I think it's a real problem, those assumptions, not just psychologically for people like us and the letter writer but even more for society at large and what the devaluation of all that work and all those people who do it shows! Reading things like the letter always make me angry, yet I struggle with those same assumptions too, that the work I do is worthless or shameful. Five or ten years ago my original intention was to work in childcare instead of retail, mostly because it seemed more "meaningful" to me at the time, but I found the weight of those assumptions a lot greater there, perhaps from all the more highly educated teachers around. Surprisingly, in the relatively relaxed retail environment in contrast, possibly because all the other jobs there are equally unskilled in the eyes of society, it seems the negative assumptions are mostly coming from inside my own head. I hardly ever run into it from other people now, but it's still everywhere in my head.