You are in McDonalds.
You order food.
the man at the counter moves slowly.
Too slowly.
He bills slowly.
He serves slowly.
You get your order after 15 minutes.
Tortoises are faster than that.
You are in a garage.
Your regular mechanic is not there.
Your bike has an oil leak.
It needs to be fixed.
The replacement mechanic looks new.
He does what looks like a jugaad job.
You pay your money.
And you drive off.
Somewhere down the road, it starts leaking again.
You curse and go back to the garage.
2 hours wasted.
You manage a team of 20.
You finally land an awesome project.
But the manpower is a bit stretched.
Two of the team are non-performers.
You work yourself haggard.
So does the rest of your team.
The two non-performers work their quota too.
But that is not enough.
The deadline is not met.
You do not get paid well.
What’s common between all the incidents?
Disgruntled employee? Maybe.
An employee not happy about his job?
BINGO.
If we just sit down with the guy who didn’t serve you well at McDonalds and talked about his side of the story, we would probably get sympathetic for him. He probably wants to complete his Masters education and wants to do business and go abroad. We hear his side of the story, and we become like Alia Bhatt in Highway – converted.
Why?
Because we feel the same too, right?
Not really happy with where we are. We want to do better. Go abroad. Earn millions. And while the McD guy dreams about his future goals, the burger patty has over-fried, the french fries are not seasoned and there is a big line of customers who are getting pissed. And at this point it is just plain insensitive to tell him anything, right? Now that we empathize with him.
But the fact remains that he screwed up, and he is not doing his job well.
Yes, it might just be a transition job for him, but it has to be done well. We often, in our bubbles, forget to realize how much of an effect we have on outside world, even through our “insignificant” jobs. It might seem, insignificant to us, but they have ramifications beyond what we see, or we care to see – just because we are unhappy.
Just because we are in a transition job, and because we assume we are meant for something greater, it does not really give us the freedom or the right to do as we wish. It does not give us the right to come late and leave early. It does not give us the right to slack. It does not give us the right to just do what we are supposed to do, and take the paycheck at the end of each month.
We are supposed to do a good job, hell, brilliant even.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a transition job. It doesn’t matter if we do not want to end up here. If we are so ambitious to make a difference in this world, why don’t we make a difference where we are right now? We do deem ourselves competent enough, right? We do think that we are going to be great, right? Then be great at what we are doing right now.
We do not have to settle. We can still keep on dreaming. But while we are at it, let us do a good job at it.
You have a horrible boss?
Nothing new.
You get paid peanuts and work overtime?
That is how everyone starts.
We all get paid peanuts and have all been under horrible bosses. We all want to pursue our dreams. There is nothing wrong with that. But to do our jobs badly, just because we are unhappy with what we have is wrong.
Dream. Be ambitious. Get up the ladder. Try to earn more.
But when you are in that job you call “shitty”, do it well too. Because that is the attitude that will separate you from the crowd. Do it well. Hell, do a brilliant job while you are at it. Win the hearts of your co-workers. Soften the heart of your asshole boss.
And when you think the time is right, move on.
But until then, make a difference.
So that people that are affected by that job are happy.
So that you get your fries perfectly salted.
And your engine doesn’t have any leak.