Underappreciated

Ya know, sometimes people work hard behind the scenes.
Their work is important, probably as important as the ones in the limelight.
Being behind the scenes doesn’t allow for a lot of recognition.
And sometimes the “behind the scenes” person gets thought of as a slacker.
That bites.
Merriam-Webster defines “underappreciated” as “not duly appreciated,” and “appreciate” as “to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance of.”
Come on. Not everyone jumps and hollers when they complete a task and they shouldn’t have to.
There’s a lot of people who fall into the underappreciated category.
With a little bit of research I found that farmers and teachers fall into the underappreciated category. Maintenance and janitors, persons who clean motel rooms, festival and event organizers and retail store clerks are also listed online.
I scoured the Internet and found a story by CTV, touted as “Canada's largest private broadcaster,” titled “Underappreciated workers unhappy with their jobs” that ran in 2005.
The story featured a poll showing that 38 percent of employees say that in order to feel most productive, they want to be valued, 23 percent said they needed to feel supported.
Then comes my favorite quote of the story: “None of these requests are as expensive for a company as extra vacation time or more pay might be. And yet, needs go unmet.”
I realize the economy is in the toilet but come on, give someone a pat on the back once in a while. It’ll make them feel good and you’ll feel good too.
Mary Meaux, the sometimes underappreciated reporter