Work Ethic

a reply to: JAGStorm

Strong work ethic has never been about advancement for me.

It's about self respect.

A lot of people react to it by feeling threatened.

I just don't care. Sometimes it works against you if the people above you got their positions by kissing ass.

a reply to: 19Bones79

Work ethic has taken on a different meaning lately.
Today it’s hard to get people to even show up to work yet alone work hard.
In the not to distant past you would be fired if you missed three days in your ninety day probationary period.

originally posted by: 19Bones79
a reply to: JAGStorm

Strong work ethic has never been about advancement for me.

It's about self respect.

A lot of people react to it by feeling threatened.

I just don't care. Sometimes it works against you if the people above you got their positions by kissing ass.

So this got me thinking a little about the whole participation trophy attitude in I worked so good for you that you now owe me, and not your "I do it for respect" or just that you are a professional as in you own a small one or two person company and you bust your ass for your customer base and they keep giving you business.

I had a young guy that replaced one of my furnaces last winter. He worked for 5 years for a company doing that trade and then started his own business. His motivation was over the top, excided about what he does. Came that night on the day I called, it was like 1000 at night since he worked all day on other jobs. Beat all the local companies in price and only installs top quality, and had it done in 3 days where any other company was well over a month wait time. This summer had one of my 3 tons ACes go out and got the same guy with the same motivation, had it done in three days and other companies couldn't even come look for two weeks, and he came again like 1000 at night to see what was up. He got 13,000 so far of my money in cash, and I'll use him again and again with passing word of mouth all I can.

You have this, but for some reason if these younger people work for someone else they need to put in just minimal effort and call it good and anything seen as good they need special considerations, at-ta-boys, more pay etc etc. all the time for just doing the job they are paid to do.

I personally don't think you can have a set work ethic anymore.

If you employ me then you'll get a fair return for the remuneration involved, nothing less but maybe sometimes more but if that's not recognised it will not be repeated.

My work ethic only really applies when I work for myself.



a reply to: JAGStorm

originally posted by: Bluntone22

Work ethic has taken on a different meaning lately.
Today it’s hard to get people to even show up to work yet alone work hard.
In the not to distant past you would be fired if you missed three days in your ninety day probationary period.

My kids who are starting their careers asked me what was the secret to success and I said three things will put you ahead of most of your peers..

1. Come to work everyday 10 mins early and not 10 mins late.
2. Don't be high or drunk.
3. Come back after lunch

That's it, you broke the code to success...

I have always had a very good work ethic. I was taught to give it your all, learn from your mistakes, and learn as much as you can to be better.

Im a mechanic and work 54hrs a week at my job, and then another 20hrs a week doing side jobs. If i do t do my job right, and oay attention to every little detail....someone could die ir be severely injured.

I take great pride in what i do, it is not easy, i work on mercedes, bmw land rover....and these people are very anal and rich, and do not like comebacks or mistakes.

My boss takes advantage of me for sure, i get paid by the hour, and i work fast, and diagnos fast. Been doing it for 16 years. He has hired a few new young, (18-21) people, and they are starting out at like 15$ an hr. Which took me 10 years to get that.

They complain about not making enough, yet cant even diagnos a CAN issue, or do a brake job right, and think they are hot stuff. And whi do you think gets to train them? Yeah, me!

I also manage our entire computer system, as in built all 20 pcs from scratch, built the server, manage the network, and fix any problems that arise. I built the camera system, a geovision setup, 32 cameras, all accessible from online, or in network.

My work load is 10 times what these yound kids have, and make 5$ less than me, and have only been there for maybe a year. Because it is a family business, and i am family, i believe i get taken advantage of, but i also have perks most people dont have. I also get shat on harder too lol.

My work ethic is based on honesty, integrity, attention to detail, patience, more honesty, respect, and a direct reflection of me as a person. If you respect yourself and others, your work will show that. I dont think these younger kids have the respect or patience needed, as they were never taught. Everything is usually instant gratification and me me me.

Thats my 2 cents anyways!

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Bluntone22

Work ethic has taken on a different meaning lately.
Today it’s hard to get people to even show up to work yet alone work hard.
In the not to distant past you would be fired if you missed three days in your ninety day probationary period.

My kids who are starting their careers asked me what was the secret to success and I said three things will put you ahead of most of your peers..

1. Come to work everyday 10 mins early and not 10 mins late.
2. Don't be high or drunk.
3. Come back after lunch

That's it, you broke the code to success...

Pretty close to mine.

#1. Be there every day -- on time.
* Avoid anything that affects your thinking -- and will affect your work.
* Always work for yourself -- meaning personal integrity as if it was your own company.
* Stay off all social media platforms while at work on a work computer.
* Never drink at a company party.

a reply to: Xtrozero

Yeah, that’s a big part of the puzzle.
Be reliable and know when to push back.
Being a floor mat only gets you walked on.

a reply to: JAGStorm

The landscape has changed in a big way.

Far less family businesses where you're known by name by the owner, given a Christmas bonus, and told to go home if your family needs you and you're not a repeat offender.

Even if you were part of a corporation back in the day, you could be blue collar and still buy a modest but nice house and send your kids to college.

Now many are just a cog in a corporate machine, where all of your outcomes are decided by an algorithm. It's no surprise people feel a sense of dissociation from a system that did the same to their employees. It's a two lane road at the end of the day.

Now, obviously this isn't the case for everyone, and there are still plenty of good jobs out there, but broadly speaking I think this is why we see a growing trend.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

Now many are just a cog in a corporate machine, where all of your outcomes are decided by an algorithm. It's no surprise people feel a sense of dissociation from a system that did the same to their employees. It's a two lane road at the end of the day.

My daughter worked at Macy's in the crystal department. She knew her stuff/product. She was friendly and helped customers make decisions -- usually for a gift.

New girl comes in. All she cares about is sales/numbers and pushes customers to buy.

Guess who lost hours and finally quit.

originally posted by: neomaximus10

My boss takes advantage of me for sure, i get paid by the hour, and i work fast, and diagnos fast. Been doing it for 16 years. He has hired a few new young, (18-21) people, and they are starting out at like 15$ an hr. Which took me 10 years to get that.

Why have you been working for this guy for 16 years and not looked to start your own shop, or look to join maybe another team for better pay. Typically there is very little movement up in a company except for a few, so to do better you need to move out and up. Lets say you get hired as a beginner and unless you have something like levels you are lucky to get 3 or 4% per year raise, in many cases with smaller companies raises are few and far in-between, so after 10 years you are not making much more than a new hire. If you do not have promotion steps then you are doing the same job you did 16 years ago, though better, but not much difference in pay. Moving on to a new job has you walking in as a highly skilled worker and not a beginner to start as with your job you have now. If they want your high skills then they will need to pay for it where with you job now they don't need to since they already have you. All this new minimum pay agenda doesn't flow upwards either in if they say minimum pay is 20 now from 10 to give people a living wage and you are making 21 after 16 years you do not get bumped to 31 too since at 21 you are also in the living wage, and companies just can't bump everyone 50% in pay, so new people with crap skills make out and everyone else gets over looked.

My work load is 10 times what these yound kids have, and make 5$ less than me, and have only been there for maybe a year. Because it is a family business, and i am family, i believe i get taken advantage of, but i also have perks most people dont have. I also get shat on harder too lol.

Sounds like they need to create at least a supervisor level position since you do more in many different ways to include training. If they are unwilling to do that then maybe it is time to find someone that is willing.

a reply to: Annee

Which is a shame.

I've always had higher personal standards for myself than my employer has for me. Always go above and beyond, but I'll never drink the Kool aid.

If you don't do right by the customer, they have no reason to come back. Get greedy and try and milk extra out of them and you lose volume and word of mouth advertising.

People forget the basis to good business is repeat business. They all just want to make a name for themselves and have a good quarter/year until all of a sudden people are scratching their heads and wondering why they're slow all of a sudden.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I actually will favor an older person for a job before a younger person.

The sense of entitlement is huge with the younger crowd.

I had to work decades before my first Gunther, manservant, intern.

Yes.

Get there on time. Be competent. Don't be afraid to do a little bit more, and have the self-respect to know when you're really be taken advantage of, not just getting a fair return when you'd like (or feel entitled to) more.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: Annee

Which is a shame.

I've always had higher personal standards for myself than my employer has for me. Always go above and beyond, but I'll never drink the Kool aid.

If you don't do right by the customer, they have no reason to come back. Get greedy and try and milk extra out of them and you lose volume and word of mouth advertising.

People forget the basis to good business is repeat business. They all just want to make a name for themselves and have a good quarter/year until all of a sudden people are scratching their heads and wondering why they're slow all of a sudden.

The really sad part is her boss loved her. The one she worked with every day.

But her boss was "hand tied" by upper corporation that never set foot in the store -- and only cared about the numbers.

And that's where we've gone with consumerism / capitalism.

originally posted by: Annee


My daughter worked at Macy's in the crystal department. She knew her stuff/product. She was friendly and helped customers make decisions -- usually for a gift.

New girl comes in. All she cares about is sales/numbers and pushes customers to buy.

Guess who lost hours and finally quit.

Customer service is like the worst paying jobs in the world. What makes matters worst is the so called managers are just people who worked their for a long time, never doing better in life and now they manage people.

My one son worked for KOHLS for like 6 months to make extra money. After 3 days they had him closing his station at night, smartly dressed, good looking athlete type guy. Extremely good with customers and when no customers were around he made sure everything was prefect. Every stack was perfect...He is a Electrical Engineer type person, so anything short would drive him crazy.

His manger would come by and if he was standing by his station waiting for customers she would tell him to get busy and then pick up one of his prefect stacks of folded clothing and smash it telling him to refold.... When he told me this I was like you got to be kidding me!!! lol

a reply to: JAGStorm
When you take away the reward for Work by making people's pay less and less while the rich become so far above ordinary day to day people as to live in another world it breed's discontent with work and discontent with society.

Add to this the growing feeling that government is not representative of the people and that no matter how much you work it is like flogging a dead horse and getting nowhere and you have to see it is not really the work ethic so much as the structure of society that has sapped that work ethic out of people.

When work is rewarding everyone want's to work, when it is not but is about survival they begin to feel like slaves and feel oppressed often leading to them hating the system, there boss and society in general.

Happy work place, good pay, good prospects and the work ethic soon comes back.

Remember also this affects the self employed as they need others to be on reasonable pay so that they can be paid themselves.


fixing the top strata of society is not how to fix a nation or to secure it's wealth, you have to begin with the very lowest strata of society and built it up from there.

A rich public make a vibrant retail and service sector and so make the rich actually more rich but making war upon the poor while it may give a tiny minority of the out of touch elite feel more powerful in the end destroys there own power base in the nations that they so impoverish.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Annee


My daughter worked at Macy's in the crystal department. She knew her stuff/product. She was friendly and helped customers make decisions -- usually for a gift.

New girl comes in. All she cares about is sales/numbers and pushes customers to buy.

Guess who lost hours and finally quit.

Customer service is like the worst paying jobs in the world. What makes matters worst is the so called managers are just people who worked their for a long time, never doing better in life and now they manage people.

My one son worked for KOHLS for like 6 months to make extra money. After 3 days they had him closing his station at night, smartly dressed, good looking athlete type guy. Extremely good with customers and when no customers were around he made sure everything was prefect. Every stack was perfect...He is a Electrical Engineer type person, so anything short would drive him crazy.

His manger would come by and if he was standing by his station waiting for customers she would tell him to get busy and then pick up one of his prefect stacks of folded clothing and smash it telling him to refold.... When he told me this I was like you got to be kidding me!!! lol

So sad. Job future not looking good if you don't have a specialty that's needed.

My kid now drives one of those giant trucks in a goldmine. Much better.

As with some others, I have had both good and bad outcomes. When I was in the Navy reserves, I busted my ass, always gave it everything I had. As a result, I got a huge promotion and was able to retire at a higher paygrade than I thought I would be able to.

Meanwhile, shortly after my huge military promotion, I also busted my ass at my civilian job. I went above and beyond. My boss took notice, and we discussed modifying my job description to reflect all the work I took on. There were rumors about the union voting to bump people, and we naively thought showing all the hard work and duties I took on would deter anyone from wanting to bump me. Well, you know they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The person who turned out bumping me a few months later said she was excited because she wanted to bump into a challenging position that had a lot of duties. It backfired. I wound up bumping a few notches down, took a significant hit on my hourly pay to a position that had a lot less support and a lot more stress. It took a long time to recover from that and climb my way out.

I always worked super hard in everything I did in the 37 years I worked. And for 10 years, I worked what was essentially two jobs. By the time I was 55, I was just done. I retired for good on my 55th birthday. I was so burned out, and the politics from the job I retired from were getting untenable. I also had a very toxic bully of a supervisor. No matter how hard I worked, she got her rocks off on belittling me. I honestly think she felt threatened. I could do her job and run circles around her and she knew it.

In many workplaces now, if you show initiative, ambition, and take on more stuff, you will just get piled with more and more things to do until it gets to the point where you are overworked and depressed.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

Even if you were part of a corporation back in the day, you could be blue collar and still buy a modest but nice house and send your kids to college.

A modest house in the 50s was 1000 sq ft and just running water and basic electricity. Outside of the outlier places of crazy prices the average price per sq ft is like 100 to 150. So taking the middle here what would a basic 50s style house cost today if it was built? I'm sure it would be well under 100 per sq ft being so minimal. Musk is trying to make the 10k home, as example.

So if we went 100 per sq ft on this minimal house the cost would be 100k. Now taking all the bells and whistles we have today out it would be maybe 75k, but sticking to 100k it comes out to about 1000 per month for everything, 800 just for house payments. If mortgage is 1/3 of your pay then we are looking at 3000 per month job take home, so 3600 gross. Single income is 22.5 per hour. The problem is we keep wanting bigger and better for the same price, and so you can afford only what you make. If you make 22.5 per hour that could be 1000 sq ft house, not a 2500 with all the bells and whistles we seem to think today is an average home.