LJ Idol, Topic 25: "Workin' For a Livin' "
I have never once been fired from a job.
I started working at the age of fifteen. My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn some responsibility and start on some savings, so during the summer of 1987 they helped me get two part-time jobs: one at a local pizza place where we were regulars (and the owner didn't mind taking on another kid in the place), and one at a local crafts-and-imports shop. I spent the summer shuttling from one job to the other, having very little free time. From those humble beginnings I planted the seeds for the kind of work ethic I've had ever since -- with the exception of a few goof-off college summers in the years to come, I have been working steadily since that time, and supporting myself since I graduated from college two quarters early. I was very lucky to have parents who supported me all the way through college, even making up the slack on my tuition and housing for the remainder that my scholarship didn't cover, but once I graduated I let go of their outstretched hands without a qualm, because I knew it was time for me to be paying my own way.
I've learned a few things from each of the jobs I've worked, but for the most part the principles I use to guide me in my daily grind are principles that were part of me long before I ever put on that first apron at the pizza place when I was fifteen. Stuff that seems to me to be common sense, but which I've since discovered is not only NOT common sense, but isn't even widespread in many cases. Stuff like oh, I don't know, showing up on time for work, working your assigned hours, not taking excessive breaks, not half-assing your way through your work, and various other points that make me go "Really? You have to be told this? Give me a fucking break."
The number one principle which drives me, no matter what the job is, is pride in my work. I've worked some shit jobs; we all have. Very few people are lucky enough to work only jobs that they enjoy, and I'm not an exception to that. But even in the worst jobs, I never fucked off while I was working, never put forth a slight effort on something and then called it good enough, never showed up and simply marked time on a day-to-day basis. I am, it seems, constitutionally incapable of doing a half-assed job, no matter what the job is that I'm doing. This is so deeply ingrained in me that it even sticks with me when I'm doing someone else's job for them -- when I'm cleaning up after the mess a coworker made, fixing something that they screwed up, mollifying a customer that they pissed off, and so on. I'm raging inwardly about the incompetence of the coworker (or coworkers) who caused the problems, but in the meantime I'm doing the job and doing it right the first time. I can't stand leaving something unfinished, loose ends to be tied up.
I don't really understand why this seems to be such a rare thing in the workforce these days, but it is nice in at least one respect: in virtually every job I've held, I've quickly become the go-to guy for a lot of different tasks. I become the expert, the Tier 2 dude, the backup, the closer who comes in to seal the deal when nobody else can figure out the problem. This is gratifying in many ways, a pain in the neck in others (it means, for example, that people frequently come to me with simple questions they should have been able to figure out themselves, just because they know that I'll have the answer). More to the point, it's great for job security. I'm not so arrogant as to say that I'm completely indispensable (nobody is, these days), but I do know that I've gotten lots of kudos on a daily basis, from clients, coworkers and bosses, in most of the jobs I've had. When the economy tanks, it's nice to have records of consistently high appraisals and laudatory comments to back up your performance.
Let me also remark that I don't go out of the way to seek these plaudits. I don't see the point in brown-nosing bosses or coworkers in an effort to get myself noticed. My work speaks for itself, and letting it speak for itself has worked just fine for me; I don't have to play "Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge" and elbow my bosses going "Eh? Ehhh??" to point out how I consistently kick ass. Besides, I'm not doing it for the "attaboy!" responses; I'm doing it because I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't always do the best possible job I could. I don't need to have superiors driving me, because I drive myself harder than anything they could ever do.
Pride. Pride in your work. A rare and valuable thing these days, it seems. Which is why, when I see people going above and beyond the call of duty in the workplace (whether mine or someone else's), I call attention to it. I don't toot my own horn at work, but I have no problem at all pointing out the great work somebody else is doing. Many jobs are thankless, and it costs me nothing at all to tell somebody they've done a great job. Or to tell their boss and maybe help get them a raise. We're all in this together, after all.
[This has been my entry for Week 25 of LJ Idol, for which my topic was "closer". My partner, xreesex, wrote on the other topic "cesspool", and you can find her entry here. I hope you enjoyed our efforts this week! Please check out the other participants' entries and show them some love as well.]
I started working at the age of fifteen. My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn some responsibility and start on some savings, so during the summer of 1987 they helped me get two part-time jobs: one at a local pizza place where we were regulars (and the owner didn't mind taking on another kid in the place), and one at a local crafts-and-imports shop. I spent the summer shuttling from one job to the other, having very little free time. From those humble beginnings I planted the seeds for the kind of work ethic I've had ever since -- with the exception of a few goof-off college summers in the years to come, I have been working steadily since that time, and supporting myself since I graduated from college two quarters early. I was very lucky to have parents who supported me all the way through college, even making up the slack on my tuition and housing for the remainder that my scholarship didn't cover, but once I graduated I let go of their outstretched hands without a qualm, because I knew it was time for me to be paying my own way.
I've learned a few things from each of the jobs I've worked, but for the most part the principles I use to guide me in my daily grind are principles that were part of me long before I ever put on that first apron at the pizza place when I was fifteen. Stuff that seems to me to be common sense, but which I've since discovered is not only NOT common sense, but isn't even widespread in many cases. Stuff like oh, I don't know, showing up on time for work, working your assigned hours, not taking excessive breaks, not half-assing your way through your work, and various other points that make me go "Really? You have to be told this? Give me a fucking break."
The number one principle which drives me, no matter what the job is, is pride in my work. I've worked some shit jobs; we all have. Very few people are lucky enough to work only jobs that they enjoy, and I'm not an exception to that. But even in the worst jobs, I never fucked off while I was working, never put forth a slight effort on something and then called it good enough, never showed up and simply marked time on a day-to-day basis. I am, it seems, constitutionally incapable of doing a half-assed job, no matter what the job is that I'm doing. This is so deeply ingrained in me that it even sticks with me when I'm doing someone else's job for them -- when I'm cleaning up after the mess a coworker made, fixing something that they screwed up, mollifying a customer that they pissed off, and so on. I'm raging inwardly about the incompetence of the coworker (or coworkers) who caused the problems, but in the meantime I'm doing the job and doing it right the first time. I can't stand leaving something unfinished, loose ends to be tied up.
I don't really understand why this seems to be such a rare thing in the workforce these days, but it is nice in at least one respect: in virtually every job I've held, I've quickly become the go-to guy for a lot of different tasks. I become the expert, the Tier 2 dude, the backup, the closer who comes in to seal the deal when nobody else can figure out the problem. This is gratifying in many ways, a pain in the neck in others (it means, for example, that people frequently come to me with simple questions they should have been able to figure out themselves, just because they know that I'll have the answer). More to the point, it's great for job security. I'm not so arrogant as to say that I'm completely indispensable (nobody is, these days), but I do know that I've gotten lots of kudos on a daily basis, from clients, coworkers and bosses, in most of the jobs I've had. When the economy tanks, it's nice to have records of consistently high appraisals and laudatory comments to back up your performance.
Let me also remark that I don't go out of the way to seek these plaudits. I don't see the point in brown-nosing bosses or coworkers in an effort to get myself noticed. My work speaks for itself, and letting it speak for itself has worked just fine for me; I don't have to play "Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge" and elbow my bosses going "Eh? Ehhh??" to point out how I consistently kick ass. Besides, I'm not doing it for the "attaboy!" responses; I'm doing it because I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't always do the best possible job I could. I don't need to have superiors driving me, because I drive myself harder than anything they could ever do.
Pride. Pride in your work. A rare and valuable thing these days, it seems. Which is why, when I see people going above and beyond the call of duty in the workplace (whether mine or someone else's), I call attention to it. I don't toot my own horn at work, but I have no problem at all pointing out the great work somebody else is doing. Many jobs are thankless, and it costs me nothing at all to tell somebody they've done a great job. Or to tell their boss and maybe help get them a raise. We're all in this together, after all.
[This has been my entry for Week 25 of LJ Idol, for which my topic was "closer". My partner, xreesex, wrote on the other topic "cesspool", and you can find her entry here. I hope you enjoyed our efforts this week! Please check out the other participants' entries and show them some love as well.]