No it's not beneath them!! You do jobs for different reasons don't you... A lot of my friends work to pay the bills, to go on holiday, to put themselves through college, to help raise the kids, to pay the mortgage, to get them out of the house. These jobs are often short-term, just for the money etc. In fact I would say that most people have jobs for those reasons. Then there are people who have careers and define themselves through these careers. I am one of them. My job is more important to me than having a partner or kids. It is what I am. I know I am freakishly at the other end of the scale. But MOST young people are aiming for a career rather than a job. I teach 16+ and they are all after careers. The few I know that work full time in shops or bars are there because they chose not to do A Levels or go to College, so their parents have insisted instead that they get a job, rather than be unemployed. The ones I know that enjoyed their full time shop work are now in management. The ones that hate it are simply doing it for the money, until they have decided on a career path. I'm just reporting what I have found to be true in the last 15 years of teaching young people who then go into employment!!