Job Satisfaction Criteria

My friend George came up with a list of factors that determine your happiness with a job:

1. People - Do you like the people you work closest with? Do they inspire, support, and challenge you? Do you consider them intelligent? Do they share key values with you? Do you connect emotionally?

2. Company/Organization Mission - If you work for a company or organization, is its mission in line with your values? Is its mission identical or close to your personal mission in life?

3. Job Malleability - Can you alter your job? How much control over it do you have? Can you tweak it as you change and the world changes?

4. Physical Convenience - How convenient are the logistics of the job? Do you have a long or short commute? Is it comfortable to get to work? Does it pay well? Does it have the benefits you want? Is the environment you work in comfortable (e.g. city vs. country, office vs. outdoors vs. work from home, etc)?

5. Pace of the Work Environment - Are the energy level, deadlines, urgency, and general pace of your environment (company, organization) right for you? Is it too fast? Too slow? Does your job challenge you?


At my current job I only feel good about #2 and #5. I like working with students and especially teaching life skills. The pace seems to adapt to the moment and usually feels about right.

As for the #1: This is probably the weakest and the clincher. One of the teachers I work with (Gary Coleman) is hopelessly incompetent. I feel a little stupider at the end of the day just being around him, and I can't wait until I never have to see him again. Today he got into one of his regular cussing matches with a few of the boys, and at one point he said, "No wonder people call you guys retarded!"

At that point the boys didn't hold back and one of the boys yelled at Gary Coleman over and over: "You're ugly and your breath stinks!"

It's hard for me to keep a straight face as all this goes on . . . but really, I could do without it.

* * *

This morning I downloaded The Doors' first album. I heard it from my dad a million times as a kid and it was one of the first CDs I owned in the 90s, but I hadn't heard it in a while and wanted to hear "The End". So I played it through. Imagine my surprise when I noticed some of the lyrics had changed! Morrison now said, "She gets high" and "fuck fuck fuck fuck"! What the - !



Like the good wikipedophile that I am I hunted down the answer:

The songs "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" and "The End" were both released censored with the album. During "Break on Through" the part where Jim Morrison sings "She gets, she gets" was originally recorded as "She get high." The interlude singing part near the end of "The End" was censored and taken out. It included Jim using the word fuck over and over. Subsequent releases of the album have both of the original parts intact, although 1980s compact disc reissues appear to keep the verses censored.

So I guess I had the crappy 1980s reissues.

The real version for 1967 is pretty bold.

I've had a censored version in my head all this time!

Ah well. That's reality.