I was a bag boy for six months or so in high school for <insert large corporate Grocer here>. I wanted some extra side money and a friend of mine worked there a

I was a bag boy for six months or so in high school for <insert large corporate Grocer here>. I wanted some extra side money and a friend of mine worked there and offered to put in a good word for me. Simultaneously, I had been a high performing student, taking all advanced classes, doing after school sports, etc. The job itself was not intense or anything. But it was miserable. You could tell that nobody working in that store wanted to be there. Some seemed positively stuck too, like they couldn’t move on and improve their lives even if they really wanted (I don’t actually believe this). Anyways it induced something of a small existential crisis in me seeing all these sad people who had been what I thought at the time was wasting sometimes decades away working these pointless jobs. I became depressed a bit and my studies fell. I also kind of sucked at the job after a while because it was mind numbing. Anyways it’s put a lot of my career as a software engineer into perspective and I’m very thankful to be in the position I am. I am also much more thoughtful about bigger picture goals and things I want out of life because of it. Perhaps most importantly though I never look down on anyone based on their job or career.