Bored out of my skull while at work, I peer at my fellow workers. They range in age from 18 thru me, the oldest at Glen View Inc. We are a hodgepodge of size, shape, color, I. Q.’s, and consider all our many “challenges”… that have brought us together. Even the leadership seems…”challenged.” I cannot say at this point and time of my life I should be too judgmental, as I find myself working amongst them having numerous handicaps sorry “challenges” of my own. During this period of time all of us, “challenged” ones are happy to have jobs. Well I don’t know much about what it is, that Benny thinks and certainly don’t wish to do a Vulcan Mind Melt to find out. Benny views the world as his play box and we his fellow workers, happy or not about it we’re his play pals, we have no say so in this matter, we just are. A thought occurs to me to rate these people at this time in my life compared to when I first began employment at age 16 in 1967 and many different occupations and people I have worked with until today. I wish to try and take it one step farther and venture a guess as to how these people of today may compare to the Industrial Powerhouse of today, say China. I will act as the barometer to make all this possible. I may have bitten off more than I can properly evaluate, I graciously ask you readers to give your barometric evaluation as well so here goes.
My first job was in a restaurant as dishwasher/bus boy in High School. It required black dress pants, a white shirt with a clip on bow tie, (no kidding) a white hat for hair protection and a large white wrap around apron. To put this in perspective The Beatles were “HOT” during this time period and were probably one of the last groups to wear suits and times were a-changing in and around 1965. Please remember JFK was assassinated, the civil rights movement was a-raging, the Vietnam war was a-killing.
The bus boy/dishwasher and works his way up to grill cook and cashier while attending school. I laugh as I describe my outfit, there is no way these young men would wear that get up I just described to you. I will cross that one off the list as no way Jose!!!
My second job was as a gas station attendant. I see already I will have to describe this job for the younger ones. Once upon a time in America, there were these places you would drive into to get your gasoline. There’s what was called gas station attendants who quickly, cheerfully and in uniform put gas in your automobile, clean your windows and check your oil for you. NO, I’m not lying, this really existed, the last of “real” service! You see once upon a time there was competition, and competition is good, unlike today when just a few Oil Giants monopolize and make you pay out the wazoo for what they know you “got to have”. You see, they know they have you by your testicles and squeeze them tighter every time you fill up. Damn I went on a tirade…didn’t I … Felt real good!
Back to the job thing, you had to handle your own money and if you come up short, you the attendant had to pay it!!! I kid you not! I will cross another job off my list. The majority of these here HUCKLE-BERRIES (I absolutely loved that line in the movie where Val Kilmer tells the bad guy “I’ll be your Huckle-berrry) couldn’t handle money, make change the old fashion way of counting back to the customer the change nope! You must be quick a-thinkin.
I was an Appliance Repairman for a while, very interestingly job actually. This job introduced me to the dark side of business and owners. As a Repairman there is this thing called c-o-m-m-i-s-s-i-o-n… The Repairman could make a lot more money on that dirty word. I’ll just make this story short. The owner of this Appliance Retail Store, a local owned and operated business, was a salesman that bought this established business. This here “crook” ended up going to jail many years. I could not take advantage of poor honest hardworking individuals like myself, he could, did and spent time in prison and died a broke scumbag!!! (Maybe there is a God!) On this job you must possess common sense and some mechanical abilities. I doubt many working beside me right now could do this this job for reasons I will expound upon later.
Some time spent in different types of factories, before spending a huge portion of my working life in one. It is the early seventies by this time Richard Nixon is in the Oval Office. The Vietnam saga is brought to a halt. A small family owned business is growing and I join them. Real factory work with quotas and real supervisors that see to it, you achieved your quotas, after all this is called work for a reason. A self-motivated person can do many different jobs here. I learn every job in the department from janitor up and in no time have a job in setting up and repairing machines. I eventually take a job as Supervisor that’s immensely challenging and teaches me much about motivation. The small business grows and I grow with them.
This would be towards the end of our world dominance in industry as a nation. I was around at the time to see many changes as Japan goes to world Industrial giant. Challenging rewarding times, the old ways were gone why? We now have competition, we never had that before. We had competition within our country but not the world. Times they were a-changing both good and bad. The new competition light’s a fire and some accept the challenge, where others shrivel up and blow away.
Behold the beginning that is to shake up the world as we never knew before. The Home Computer introduced in the eighties or there about, ushers in evolution the likes of which nobody could envision, that rattles the very foundation, good and bad! From humble beginnings of Apple, to the instantaneous gratification of knowing everything in the world and talking on cell phones non-stop it seems sometimes, actually a computer in a cell phone today! Damn, from the small beginnings of a transistor radio made in Japan to the modern electronic out of this world gizmos, I have seen such breathtaking marvels happen in the last 40 plus years it is beyond mind boggling it is @#&*ING MIND BLOWING!!!
Flash forward a few decades, China emerges as a powerhouse and their own industrial revolution kicks into high gear, fueled by many factors which I won’t dive into here!
The workers have evolved or devolved and this is something I have seen firsthand in shaping during my lifetime I wish to jump into wholeheartedly and give my evaluation as a long time worker and supervisor. I will not attempt to be objective because I have lived it, worked it. How can I be, I’ll simply call it as I lived it. No lame brained history books to speak partial facts as someone thinks it was. I’m a simple man from the humblest of beginnings; however I have a lifetime of the good, bad ugly that I have contemplated and been a part off, I give “MY” perspectives!!!
Before I get too deep and you think “OLD GLEN” is going off on another tirade, “I WISH TO MAKE THIS OPENING STATEMENT”.
I put blame squarely on the shoulders of where I whole heartedly believe the “PROBLEMS” belong, “POOR LEADERSHIP”, the so called rulers, leaders, politicians, scholars, theologians, scientists, the managers, the parents, the supervisors etc. All I emphasize “ALL” seem to be doing a piss-poor job!!! I hear “YOU GOOD ONES” out there and I applaud you! Leader by example is the purest leadership qualities I have ever observed and definitely the most convincing and not one word need to be spoken. You walk the talk and most people will follow. This is where the problem enters the unknown realm of self-serving, self-righteousness.
It’s all about ME! How can I manipulate, connive and control existence for ME. Sadly but true at the everyday level where we are employed. You have supervisors, supervising that haven’t the foggiest understanding of the fundamentals of supervision, they KNOW diddly-squat about people!!!
Good hardworking caring workers, must be treated fairly, not taken advantaged of and USED.
Basic guidelines, rules, MUST be used to make it so!!! Namsy-pamsy leaders do not know or understand how to implement and treat people fairly.
TEAM WORK, does it exist today, I will let you evaluate that where you work and make that decision for yourself!
QUALITY OF WORKFORCE?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
FAVORITISM, WOW I COULD DO A POST ON THAT!!!
EVALUATION and weeding out, notice problems and get rid of them. There are good ones that want a job. Why keep incompetent nincapoops?
INDIVIDUALISM, too much! Individuals will be individually different and that is acceptable; however it is LEADERSHIPS job to bring them together as a team and that AIN’T being done is it???
Education, DAMN all I can say as a taxpayer. Where has my money gone for schooling?
Workers DO NOT grasp what WORK is all about. I see young people joining the work force without the slightest clue, I kid you not!!! There have never, been made to do chores at home. NEVER WORKED and you throw them into even the simplest work and they don’t grasp the concept. Don’t have the least bit of common sense. WE the parents of the last few decades have spoiled OUR children. WE have loved them too much and NOT taught them the basic survivor skills of life!!!
I COULD GO ON AND ON BUT THIS ARTICLE HAS GONE WAY BEYOND WHAT I HAD PLANNED AND NOW FOR MY CLOSING THOUGHTS. (IT’S ABOUT TIME, I KNOW).
We once thought we were the cream of the crop in this nation and I believe that once we were. We were built upon hardworking people of all countries. We worked hard, grew our own food, become farmers and self-reliant ones from necessity. Ones such as farmers learn all the basic fundamentals of life and survival. The farmer, his livestock, his land provides, harmony, work ethics, common sense, the values and understanding of life’s essentials and closeness through watching miracles in life renewing itself year after year for the basis of survival. How many people have actually witnessed farm animals being born, butchering your own livestock for food, raise and can your own gardens for survival?
Quite simply put WE have become weak, mentally, physically.
The Industrialized Powers of today are where we were 50 to 100 years ago. They’re hungry for what we once were! They hunger for what we take for granted!
There is another side to this equation MONEY but I’m talking about we the people!!!
I am going to give MOST of the workers I come into contact with on a daily basis a failing grade. There are some that still have that old time religion (oops) farmer mentality and individualism that is good, hallelujah!!!
GOOD people are the backbone of all good Factories, quite frankly EVERYTHING!!! WE have destroyed from within what once made us, the rest of the world have picked up the slack…
Brilliantly put. Well developed idea and inspirational. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteBy working for employers and managers who do not care, employees have learned not to care!
ReplyDeleteBack in the days when your employer cared about your welfare and wanted you to enjoy a decent standard of living (think Henry Ford) employees were much more willing to give a shite about their employers business!
What goes around, comes around...
Good post Glen! ;-)