40-Hour Week: Show appreciation to working Americans

You can see them every morning
In the factories and the fields
In the city streets and the quiet country towns
Working together like spokes inside a wheel
They keep this country turning around

Do those lyrics sound familiar? In early June, Nathan and I attended an Alabama concert — one of my all-time favorite bands. The past few months, when traveling around the region, I’ve played that song — 40 Hour Week (For A Livin’) — when I get back in my car after seeing or experiencing an employee shortage. Forty Hour Week is an anthem to remind me to show appreciation instead of frustration.

There are people in this country who work hard every day
Not for fame or fortune do they strive
But the fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay
And it’s time a few of them were recognized

That’s the opening of the 40 Hour Week song.

To the front desk resort manager who watched her 17 summer foreign employees leave to fly home for school when I was checking out recently: I see you figuring out how four employees are going to clean 180 rooms before 200 more people check-in for a conference.

To the gas station clerk who came out of retirement to work extra shifts because there simply isn’t anyone else: Thank you for keeping your rural location open, and thank you for showing me where the air was to add some to my bum tire.

To the quick service restaurant franchise owner delivering my curbside food order: I see your hustle. I see you picking up garbage in your parking lot on your way back inside to your hectic business.

To the new restaurant owner giving my husband and me a nod and smile to let us know you see us and will seat us as soon as you can: Do not quit on your business goals despite college students not applying for your job openings.

To the small business owner explaining to me why she was going to be closed for an extended weekend to give her staff a long-needed break: I respect you — and I bet your employees do too.

To the grocery store employees, the same three women I always see at Dollar General, the medical clinic staff, the teachers stepping in to coach so kids have the opportunity to participate this season and the substitute teachers showing up when a full-time teacher is out: This is

For everyone who works behind the scenes
With a spirit you can’t replace by no machine

When I find myself impatient about a shipping delay, frustrated with ongoing construction supply and employee shortage issues that impact our family business or cynical when I read a letter from a business asking for patience in wait time for service, the song plays again through my head:

Hello America, let me thank you for your time

I can’t vent at the people who are working. They’re showing up and doing what they can, often working far more than a 40-hour week.

Add in an ongoing health pandemic and numerous personal and professional stressors — and we all feel it.

Today, rather than complain, show your appreciation to one worker you encounter. Then, try it again tomorrow. Hello America, let me thank you for your time.

To read more of Katie Pinke's The Pinke Post columns, click here.

Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.