Some Lessons from the Assembly Line

Andrew Braaksma wrote an essay about his life experience working as a temp each summer in factories on an assembly line. He spoke about his appreciation for education, working a blue-collar job and how working in a factory has shown him what his future might have been like if he had never gone to college. After reading Braaksma’s essay, I found that I have a similar experience where I’ve gained appreciation for education due to working a 9-5 or an 8-4:30 Monday through Friday job and by cooking and catering for ex co-workers.

While working over the past 12 years, I was reintroduced to my passion and love for cooking. Although its been instilled within me since I was about 9 or 10, it never really surfaced until I started a family and started cooking for them and the people I’d worked with. Anytime there was a meeting at work, a party, or a company function, I prepared a dish or two for the occasion. I liked my jobs and the people I worked with, but I wanted to cook more and working helped with my decision making toward a new career path.

All of the hard work paid off but also wore thin on me after several years. I had always wanted to go back to school to further my education, but over the years while trying to maintain a steady income and raise a family became difficult, I realized that it was going to be hard for me to go back to school. As the years flew by and my kids grew older, I found myself thinking about going to school again. I got my chance after being laid off from a desk job where I worked for three years sitting behind a desk, answering phones, entering budgets, creating files for the estimators and all of the other tasks that went along with being an administrative assistant.

I loved this job but I didn’t want to be sitting behind a desk day in and day out for the rest of my life. I saw my opportunity after spending three days laying in bed crying and stressing over what I was going to do next because I no longer had a job. I couldn’t eat or sleep, I was depressed and wanted to be back at work and so to pass the time I’d go to the library and check out books which is where I'd found one in particular I had read. I can’t remember what it was but it was something I had read that caught my attention and all of a sudden, it hit me. At that very moment I said to myself “you need to go back to school.

I immediately called my little sister and with her encouragement, I decide to follow my dreams and pursue a degree in culinary. I also took this as a sign that there was something bigger and better out there for me. I think by me cooking and catering for my co-workers helped with my decision as well. I always cooked for my jobs. Everyone at work would always compliment my cooking and would say “you are really good” or “you should go into catering or something.” They would tell me that my food was better than some of the other co-workers that had brought food in before and if I could bring food in more often. I always cooked for parties and company functions. It felt really good to do this and it was something that I wanted to do more of because of all of the feedback I was getting. I enjoyed the fulfillment, satisfaction, and the praise I would get. I was happy when everyone else was happy after eating something I had cooked.

Now that I’m in school I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be and it is the right place for me. I’d rather be doing this than sitting behind a desk or walking a sales floor putting out merchandise. Being in school has brought focus and meaning to my life. It feels really good to get up at four in the morning just so I can be at school by 5:30 am than it ever did waking up at 6:30 in the morning just to be at work by 8:00 am. I wouldn’t trade these hours for anything in the world. If I hadn’t gotten laid off from work I probably wouldn’t be in school right now and would probably still be sitting behind that desk answering phones.

Just like Braaksma, I have a better understanding and appreciation for hard work and education. Going to school to get an education is very important and will lead you toward your career goal and to success. I have learned valuable lessons over the years and those being to never take anything for granted, especially life. Never take work or education for granted because you can loose it just as fast as you gained it. I appreciate my education more than anything and I only wish I had gone back to school a lot sooner, but better later than never, and its never too late to go back to school.