I cleaned bathrooms (and buffed floors) for a Michael's hobby store many years ago. It was a morning job, every other day, and was a second job on top of my fu

I cleaned bathrooms (and buffed floors) for a Michael's hobby store many years ago. It was a morning job, every other day, and was a second job on top of my full-time job. I desperately needed more money, and made the choice to do this to assist with that. I never felt "degraded" by it. I chose to do it to earn much-needed extra income. I eventually went into construction, and never felt "degraded" when I had to dig foundations, which is essentially ditch digging for a different purpose. This idea that people have no agency in their life and are perpetually victims is itself dehumanizing and disempowering. I'm grateful that nobody was around me telling me I was a victim of an evil system when I was doing these kinds of jobs while working to get into tech and feeding a new family at the same time. I probably would have listened to them, gotten discouraged, and kicked back and waited for someone else to solve my problems.