are brought over from other countries and they
are essentially coerced into sexual slavery. They work primarily at massage
establishments that have “un-advertised services” for clients who are
interested in such sexual services. My main research task in this area has been
to look into various ways that current regulations can be updated to help fight
against sexual trafficking.
Two days ago, I was looking into electronic
scooters since they have been popping up all over the place around Los Angeles
seemingly overnight. As useful as these things are for transportation and
fighting against traffic, they come with all kinds of issues dealing with
safety and riders dumping their scooters all over sidewalks and other locations.
I’ve been asked to look into ways that other cities are handling the influx of
e-scooters and what can be learned from them when it comes to crafting our own
approach.
Yesterday, I was researching car wash
facilities and how these businesses are often rife with violations dealing with
wage theft and other kinds of abuses. The employees at these businesses are
taken advantage of and I have been asked to research strategies that can help fight
against such abuses.
Today, I have been looking into ways to update auto
repair shop regulations in ways that can help protect consumers from being
taken advantage of.
This position is not my “dream job” and it’s
not a job I would consider myself passionate about. However, I think it’s
important to stop and explicitly think about the ways we DO enjoy our work. We
spend so much of our lives working and it’s a shame that hating one’s job is
such an accepted part of life for a lot of people. It’s a society-wide cliché at
this point. Most people automatically
assume that you likely don’t enjoy your job and you work because you need to,
not because you want to.