How We Were Built
Had a little bit of an exchange with Matt, who is a 22-year-old, on Sunday morning.
We talked a little about taking time off, having fun, and working non-stop for the greater good. We got around to the trouble that we all seem to be in.
It started with his excitement regarding the home football game and my attempt to discuss how crazy people get when they arrive at One Bills Drive.
"People drinking until they fall down, pissing in the sinks, fighting, falling, throwing things at each other and getting a DWI on the way home," I said.
"That's football!" he answered.
But then we did discuss the overall picture a little bit.
"A generation ago men worked from sun-up until sun-down building the country," I said.
"That was dumb," he answered. "Why would anyone work so hard and not live? All they were doing was making someone else rich."
The conversation didn't go much further although he wondered about whether or not people were careless enough to allow Trump to be in charge, but it did get me thinking.
Have we lost that crazy work ethic and the idea that we should work hard for the common good?
Yet the last sentence that Matt spoke was the important one:
"All they were doing was making someone else rich."
There's the shift, people.
I know for a fact that thirty or forty years ago people who toiled long hours didn't really consider how much money they were making another guy worth, and there was a reason for that...
...because they felt properly compensated for the time they put in and it seemed fair.
Not sure it seems quite so fair anymore.
The common worker these days is different from the common worker 50, 40, 30 even 20 years ago.
There are classes taught on it.
"How do we inspire the computer-aged workers?"
Instant gratification, having the answers at their fingertips, knowing that they should be happier and that happiness isn't based on the bottom line of the corporation.
All of those things must be considered now.
Sun-up to sun-down is no longer it's own reward.
My teenage son and his friends were talking about leaving their jobs at local fast-food joints.
"I just stopped showing up," one of the kids said.
"You didn't bother to call and tell them that you were quitting?" I asked.
"Why would I? Didn't wanna' go anymore."
I was shocked and amazed.
But that is the way it goes now, I suppose.
My Dad was fond of telling me:
"When someone gives you a job to do, do more than what is expected."
I can honestly say that I do that every day.
Every single day.
"You wake up like you're shot out of a cannon," my youngest son mentioned one morning.
I'm hoping that a little of that rubs off on my children. My beautiful wife sets the exact same example.
Yet, it might be a losing battle.
"Your generation is amusing itself to death," I said to Matt.
"We do enough," he answered.
I suppose.
But that's not how we were built, is it?
We talked a little about taking time off, having fun, and working non-stop for the greater good. We got around to the trouble that we all seem to be in.
It started with his excitement regarding the home football game and my attempt to discuss how crazy people get when they arrive at One Bills Drive.
"People drinking until they fall down, pissing in the sinks, fighting, falling, throwing things at each other and getting a DWI on the way home," I said.
"That's football!" he answered.
But then we did discuss the overall picture a little bit.
"A generation ago men worked from sun-up until sun-down building the country," I said.
"That was dumb," he answered. "Why would anyone work so hard and not live? All they were doing was making someone else rich."
The conversation didn't go much further although he wondered about whether or not people were careless enough to allow Trump to be in charge, but it did get me thinking.
Have we lost that crazy work ethic and the idea that we should work hard for the common good?
Yet the last sentence that Matt spoke was the important one:
"All they were doing was making someone else rich."
There's the shift, people.
I know for a fact that thirty or forty years ago people who toiled long hours didn't really consider how much money they were making another guy worth, and there was a reason for that...
...because they felt properly compensated for the time they put in and it seemed fair.
Not sure it seems quite so fair anymore.
The common worker these days is different from the common worker 50, 40, 30 even 20 years ago.
There are classes taught on it.
"How do we inspire the computer-aged workers?"
Instant gratification, having the answers at their fingertips, knowing that they should be happier and that happiness isn't based on the bottom line of the corporation.
All of those things must be considered now.
Sun-up to sun-down is no longer it's own reward.
My teenage son and his friends were talking about leaving their jobs at local fast-food joints.
"I just stopped showing up," one of the kids said.
"You didn't bother to call and tell them that you were quitting?" I asked.
"Why would I? Didn't wanna' go anymore."
I was shocked and amazed.
But that is the way it goes now, I suppose.
My Dad was fond of telling me:
"When someone gives you a job to do, do more than what is expected."
I can honestly say that I do that every day.
Every single day.
"You wake up like you're shot out of a cannon," my youngest son mentioned one morning.
I'm hoping that a little of that rubs off on my children. My beautiful wife sets the exact same example.
Yet, it might be a losing battle.
"Your generation is amusing itself to death," I said to Matt.
"We do enough," he answered.
I suppose.
But that's not how we were built, is it?
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