Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would bend over to work hard for MYSELF or for employers who treat me like a friend. Other than that, no. Some companies simply deserve to fail and are failing already as you can't accomplish anything as other employees are equally demoralized and make your job difficult.
Today, the CEO passed by me and try to make some nasty subtle jabs about my qualifications. I just answered her back unfazed, she probably thinks I'm too stupid to realize what she's doing. So? At most I'll be here for a couple more before I go back for my Masters.
Good people will mostly work hard regardless. It's honorable to work hard regardless. Partly because that effort reflects on YOU. Not them.
That's not to say you wouldn't be looking for a better job. But anyone who is willing to put less effort into a job isn't someone I would want to hire.
One of the problems right now is that so many people have such a narrow view and have been brainwashed that the "rich" or the corporation are evil so they convince themselves that their job isn't worthy of their effort regardless of what the truth is.
Frankly, it's one of the big problems we have in our country. Everyone thinks they are above most jobs. Even if they were truly objective, they might find that it's a job they should feel fortunate to have.
This is sediment I can understand. If person is unhappy with their job, just quit and go somewhere else.
There are responsibilities every worker has to himself. One is not to take a job simply because it is a pay check. A goal should be to find a job you would be willing to do for free or even pay to do, if you could afford it.
Now most of us do depend upon a pay check for the simple purpose of living. We can not get around that. But we can gradually improve our skills and focus on our goals.
Think of your self as being a doctor and your employer is your patient. Sometimes a doctor will get a patient who is a real pain in the butt. Absolutely obnoxious, highly disrespectful, only going to pay you the least he can get by with for your home visit. Now when you make that home visit, the fact you agreed too, means you do your best even if you consider the trip unpleasant, a waste of time and you're going to be treated like dirt.
When you go to your job and your employer's place of business, you are that doctor and your employer is your patient you are making that "Home" visit as a professional. Act like the professional you are and consider what you are doing, not how the "idiot" is acting.
If I've been hired to do a job, I have agreed to do that job and I will do it to the best of my ability. I'd also be polite about it.
However, I'd also be using my own time to apply for other jobs. There is very little reason to stay in a job with low pay and an abusive boss.
Not liking your boss is no excuse to stop doing your job.
I'd like to point out that if you are in that job because you absolutely can not find anything else, then you risk losing that job if you are not returning any work in exchange for the paycheck you are receiving. If you can not find any work but that job, you are going to be in serious trouble if you lose that one. Not only that, but if you've been fired for being a slacker, you are now job hunting with a bad reference to make your job hunt more difficult..
My effort level is tied to wages. I am not obligated to give my all, but I am obligated to live up to the job description and duties that I agreed to perform. If that leaves me with free time to read a book while I am at work, I have no objection to doing that. If they pay me twice what the norm is for that position, instead of reading a book I may spend free time cleaning the area, improving database system, updating out of date records, or thinking up new ways for the company to make money. Note: In this example none of those things are part of the job description, but instead are additional things that I may choose to do to benefit the employer because I feel they are treating me well and I would like to do the same.
For those that feel otherwise, they are welcome to disagree. If I am giving an effort that the employer valued at twelve dollars an hour, and they paid me 8, I have absolutely no personal obligation to bust my ass and create a value of 50 dollars an hour. I have an obligation to take care of my family, and if they were going to pay me 8 when I was generating 50 while my coworkers were generating 10, then it is my obligation to ensure that I spend my additional resources on further refining my skills so that I can acquire a position that will pay me substantially more money.
Tough luck for those that feel otherwise. I've been through the hard times. I was young and making minimum wage, regularly being disrespected by idiots without half of my education. Being young, I was also much more insecure. There behavior today would be met with a **** you to the face. I no longer work for min wage, or near minimum wage. I have no interest in it. I have created enough financial security that I don't have to give a **** about being fired anymore. It's never happened to me, but I'm not concerned about the possibility. There is absolutely no moral or ethical obligation to give an employer vastly more than they paid for.
If you have fulfilled every job description and make the choice to put your employer's needs above the needs of your family, you are a *****y parent. If the employer "will notice and give you more money" - then you are actually doing it to take care of your family and just putting on a show about doing it for the employers needs.
Bottom line: If you really value the employer's needs over your own, you'll ask for a pay cut so you can service them at minimum wage. Then you'll go home and lay out an outline for how you can do your slave labor more efficiently tomorrow. Virtually none of us do this, because the people demanding the employer's needs go first are hypocrites.
Excellent post.. there's nothing dishonest or unethical in fulfilling the work you agreed to do.. I usually will make sure I get the minimum done no matter how cruel the workplace is and go beyond the minimum depending on how much sanity I have left instead of purposely choosing to do less than my 100%.. I also can't emphasize enough the idea of learning transferrable skills.. if you do not like your current place and are looking elsewhere, try to learn as much as you can, prioritizing transferrable skills that'll help you both at the current place and the rest of your career.
Guess I am getting old. but looking at the poll it seems most people work only for a salary and not for the pride of doing an exemplary job.
I guess it is true Craftsmen, Artisans and Master tradesmen are a thing of the past.
Well, I didn't read every response, but I don't think it asked if people would work hard for little money. It seemed to ask if people would work hard (not just meet the minimum requirements, but really go above and beyond as much as possible) if they were not only underpaid but also disrespected. I said no. I DO have a lot of pride in my work, but I have found in my many years of work that when one is underpaid and disrespected, then there is no work to take pride in. For example, I once had a job in an office where no one really did much because there wasn't much to do. The work was boring and tedious and you could get the whole day's work done in about 2 hours. We were not allowed to do any extra work (complicated reasons related to contract). We were warm bodies. The company not only didn't care if we worked hard, but didn't really want us to. We were completely disrespected and underpaid; Discrimination, cronyism and corruption were abundant. Like an idiot, I always looked for ways to go beyond -showing up early in the morning, doing an extra careful job, really working hard in every way I could. Most other people, not so much. They chatted on their phones, napped, gossiped, or invented new forms of corruption. After a few years I discovered that all the women in my department were making way less than all the men, and I was being paid less than guys with less education, whom I'd actually trained, and who did nothing all day while I worked hard. I then found out the abusive boss was running a scam. I quit, but am still pissed off that I even wasted my time working when it didn't matter. What was there to take pride in? The things I did so well didn't matter to anyone at all. It was pointless busy work, and I was literally inventing a job for myself that I didn't have. Worse, I was unpopular among my coworkers - ostracized at times - and called a brown noser or goody goody and so on. It was a miserable few years of stupidity and exploitation. I was a sucker. Lesson learned.
Guess I am getting old. but looking at the poll it seems most people work only for a salary and not for the pride of doing an exemplary job.
I guess it is true Craftsmen, Artisans and Master tradesmen are a thing of the past.
Possibly, though doubtful. There are plenty of people doing excellent and innovative work out there. The American worker is also more productive than ever. It's always the way of the elder statesmen to look fondly upon the past without ever acknowleding that the past was screwed up as well only in different ways. From 1945 to the 1970's, the US was the only player on the industrial block so the nonsense occurring at the workplace today didn't happen as much then. Also, your generation generally was compensated well for its efforts. A guy could leave high-school at 16-17 years old and get a good paying job at a steel mill or an auto plant, stay there for 40 years and retire with a pension. Try doing that today. The baby-boomers had the luxury of being able to be minimally educated and well compensated. On-the-job training was the norm, and it was a foregone conclusion that you would likely never leave that company. Fast forward 40-50 years...
I usually find that its more the fact that it's tied to the broken morale at the workplace due to the fact that underpaid, disrespected people know full well that their livelihood is perpetually being shopped to the lowest bidder. Moreover, it's happening to everyone else as well -- this doesn't help matters. The lowest paid among us simply feel it the most. While their are some well-meaning companies out there, too many have adopted the soulless M.O. of the Wal Marts of the world -- you know, providing billions to the priviledged few while collectively taking a giant dump on their everyday workforce. So, for you to suggest that this sentiment has anything to do with people not taking "pride" in doing "an exemplary job" simply means that you aren't really paying a whole lot of attention. For most of the people you are deriding, this is about survival. Most of them work 2 of these crappy jobs just to make ends meet. Compounded with the fact that they know the work is temporary, how does one see this situation as anything more than output:compensation parity?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
