Here's to people whose job won't get done if they aren't there to do it. No one with a professional job works 40 hour weeks. Most work 60 to 80 hours a week, 50 or more weeks a year. Every salary includes long long hours, nights, weekends, going in early and staying late. It includes being "on call" 24/7/365. It includes coming back early from vacation to take care of a problem - or spending hours on conference calls and email and preparing documents in the hotel while "on vacation". It includes losing PTO every year because there is not time to take off two weeks in a row, not in the summer, not at Christmas, not at Easter. It includes earning a commission or a bonus that never materializes. It includes performance reviews that set impossibly higher targets every quarter just to keep earning the salary they have.
And here's to people whose job makes it possible for us to shop or eat or solve problems or take care of our own business. Most are stuck with weird schedules that change from week to week so they never know what days or hours they will have to be there. Weekends, nights, holidays, going in early and coming back in late on the same day but still "part time". It includes being called in for overtime only to be sent home again when they change their minds. Working "relief" or "temporary" means doing the same job with the same pressure and responsibilities as someone else, often for months or years, but for 60% less pay, no insurance, no paid time off. It often means juggling 2 or 3 or 4 "little" jobs that add up to working 60 or 80 hours a week with no overtime and a big tax bill at end of year because while no one else noticed they needed more witholding, the IRS sure did.
The truth is, everyone who works for a living does some essential job or they would not get paid for it. And no one gets the recognition or appreciation or pay they deserve.
So to everyone out there who is working hard for long long hours, going above and beyond every day for the people who count on you, here's a pat on the back. Even though you didn't ask for it - especially because you didn't ask for it. No one deserves it more than you.
