Competency in your job is important

I know some get angry with me constantly harping on screw ups. I have been running the Bobcat as I am seeding about five acres and building a road clay road system which is about eight hundred feet which requires a great deal of machine time, and I certainly did not expect to be working in January in eighty degree weather. So on Tuesday I got a overheat warning and shut the machine down. I needed to go to the Bobcat dealer off 29 at interstate 10. I asked for a gallon of anti freeze, but because I did not bring my engine oil because the machine does not burn oil and was full when I left fully expecting to be operating it in cool weather. Well I ask for a gallon of engine oil and the parts guy in my presence asks a guy sitting at a desk to get a gallon of the bobcat engine oil. They bring two containers and I glance and the SOB had brought a gallon of hydraulic oils which I buy in five gallon containers because I have a seal leaking on one of my track drives, but if I had not looked carefully I would have gone to the machine and topped my engine oil off with hydraulic. I immediately was a bit jerky about them giving me hydraulic oil for engine oil, and the guy who made the mistake did not come back into the parts area as the counter man apologized profusely but it is so pervasive in every fast food restaurant and even the big box stores. Utter incompetence which I am beginning to think is simply an intelligence thing. The one exception is the small Ace Hardware in Navarre, and my favorite Hardware store which is Hall's in Milton. People like their jobs, they are extremely knowledgeable, and they have experience and a great attitude. I am so tired of people just being unhappy with what they do and not having pride or the intelligence to do the job.

You can't force people to have work ethics and motivation. Hence they deserve minimal compensation.

That's natural... it's not cruel or even unusual.

2seaoat wrote:I know some get angry with me constantly harping on screw ups.  I have been running the Bobcat as I am seeding about five acres and building a road clay road system which is about eight hundred feet which requires a great deal of machine time, and I certainly did not expect to be working in January in eighty degree weather.  So on Tuesday I got a overheat warning and shut the machine down.  I needed to go to the Bobcat dealer off 29 at interstate 10.  I asked for a gallon of anti freeze, but because I did not bring my engine oil because the machine does not burn oil and was full when I left fully expecting to be operating it in cool weather.  Well I ask for a gallon of engine oil and the parts guy in my presence asks a guy sitting at a desk to get a gallon of the bobcat engine oil.  They bring two containers and I glance and the SOB had brought a gallon of hydraulic oils which I buy in five gallon containers because I have a seal leaking on one of my track drives, but if I had not looked carefully I would have gone to the machine and topped my engine oil off with hydraulic.  I immediately was a bit jerky about them giving me hydraulic oil for engine oil, and the guy who made the mistake did not come back into the parts area as the counter man apologized profusely but it is so pervasive in every fast food restaurant and even the big box stores.  Utter incompetence which I am beginning to think is simply an intelligence thing.  The one exception is the small Ace Hardware in Navarre, and my favorite Hardware store which is Hall's in Milton.   People like their jobs, they are extremely knowledgeable, and they have experience and a great attitude.  I am so tired of people just being unhappy with what they do and not having pride or the intelligence to do the job.

I could spend hours in a hardware store. The guys that work the stores are mostly retired and absolutely love what they are doing...I like Ace in Gulf Breeze.

Hubby and I agree about the GB Ace, Joani.

Another retired person who loves what he's doing and is excellent at it is "Phillip," the fish counter guy at Publix in Gulf Breeze. I compliment his smiling self regularly on his competence and customer oriented attitude (SUCH a breath of fresh air!), and he just smiles and says he doesn't have to work but loves serving people. Last week I called the store manager to tell him what I thought of Phillip and he agreed, saying Phillip has done wonders for the fish department in the year he's been there.

Superior competence and customer service = revenue, a simple formula too many businesses seem to have either forgotten or are completely unable to fulfill due to lack of suitable employees willing to work for the wages offered. Or SOMETHING.

I think it starts with attitude. When you realize any job can be made more enjoyable by working hard and appreciating the best parts of the job, and getting through the tough parts with a positive attitude. I sense people rationalize that they are better than the job, and they are impatient that they have to endure something they hate. I remember early in my career being stuck in an industrial engineering department time study unit. It was horrible breaking down jobs with a stop watch and trying to come up with a better method. It was 95% mind numbing routine, and five percent ingenuity and creativity. I focused on the that five percent and worked diligently on the rest of the job with a smile and positive attitude. It helped that I knew that job did not define who I was, but I could do the best job I could and I would define who I was going to be.

Some of these young people have not invested in school. They have not acquired skills. They watch TV and see where a lawyer is going to make them rich, and they think serving people is below them. When I was a busboy and dishwasher in high school I loved my work. I had to clean bathrooms and my boss taught me how to do it correctly. I am appalled by the public bathrooms in Alabama and Florida. It takes ten minutes to make a bathroom sparkle. It should be done every couple hours. However, when a person thinks they are better than having to clean a toilet they are going to be greatly disappointed in life. In life it is just that positive attitude while cleaning a toilet which will guarantee success and happiness. I also might mention in real dollars my minimum wage jobs in 1969 it was double what a kid is getting now. Sure the money does make a difference with attitude, but being poor with a good attitude is better than being poor with a lousy attitude.

Work a minimum wage job when you are in your 50s and do a good job.  How does the boss reward you?  "Your work is done for the day.  You can go home."
Sounds great right?  At less than $9 an hour?  The worker needed the hours.  The employer only wants to curb overhead cost.  

And the employee is not super zealous and ready to jump to your every whim?  And you caught him/her on a day when they made a mistake...

Look at the big picture and get off the high falutin horses.  Lack of pay and lack of job benefits/security - how do you stay motivated?  And don't give me some oh do your best and you are rewarded bit.  Take a look at men/women who work in retail for years and just shy of retirement they are given huge goals to meet that have never been required before.  Can't meet them?  You're out.

Yeah, I sure wish Seaoat could find some good workers to serve him in the Panhandle.  But more than that I wish for a wage that is comparable to the price of actually living above the poverty line in the Panhandle.  Oh, and let's wish for some folks in high places that would actually address the "common" folk of the counties and bring in jobs that are not tourist related.

I could go on....

Yeah, I sure wish Seaoat could find some good workers to serve him in the Panhandle.

I do have a very big problem on people working a job which they cannot stand, and somehow believing that they are better than the job they are working. I am 65 and my wife turns 64 in March, and we just laid a pallet of sod, covered with dirt trying to beat the storm coming from Mobile. We go into the big box stores and folks look down at us because we are covered with paint, have oil stains on our pants, we are wearing dirty hats, and I often have my duct taped shoes which are now replaced with white tennis shoes which are now red from dirt and clay work on the Bobcat.

I had the cooling fan belt fail this morning on the bobcat. Now that I am weak, I will simply go to my hospital appointments the next two weeks, get some pipe to extend my tools and give me leverage, and I will fix the bobcat which some people would think was below them, but in my semi retired status I find joy in every moment of life, and if I could give some folks some advice it would be quit the job if you hate it, or become the best employee and pick up a second job to make ends meet. Most forty year olds could not keep up with us. My wife has to go over to a rental because a tenant cannot fix a ballast on a light, or replace a kitchen faucet. While she is doing that I will put new decking boards on a stair and stain the same. However, if I go to Burger king in Milton for lunch, I will have to listen to two employees arguing that one does not have to bag the french fries when they are busy. I wanted to jump over the counter and bend her over my knee and spank her, but the five people who were waiting five minutes for their orders might of joined in and ended up shooting her with their concealed weapons.