I think the main problem with menial jobs is the menial treatment. The pay is just insult to injury.
For instance, I once had the misfortune to overhear a woman at the next table berate our young waiter because apparently it's his fault that the English language does not contain a proper plural form of the word "you," and this man chose to use the locally-accepted colloquial form, "you guys." Apparently, a good waiter travels back to the 1750s and asks Mr. Webster to address this oversight with a gender-neutral form, and keeps the drinks full.
And sometimes menial labor adds injury to injury, too.
Having performed in more professional settings where there were literally lives on the line, I have to say I actually like that kind of pressure, because it means you're doing something important. Nowadays, I have to settle for the fact that there are only billions of dollars on the line. Ho hum.
I think people have become ruder and meaner. There is less cordiality, even in a professional setting. Then there are the crazies. . .
When I was younger, I enjoyed the respect and sometimes even felt proud that people trusted me to make decisions for them. Maybe I burned out as I have gotten older, but it sometimes became a burden to come up with the right answers, knowing that you can really mess up someone's life.
