Who Do You Work For?

Always do more than you are paid for,
and one day you will be paid for more than you do.

Recently I was served by a rude waiter. His body language said something like: “Who gave you permission to come into this restaurant?” It took twenty minutes to get my cappuccino, and when it arrived, most of it was in the saucer. In conversation, I asked him about his job and his boss. He said: “I sure don’t want to work for this turkey for the rest of my life.”

Unfortunately, he had missed one major point about life in the workplace. You don’t work for your boss. You work for yourself.

None of your employers will be perfect and your colleagues may be lazy. But when you sign on as an employee, your job is to give your best, not to pick holes in the guy who signs the cheques.

When you only give fifty percent effort, you suffer much more than your boss. He only loses a few dollars. You lose your enthusiasm and your self esteem, and a whole chunk of your life.

“If I had a good job…”, some people believe that there are “happy” things to do and “unhappy” things to do. Not so. An interesting person can make a dull job interesting. This doesn’t mean that an out-of-work banker ought to wash cars for twenty years – but a few months might be good therapy! With our affluence comes arrogance. The retrenched architect says: “I do buildings but I don’t do windows.” Dismissed executives attach themselves to the government nipple, never considering they might wait on tables rather than draw a dole cheque.

Enjoying your work is a choice. My brother, Christopher, knows how to make even lousy jobs memorable! If I had to pick someone to help me dig a ditch or paint a roof, or smash concrete, I would choose him.

He just assumes it will be enjoyable. You can have more fun plucking chickens with Chris than you have at some cocktail parties.

You give your best not because you need to impress people. You give your best because that’s the only way to enjoy your work.