I used to assemble flat pack furniture. It is simple work and at times repetitive. When left to concentrate on each assembly I found it meditative. Flat pack assembly requires no tertiary training or qualifications. The instructions come in the box along with Allen keys and online help is only a smart phone away. I did this fulltime for about 10 years and heard two standard remarks about my choice of occupation.
Some people looked at all the hardware and components and said, “I’m glad it’s not me.” Others would say how much they liked assembling their own furniture. These people often remarked that I’d created a job for myself that they would enjoy. This is apparently one of IKEA’s selling points, though I think that may have come from a “Strengths and Weaknesses” exercise where you write out your weaknesses and flip them.
The person paying me to assemble his new bunk bed stood in the doorway. I had all the components unpacked and leaning up against all available wall space. The room looked like the “exploded view” on the first page of the instructions. I had all the hardware sorted out on one trestle table and was preparing components for assembly on another.
He stood there for about a minute saying nothing. He just looked around the room at all the pieces of a puzzle I am very familiar with. To break the silence, I said something hilarious like, “Nearly done!”
His response was immediate. “Your work is very tedious.”
I replied that in fact I enjoyed assembling flat packs.
“That’s because you’re an expert. It looks very tedious to me, but you are an expert and make it look easy.”
Definitions of words are very important. It’s a big part of how language works. The use of one incorrect word can change the meaning of a whole conversation. I pointed out that I believed we had different definitions of the word tedious. That maybe he meant complex, complicated, or confounding.
According to a thesaurus, tedious could be replaced by; boring, monotonous, dull, uninteresting, unexciting, unvaried, mind-numbing, mindless, soul-destroying…
This man had walked casually into a room and declared that my choice of work was destroying my soul! He then let this thought linger between us before calmly leaving me to continue down this ruinous path. My sacrifice in tediously assembling the bunk bed in an expertly manner made his 4-year-old very happy.