A few weeks ago I attended the job fair, and I noticed something immediately: Everyone was dressed to the nines, including me. Polished shoes shuffled around as people waited in line to hand a potential employer their resume.

One of the employers that I approached was Wilderness Inquiry, where guides lead groups of customers on brief wilderness expeditions. The job would have me covered in sweat, dirt and grime, taking trips through Mother Nature. And yet when I approached the booth, I adjusted my tie, and looked down to the buttons on my blazer to make sure it was done up correctly.

Is it the top and the middle one? I know I’m supposed to leave one open. Right?

When we see men and women dressed up we see power and success. They’re wearing their money and influence because their job gives it to them. If the job requires an apron or a hair net we tend to think that they are stuck there and desperately want to get out. A hair net is for a high school dropout, while a three-piece suit is for someone who needs to be presentable to do something important.

We get degrees so that we can get jobs with a vague title like “Assistant Executive Manager” rather than “fry cook.”

And this comes largely because our culture celebrates wealth. We are weapons of mass consumption, and the more money we get the more we can scratch that never-fading itch called desire. All of the popular self-help books hammer home finding what makes you happy and seeking it out. But going through college, chances are that you wonder what you should pursue; there are too many paths. And even if you don’t look to advertisements, TV shows, movies and malls, their ubiquitous presence doesn’t help.

Even if someone pinches pennies and works hard, the glamour of Hollywood lights and materialism shine brightly in our faces and show us rich people who can be carefree with their decisions because they have the money to do so. And who doesn’t want to be carefree, or at least have the power and money to be? Living under the stress of minimum wage as a trade worker is no fun, especially when you can flip through a magazine or TV channels and see people with bigger houses and more possessions.

Throughout history, there is a distinct pauperization that occurs when people are given manual labor jobs. Even if the workers earn good money, it is almost always seen as a job for the lower class. And after being presented with the current distribution of wealth in our national economy, it’s hard to find a lot of appeal in something that might have not garnered much interest in the first place.

But who’s going to build houses, serve food, clean streets and make sure that the local stores are well-stocked? If that’s not where you see yourself, that’s OK. But for those who do want to get into a trade and who don’t boast a Ph.D., the uniform and hairnet might feel like home.

Not all that work is fun, but the concept of a dead-end job far too often conjures the image of food service or something that puts you in a sweaty company hat all day. Just because someone has a desk and a suit and tie doesn’t mean happiness is guaranteed. Even though you might prefer wearing a button up, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be any happier than you would wearing the grease from the fries.

Jeffrey Langan can be reached at lang5466@stthomas.edu.