Prestigious Job Titles & Perception

Interesting week it has been so far. Considering that it's my first week back to school, meeting my lovely friends again and thank god they DID come back in one piece. EVERYTHING WAS SO FINE.

So this Semester, I am doing Organizational Behaviour (OB) module. Our Aussie lecturer was enthusiastically explaining the topic on 'stereotyping' (which IS part of the module actually).

And with that, she was citing the example of how chefs are PERCEIVED to be a low laying job in Singapore at least as compared to accountants. Well...

ALL HUMANS' PERCEPTION SUCK.

In my opinion, any job that requires a certificate is good enough to be classified is a profession. If WE are going for job titles - which is prone to manipulation-, then we are just deceiving OTHERS with our PERCEIVED position. Eg. Financial advisors are actually insurance promoter! and such and such!

{ afc as seen on your Cable TV, now has a studio kitchen right in the heart of Singapore}

If chefs are considered as a derogatory job, why is it people invest in restaurants (timelessly!) and fine dining cult and hotels earn their stars depending on the standard of their restaurants! If there are no chefs, there won't be forks, knives and spoons. It is quite prestigious working in a hotel's restaurant as compared to slogging on an office table from 9-6pm right?

And accountants are PERCEIVED to be good mathematicians and good trustworthy people because we handle money. Actually most of them are not good mathematicians, but they are good MANIPULATORS. We can make numbers disappear in a snap. In a way, our job is not as high flying as what people thought it should be. There's nothing to boast about being an accountant neither. We handle money. Money that is not even ours!

In the past musicians are considered to be a no-brainer job, a dead end. Now, look at Maxim, Kenny G and Yanni! Millionaires by minutes by banging their instruments into a tune! 

Perhaps I live in a humble community where I choose to see everyone as an individual, separate from the job or title they hold. It is only fair to judge a person from their individual characteristic and not by the jobs that they do. Sometimes the people with the most "degrading" jobs are the ones who are most blessed in life. 

Well, that puts accountants and auditors (and  plastic-surgery-gone-wrong plastic surgeons and my primary school English teacher) first on the 'people to be murdered' list. Chefs are likely to be at the bottom of the list because they make everyone's tummy happy! 

If there is a war, the accountants (the ugly and saggy skinned ones) will be killed first along with my primary school English teacher and plastic surgeons. Chefs and sexy accountants will be saved because even the enemy needs good food and button-ed down tops with pencil skirts accountants strutting around their office!

 

I love chefs. They make my tummy dance. So don't stereotype OK? It's not good.