Take this job and love it

September 16, 2009 1:15 PM

Help me brainstorm! I need a story about a person who has an uninspiring job but does it in a way that makes a difference people's lives.

It can be a film, a book, a short story--any kind of narrative. It can be fiction or non-fiction. I just need an illustrative narrative for a project I'm working on. The closest I can come up with is the movie Chocolat, in which the the opening of a chocolate story becomes an opportunity to transform a town. But I need something more grounded and less like a fable--a story that is either true or easily could be.

Thanks!

posted by Pater Aletheias to media & arts (28 comments total)

Stand and Deliver

Before Adama was a commander, he was a tough talking AP calc teacher
posted by Think_Long at 1:23 PM on September 16 [1 favorite]

i don't know if a commercial would be suitable, but the first thing that came to mind was a commercial that was on in the last year or so about a custodian/maintenance man at a hockey arena who makes a changeroom specifically for the one girl who plays hockey on a boy's team. the scene frames the man as a caring guy, even though he's a "behind-the-scenes" kind of character.

i'm having trouble finding it on youtube (i can't remember what the commercial was actually for) but if i can find it, i'll come back with a link.
posted by gursky at 1:24 PM on September 16

on a boys' team... ugh.
posted by gursky at 1:25 PM on September 16

The Kurosawa film Ikiru is a classic which is about just this.

'Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years... After learning he has stomach cancer and has less than a year to live, Watanabe attempts to come to terms with his impending death... Watanabe dedicates his remaining time to accomplishing one worthwhile achievement before his life ends; through his persistent will, he is able to overcome the inertia of bureaucracy and turn a mosquito-infested cesspool into a children's playground.'

More.
posted by plep at 1:30 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]

I remember one story in "Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life," where a factory worker found out how everything--from the factory machines to the office copier--worked, so he could fix anything for anyone. Co-workers loved him for it. There are other stories in that book (and Flow) about people finding and creating joy in mundane jobs.
posted by miniminimarket at 1:30 PM on September 16

Pay It Forward? Kevin Spacey as a teacher...
posted by bunny hugger at 1:31 PM on September 16

The documentary Objectified might have what you're looking for. It's about industrial designers, and features stuff like a company that redesigned the grip on a vegetable peeler so people with failing strength could use it more easily.
posted by martens at 1:37 PM on September 16

These are great, so far, and you're helping me think of others. I loved watching "Postmen in the Mountains" a few years ago. One kind letter carrier made a huge difference for the people along his route. gursky, that commercial sounds ideal, if you can find it. Thanks!
posted by Pater Aletheias at 1:43 PM on September 16

The Dead Poet's Society
The Nanny Diaries
Mary Poppins

What about whistleblower stories about ordinary working people who stand up and change the world? Norma Rae, The Insider, Silkwood.
posted by np312 at 1:44 PM on September 16

through his persistent will, he is able to overcome the inertia of bureaucracy and turn a mosquito-infested cesspool into a children's playground

Why would you want children to play in a mosquito-infested cesspool?

Seriously though, Ikiru was my first thought on reading this question.
posted by kmz at 1:45 PM on September 16

Oh just read the part about it being true, so scratch Mary Poppins.
posted by np312 at 1:45 PM on September 16

I think Rudy might apply here. Charles Dutton's character is the caretaker of the Notre Dame football stadium, and makes a huge difference in the life of (real life guy) Daniel E. 'Rudy' Ruettiger,

Also, I think Dead Poets Society might fit quite nicely as well.
posted by Spyder's Game at 1:46 PM on September 16

Second Ikiru ... brilliant, brilliant movie. There's also a tiny little part of the movie that some people miss, is how he gets his inspiration. Watanabe becomes fascinated by a young woman, and where everyone thinks it's a sexual thing, the truth is that he can't understand where she gets her seemingly boundless enthusiasm for life. Eventually she says that, while she has a mindless job at a toy factory, she loves working on the toys, because she looks at it as if she's playing with all the children in the country.

On another note, look at the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs -- right in the show intro, it's about "... looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty -- hard-working men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:48 PM on September 16

A couple of years back I read "The Fred Factor" (http://www.amazon.com/Fred-Factor-passion-ordinary-extraordinary/dp/0385513518). It's a book about a man, Fred, who makes a difference in peoples lifes even though he is just a mailman.
I think it might fit your description.
posted by Vidamond at 2:04 PM on September 16

Check out Validation. It's a very sweet short film about a parking attendant who makes a huge difference in his customer's lives.

I saw this a few years ago and am so happy was able to I find it again!
posted by platinum at 2:21 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]

What you want is the comic strip Frazz, about a Renaissance-man elementary school janitor who becomes a wealthy songwriter, but keeps his day job for the chance to work with and influence kids.
posted by Flannery Culp at 2:22 PM on September 16

Damn, just saw your point about wanting "a story that is either true or easily could be." Validation may be a little too much of a stretch from reality, but it's worth a watch anyway!
posted by platinum at 2:25 PM on September 16

Sometimes, folks like this, the ones who distinguish themselves by really caring about other people's lives and who weave themselves inextricably into the community, are referred to as "The Mayor" of their particular locale. That's how Harvey Milk, when he was still the owner of Castro Camera, and not yet an elected official, became "the Mayor of Castro Street."

Some more mayors:
Constantinos "Gus" Lukis, The Mayor of 57th Street
Joe Herzenberg, The Mayor of Franklin Street
Pablo Heising, The Mayor of Haight Street
Frank Biando, The Mayor of Sesame Street
Nelson Nunns, The Mayor of Cuba Street
posted by ocherdraco at 2:32 PM on September 16

I loved watching "Postmen in the Mountains" a few years ago. One kind letter carrier made a huge difference for the people along his route.

Well, I suppose costner's The Postman also fits this line, but its sort of a step or two removed from most people's definition of "reality"
posted by Think_Long at 2:54 PM on September 16

Perhaps too obvious, but - It's A Wonderful Life? Unless that's too much of a fable. His actual life is plausible even if the angel part isn't.
posted by yarrow at 3:11 PM on September 16

I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind, but I first read this fairy tale of "Wali Dad the Grass Cutter" in Pearl S Buck's "Fairy Tales of the Orient". The story here is, I believe, the same, almost word for word.
posted by angiep at 5:17 PM on September 16

Erin Brockovich.
posted by kathrineg at 5:31 PM on September 16

nthing Ikiru.

"To be and to have" is a French documentary about a schoolteacher in a rural school, which is lovely.

Lots of narratives like this about teachers - eg the Miracle Worker and other depictions of Helen Keller's teacher Annie Sullivan.

Cinema Paradiso is about a boy and a movie theater projectionist. (It's been a while since I've seen it)

It's a Wonderful Life is a bit this way, maybe?
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:24 PM on September 16

Tampopo - she inspires everyone by her drive to have the perfect noodle shop
posted by canoehead at 7:41 PM on September 16

Last week on This American Life they interviewed a woman who works at the convenience store at a rest stop off the interstate in New York. There were a couple of stories about little things she does to make the customer experience better, which seemed to me above and beyond the call of duty for a cashier. But the thing that really caught my attention was stories of how she made people's days just by being more congenial and friendly than anyone would expect, even helping turn around the moods of grumpy drivers who have been stuck in traffic with their obnoxious families. I think the interview is at least 2/3 of the way through the show, but I don't have an exact time.


http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1315
posted by vytae at 7:58 PM on September 16

On a more prosaic (and local!) level, I don't know what Duke's equivalent is, but at Carolina the C. Knox Massey award highlights staff who go above and beyond, like Pamela Breeden. Small reward, given all that they do, but I think a lot of organizations try to recognize folks who might otherwise be heroes only to those who interacted with them.
posted by clerestory at 8:24 PM on September 16

I commend the real-life story of Oseola McCarty to your attention:

Oseola McCarty spent a lifetime making other people look nice. Day after day, for most of her 87 years, she took in bundles of dirty clothes and made them clean and neat for parties she never attended, weddings to which she was never invited, graduations she never saw.

She had quit school in the sixth grade to go to work, never married, never had children and never learned to drive because there was never any place in particular she wanted to go. All she ever had was the work, which she saw as a blessing. Too many other black people in rural Mississippi did not have even that.

She spent almost nothing, living in her old family home, cutting the toes out of shoes if they did not fit right and binding her ragged Bible with Scotch tape to keep Corinthians from falling out. Over the decades, her pay -- mostly dollar bills and change -- grew to more than $150,000.

"More than I could ever use," Miss McCarty said the other day without a trace of self-pity. So she is giving her money away, to finance scholarships for black students at the University of Southern Mississippi here in her hometown, where tuition is $2,400 a year.
posted by sacre_bleu at 4:02 AM on September 17 [1 favorite]

sorry, Pater Aletheias. i can't find the commercial!
i asked my brother and a friend, but i can't work out what the commercial was for.
posted by gursky at 5:48 PM on September 18