Facebook posts are read by all… yes I know that!
The other day I was working and was asked to go along with another driver to assist with a setup. I followed him to the location and upon arriving spent 5 minutes waiting while he took a personal phone call. While waiting I sent out a twitter posting about it being rude waiting for the person who asked for you to help with one of their jobs to finish a personal phone call. I now know that it was his son calling him to wish him happy birthday. So for that one particular incident it was “my bad” and the call could be excused. To a point that is. In my opinion, what should have happened is upon arriving he could take a quick moment to tell me that he needs to finish the call, but here is the paperwork and information so I can start on the setup job. This wasn’t the first time I felt my time (and my employers for that matter) was being wasted, otherwise I wouldn’t have thought much about it (like I haven’t in the past situations). It’s become too much of a common event and I had to vent my frustration in some form. I can’t stand sitting around for a bit during my work day and then having to hustle like crazy at the end of the day to either get off on time, or to try to not work too much past my normal end of day.
I’ve stated before, and I’ll stand by my statement, that I don’t mind working hard in the least. But working illogically is one of the biggest things that bugs me. When I show up to work it is so that I CAN work. Seeing things operate inefficiently annoys me to no end, but being the “new guy” gets you left in the dark as to what might be going on for the day as the people who have been there for a long time keep that info to themselves until they feel you need to know it (and then only disclose to you what they feel you need to know).
So everyone needs to be proactive in doing their best to get as much work done in as little time as possible. Be a part of the solution, not a wrench in the works causing the problem. If everyone keeps their mind open to “what can I do now that could make my day go smoother” then everyone that’s involved will have a simpler day. Don’t put things off until later to “see what else might come up”, instead look at what is on your list right now and try to accomplish as much of it as possible as quickly as possible. Then if time permits later in the day you can do some of the “filler” work that every job has to fill out the rest of your day IF YOU NEED TO. This would minimize the times that you have to hustle so hard at the end of the day just to get that days tasks completed.
OK, that’s enough for my soapbox today. I’m sorry to anyone who was offended by my posting, it wasn’t meant as a slander, but as a frustration vent and to make everyone think about whether they are being as productive as they can be at any given moment of their day. It is by bringing topics like this to light that makes people think about their own actions.
Gerg