I don't want to be the old guy complaining about other people trying to earn a living. I would like to provide some constructive criticism that might make all of our lives easier.
I spent nearly twenty years at Apple and anyone who knows me will quickly tell you that I am no Steve Jobs fan. I saw him do things that were nothing but mean and contributed nothing to the great products that came out of the company.
However, the one thing that I learned of value from time within the Steve Job's orbit is that the hardest thing is to say no to things that you might like to do but aren't in your sweet spot. I would add that if you cannot do something with passion and precision, find something else to do.
Obviously sometimes you really need money and I understand those pressures because I have had my back to the wall with a payment or bill due. I have been lucky that I have always found ways, one time I sold our bulldozer, to keep going until better times. Those better times have always taken me to opportunities where I was proud to work and more importantly eager to do my best.
Before you get the idea that all my work has been easy, I farmed for ten years. I shoveled a lot of manure over those years. Sometimes I would come to the house so dirty that my wife would hose me off and make me change clothes in the woodshed before I could come in the house.
Whether I was repairing the round bale hay grapple with a welder, vaccinating a cow, or cutting a field of day. I tried to keep my eye on the big picture. That means I tried to do things in a way that I did not have to go back and do them all over. That is known on the farm as one step forward and two steps backward.
It is an easy lesson to learn on the farm. It someone asks you to do something that is nice to do but you cannot do it right without compromising the important things in your life, say no. That does not mean saying no to everything.
I still remember the time that some people from our little church asked me to move a small building to the front of the church so the sanctuary could have some protection from cold when the door was opened. I could not do the move exactly when they wanted it, but I found a time that would work for us all. We got it moved. It looked a little funny with a big tractor with dual rear wheels driving around with a small building on a round bale carrier, but we moved it.
So here is the problem today. People take jobs and commit to doing the work, then they don't do the job. Some never master what it takes to do the job. Some pretend to do the job. Others do not even bother to show up. We have been amazed when trying to hire students to do data entry as part time jobs. It is not hard work, yet continually people commit to working x-number of hours but only work half that. Then there are those who promise but never show.
The problem is widespread. We have been taking the newspaper for our whole married life. We took the Winston-Salem Journal when I was in elementary school-over six decades ago. We have always taken the paper and had some form of home delivery. A few weeks ago, our carrier changed. The first change was that he/she quit putting the paper in the newspaper box. Most of the time it is in the driveway but sometimes it is in the yard or the ditch. I can handle that but I am not very happy about it. What I cannot take is the paper not being delivered. We have missed more deliveries in the last couple of months than the last sixteen years. I know at least one hard worker whose great work habits started as a young newspaper delivery person.
We all know that there is an epidemic of contractors and service providers who will take your call and promise to show up to do an estimate or even a job and then never show. We had pressure washing done recently. The company promised to come back to do touch ups. We have not seen them despite calls and promises.
Still there are people and companies out there who believe in doing what they say and making certain that they do a great job. Our lawn service, Candido Landscaping, has impressed us with their hard work, attention to detail, and their commitment to doing exactly what they promised.
If our country is going to prosper, we need more people like them - willing to work and do a great job because that is what they expect of themselves and they will accept nothing less.
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