Ordinary people

Antaeus was a giant whose unmatched strength came from maintaining constant contact with his mother, Gaea (Earth). As long as Antaeus remained firmly grounded, he was invincible. Hercules, however, uncovered this secret and lifted Antaeus off the Earth, breaking the giant’s connection to his vital source and ultimately defeating him. Nassim Taleb employs this myth to emphasize the importance of staying grounded in reality while making sense of the world. 

I recalled the myth of Antaeus because I recently felt like my academic and professional career had lost touch with the ground. Being passionate about technology and business, I would mostly meet people similar to me in my social life, thereby creating a bubble. Moreover, all the work I had done in my life had been intangible, mostly related to data stored on a cloud computer and numbers in a database. Hence, I decided to pop this bubble by doing something tangible and with people I would have never met otherwise. Additionally, I wanted it to be close to my home so my commute would be just a short walk. The choice was then straightforward: the McDonald's just around the corner! 🍟

I applied, and I've been working as a crew member, frying potatoes for two months - the baseline role. What I appreciated the most about McDonald's, specifically, is that it is heterogeneous in terms of its workforce (my 30 colleagues represented 12 countries) and its customers (for example, over 85% of the US population visits McDonald's at least once a year). Hence, virtually every income level and status can be seen entering the door under the golden arches. This means that it is a great social aggregator where people from diverse backgrounds can interact. 

After two months, it was hard to leave because the monotonousness of my frying station had become enjoyable, thanks to the chats and jokes I shared with my colleagues each time. Still, I said goodbye with a lot of hope in humanity because I had proven that even the McDonald's around the corner can become a place where one is tempted to say, "the best colleagues in the world." This means that the overwhelming majority of people are caring individuals, which, fortunately, is the norm rather than the exception - people who genuinely care about each other and do things well simply for the sake of it. Ordinary people are in every corner of the world, which means that wherever you are, the person next to you is highly likely trustworthy.

P.S. This article explores a distinct aspect of being ordinary. I highly recommend it – the author is exceptional ;)