Why are jobs so important? (1)
JED: Ooh, our pizza's here!
ROSE: All right, guys. Here's your Lumberjack Special. Careful, the porcupine is really hot. Enjoy...
BRIDGET: Ugh, this is the grossest pizza. Pineapple?
JED: Hey! This is my brilliant creation: pineapple, pine nuts, porcu-PINE, little bits of pine needles. I mean, it's hard to eat, but the pine theme is strong. I bet it's very popular. Rose, how many Lumberjack pizzas do you guys sell each day?
ROSE: (off-mic) In all my years of owning this pizza parlour, no one but you has ever ordered this crime against cuisine.
JED: Hmm… that doesn't bode well for my job application.
BRIDGET: You applied for a job here?
JED: Yeah, I'm trying to convince Rose to hire me as a peculiar punny pizza inventor.
BRIDGET: Is that even a job?
ROSE: (off-mic) Nope!
BRIDGET: Why are you looking for another job?
JED: These Lumberjack pizzas are NOT cheap.
BRIDGET: Well, if you need a job, you should probably try for one that actually exists.
JED: Well, how am I gonna figure that out? Wait, what about a pizza crust recycler who finds all the uneaten...
ROSE: (off-mic) Nope! Nope, nope nope…
BRIDGET: Instead of making up jobs and hoping they exist, let's just pay attention to the real ones that are all around us. Like, there are a bunch of jobs connected to this pizza parlor.
JED: Mmm…
BRIDGET: Oh, you don't believe me? Fine, I'll prove it. That's what we're doing today!
JED: Mmm… No, it's not that. Mmm… I just have, mmm… a porcupine quill… stuck in my throat. Mmm-hmm…
BRIDGET: Rose, we need the tweezers again!
--Million Bazillion opening theme--
BRIDGET: Welcome back to Million Bazillion, where we help dollars make more sense. I'm Bridget.
JED: I'm Jed. We're here hanging out in our favorite pizza joint. I'm convincing other customers that they should order my favorite pizza. Psst, hey buddy, have you ever wanted to try porcupine meat?
KID: Mom?!! !
JED: Never mind, never mind!
CHEF PETER: Jed, let the customers eat their pizza, I worked hard to make those!
BRIDGET: Thanks, Chef Peter. Let's jump into the business at hand, shall we? We've got a new listener question. Let's hear it:
JAX: Hi, my name is Jax from Saratoga Springs, Utah and I would like to know, why jobs are so important?
BRIDGET: This is a great question, Jax!
JED: Before we can answer it, we should probably explain what people mean when they say “job”...right?
BRIDGET: For sure. USUALLY, it means work that someone does. That they get paid for.
JED: We can answer today's question from right here in this pizza place. There are jobs galore represented here: the people tossing dough, the delivery drivers.
BRIDGET: Plus, all the customers have jobs too. Like...that guy sitting over there with the glasses. Hey, you, what's your job?
BLAKE ALLEN: Me? Oh, I'm a career psychologist and professor at the University of Houston. My name is Blake Allen.
BRIDGET: What does that mean, what do you do?
BLAKE ALLEN: I study the work that people do and what it means for them and the people around them.
JED: Wow, what are the odds that this guy who knows all about work would be having lunch here, on the very day we're doing our jobs episode?
BRIDGET: Professor Blake, we have a lot of questions for you about jobs and why they're so important. Can you help us answer them?
BLAKE: I can try.
JED: Coming up, the answer to Jax's question why jobs are so important! And we'll find out if I'm able to finally prove to Rose that my pizza ideas are great!
BRIDGET: Don't get us kicked out again Jed! I need my pizza fix! We've got more, after this.
--ASKING RANDOM KIDS--
ANNOUNCER: And now it's time for asking random kids not so random questions! Today's question is…If you had the coolest job in the world, what would you be doing?
ANSWERS VARY
That was TK TKT.
This has been asking random kids not so random questions.
--ASKING RANDOM KIDS--
BRIDGET: And we're back!
JED: Today, we're at our favorite pizza place. And while we were having our lunch, we happened to meet someone who knows all about jobs and why they're so important. And he's going to help us!
BLAKE: Do I get to finish my lunch?
JED: Nope. So Professor Blake...pull up a chair here...what's the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you...why are jobs so important?
BLAKE 1: On the most basic level, we need jobs, to get money to provide for ourselves and our family for us and our family to get the things that we need. So those are things like food, and the house that we live in, and a car that we can drive.
JED & BRIDGET: Ohhhh right, MONEY, yes, that makes sense [that sound when someone tells you something that you totally should have known but definitely forgot].
BRIDGET: Though, there's lots of important work that we do for our families, at home that ISN'T paid...but yes, making money does seem like a pretty big reason to get a job.
JED: Hey Chef Peter, would you say you got this job so you could make money?
CHEF PETER: Well, yes. I like working here, but I would not do it for free. I have to pay rent and buy groceries like anyone else. It pays for what I need. But I also like being able to have a little extra spending money to pay for things I WANT too.
BRIDGET: Oh, like what?
CHEF PETER: I'm a semi-professional jump roper in my spare time. And, you know, I just like to know that I can pay for my hobby with the money I earn at my day job. Because there are two things I know--
JED & BRIDGET: Yeah? What's that? Tell us.
CHEF PETER: Money isn't the most important thing but we really do need money to pay for a lot of important things. And you get money by working at a job.
JED & BRIDGET: [sounds of understanding & agreement]
CHEF PETER: And the other thing is no one is ever going to buy a pizza with porcupine quills, Jed. I think you should try again.
JED: [SIGH/REACTION] Okay, back to the drawing board
[LITTLE SHORTIE STING]
--JOB INTERSTITIAL 1 --
BRIDGET: Hey Million Bazillionaires. We know that when people talk about “jobs,” they often mean a few typical ones...doctor...lawyer...teacher...all great professions! But not for everyone! There are a whole lot of different jobs out there...I mean, if you want to, you can get paid to do almost anything. Like...people need worms when they go fishing. Someone needs to dig them up. Meet Dustin Black. He's a professional worm digger in Maine.
[WORMDIGGER]
--JOB INTERSTITIAL 1 FIN--
JED: So far, we've learned that jobs are important to us because it's how we make money … without money we wouldn't be able to buy all the important things we need to live and do all the fun stuff we want to do on our free time
BRIDGET: Yeah, like hanging out here … eating pizza … playing in the arcade (arcade sdfx) … or going to an amusement park (roller coaster sdfx)
BLAKE 2: But jobs provide lots of other important things that are beyond that.
JED: Hold up professor .... jobs give us more than money?
BRIDGET: Oooo I'm intrigued … (is it a toaster?)
BLAKE 3: one thing is that people really need other people.
JED: Mm-hmm, like the way I need PINEAPPLE on my pizza.
BRIDGET: What's up with the PINEAPPLE on pizza thing?
BLAKE 4: so I sometimes think of the difference between cats (cat sdfx) and dogs (dog sdfx) because cats are a little bit like loners
BRIDGET: I know exactly what you mean, professor. My cats hardly hang out with me … and I'm not even sure they like each other
BLAKE 5: Whereas dogs, they want to be in a pack of other dogs (dogs running sdfx) And so people are much more like dogs, we are social animals, we like to be around and connect with other people. And so work is one way to do that.
JED: It's kinda like how we make friends with people we go to school with. We see them every day, we're going through some of the same things...and those connections can turn into long-lasting friendships.
BRIDGET: Professor, it sounds like what you're describing are “psychological” benefits … you know, the stuff that's healthy for our brains and help us feel good about ourselves. Ok, so what other psychological benefits are there to having a job?
BLAKE 6: Work gives us structure to our day, it gives us a routine that we get up in the morning, we go to our job, and that's also really good for us in different ways. It gives us a sense of goals that we're accomplishing.
JED: Right! I mean as we're growing up … our routine revolves around school … we wake up (alarm clock sdfx) … brush our teeth (water sink sdfx)… get dressed … have breakfast (toaster sdfx) … go to school (school bell sdfx) … then there's soccer practice (whistle sdfx) … dinner … take a bath (shower head sdfx) to bed (light switch sdfx) … and do it all over again.
BLAKE 7: But adults don't have school. And so jobs provide that for us.
BRIDGET: So lots of jobs give adults a routine. Which I personally love...they help me stay focused, organized and productive.
JED: So, it doesn't mean we have to make a bunch of money in order to feel good about working?
BLAKE 8: I think of work as things that we do that have value to other people, or have value to ourselves. And usually that means being creative or producing something that has value or caring for someone else, or providing something to someone else that helps them in a way.
JED: What do you think Rose?
ROSE: I always wanted to own a restaurant and now I do and it's pretty great! I'm my own boss, and I get to feed a lot of hungry people.
BRIDGET: There are so many reasons why jobs are important. I mean, money is a biggie. But these psychological perks … like getting to be around other people, routines, and reaching our goals … those are pretty great too
JED: I know, right?! It sounds like that's actually what a lot of people hope for -- to have a job that they feel rewards them with something else besides a paycheck.
BRIDGET: Thanks, professor. We'll let you get back to your pizza now. And we'll be back, after this.
--JOB INTERSTITIAL 2 --
JED: Hey guys. We wanted to give you another taste of the unexpected...and frankly, kinda cool jobs out there. Have you ever thought about how awesome robots are? Well, someone has to create them. That's right! There are people who get paid to make robots. They're called roboticists.
[MIT ROBOTICIST]
--JOB INTERSTITIAL 2 FIN--
---MID ROLL HERE---
JED: Man, Blake's pizza is pretty tasty. I should ask him what he ordered.
BRIDGET: Don't eat all of it! (pause) Save some for me!
JED: All right, listeners, today is all about what makes jobs so important. So far we've learned that they make money.
BRIDGET: (chewing pizza) That's important!
JED: Yup. Gotta be able to buy pizza. Stuff like that. Next, let's move out to the patio to talk about the role jobs play in the economy.
(SFX - DOOR OPENING WALKING TO PATIO SEATING AREA)
BRIDGET: A job isn't just important to the person who has it. It affects a lot of other people. Here's an example of what I mean. This pizza place gives some people jobs, sure. But it also feeds people at other jobs. There's an office building next door, and a lot of the people working there probably come here. Let's check. (shouting) Is Consolidated Tabulations in the house?! !