Geoffrey Owens is an American actor who played Cliff Huxtable’s son-in-law in The Cosby Show. He was recently put on blast, by none other than Fox News, for doing his job. He worked at Trader Joe’s. Someone saw him working there. Took a photo of him and sold it to Fox News who ran with it with the title ‘Cosby Show’ actor Geoffrey Owens spotted bagging groceries at NJ Trader Joe’s.

Nothing wrong with that picture, except the intent behind it. It was to mock, humiliate, and devalue this man’s situation of working an honest job to take care of his family.

It turns out that since the end of the Cosby Show, Geoffrey Owens hasn’t had a major role but has been working intermittently as an actor and in between acting gigs, gets himself regular nine to 5 jobs that allow him the flexibility to return to acting should he find that opportunity. This is the actual life of an actor.

Thankfully, the publication of that Fox News article was immediately met with a wave of condemnation of the tone and message behind it. The Twittersphere took no time in coming to his defence, and it gave me life. I felt so aggravated by this story. Not necessarily for Geoffrey Owens himself – he is fine and will be fine – but for the young people seeing the original article shaming a perfectly good job.

Addressing that short-lived job-shaming attempt during a GMA interview, Owens responded: “There is no job that is better than another job. It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a resume and on paper, but actually it’s not better. Every job is worthwhile and valuable.”

My aim with this blog is to highlight every type of jobs and how we take pride, joy, and fulfilment in them.

Over to you Nine to 5 Hustlers, have you been the target of such shaming, maybe from family, friends, society? What particular aspect makes you proud of your job? Share your stories with us x