I think it is important to have one 'menial' job at one point in your life, just to get some perspective. I think it staves off a lot of the attitudes that make

I think it is important to have one 'menial' job at one point in your life, just to get some perspective. I think it staves off a lot of the attitudes that make someone a poor employee (or employer). There's a time and a place to tell someone that the work they want you to do is not your job, but if you've worked in a true-entry level job you are far more likely to have some perspective on the matter. Plus you have to communicate with a wide variety of people in most of these jobs, which is a really important skill that I think a lot of my well-off friends who never worked before graduating college are missing. Time is definitely our most important asset, but I think it's also possible to try optimizing a bit too much. Not that I want my kids working in a steel mill or a slaughterhouse as a janitor like my dad did when he was a kid. But I think a menial job is pretty important for development.