It's not Wednesday yet?
Ah, a new day. It's really nice that we get to sort of start over each day. For whatever reason yesterday was not the best day. The little things kept bothering me throughout the entire day. When I arrived on campus, the girl who was supposed to be working was not only late, but seems to leave within 10-15 minutes (every week) for what seems like longer than a "potty break". Now, I say she was supposed to be working; as a student funded by a department at a university, typically you have hours where you either teach, hold office hours for tutoring undergraduates, or you may grade assignments for professors. This student has office hours and, reiterating, was late and just left without concern that she was leaving a computer lab open for anyone to walk into. One of the things we are told when we begin here and if we teach/tutor, is to never leave the computer labs open if there isn't a graduate student in there. This may seem like a small thing since she was only gone for 5-10 minutes and "what could someone do in 5-10 minutes?" but in the end, it's our asses if something were to happen. I won't keep ranting about this girl in particular, but let's chat about work ethic in general.
This is something that BOTHERS me (blog heading) with most people my age and seems to be spreading to older people in the work force too (or maybe it's just me that's getting older =P). I hear about people in college that want a good job right after graduation, or others that have a job but don't necessarily like it. There are tons of these situations, and in all the execution is lacking. Whether that execution is getting a job or leaving one to find a better one. I myself can't claim to be all mighty, since I didn't have a job lined up after college. I did start graduate school instead which has been great, I've learned lots, and I feel much more equipped to go and find a (good) job. Once I find a job I'm prepared to do the best job that I can, work hard, and learn how "things work in the real world" using the skills I've learned through school. What I do NOT plan to do is wait for a job to land in my lap, or if I find one to hope that it's the easiest thing I've ever done. No, I think a person should have to do some real, hard, and informative work. I don't want to be just a machine who works for 20 or more years saving money so that one day I can enjoy it. That is sort of the idea of a job, but hopefully a job is more than that. Hopefully you can learn things and hopefully if you don't like that line of work you'll find a new job. For the most part, I understand that people need jobs to make some money sometimes, but shouldn't you be on the hunt for something else if that's not what you were hoping you'd be doing? I'm not saying be a workaholic, or to ignore your family or friends because you jobs requires 40+ hours of your time each week. What I'm saying is that you should get something out of your job besides money. It's great to have a lot of money, almost anyone will tell you that, but it's even better if you are able to get something lifelong from your work: friends, knowledge of an industry, connections to other organizations, or heck you might even learn something new about yourself! I do think that yes, in today's job world it is harder to find something worthwhile, but if you're dedicated to the hunt, you will find something.
Mostly what bothers me are the people who think things will immediately happen *poof* like the people I see on their phones all the time getting a text message every few seconds. Then they get in the habit of expecting immediate responses or actions when that's just not how things really work. I am part of this generation of "give me immediate feedback!" and it has probably affected me more than I think, but at least I am aware of it, and I want to change that feeling. I want to modify that anxiousness I get when someone isn't thinking fast enough or speaking fast enough; that, instead of thinking they're ignoring me or not listening or don't understand me, that they're just taking time to think about what they're saying. It will happen more once I find a job too, with coworkers and bosses, and I know they won't put up with that kind of behavior. Most of the time the people you work with just want you to get your job done and do it well. If your job depends on others for feedback and perhaps they're not as on top of things as you are, then you can either do the tasks yourself or be patient. You have to realize that only some things are in your control. For the things that are, you should do the best job possible, and for the rest that's out of your control, well, there's just not a lot you can do. I'm not saying be complacent and to not care, that is not the same as patience. Complacency and patience seem to get confused with people my age. When you don't care, others can tell, and they'll just stop asking for your help or opinion. When you're patient they'll (that is, coworkers for instance) realize what you need to get your job done and start working on it. In the mean time they know you won't just stand there tapping your foot until you have what you want, you'll go get something else done. It seems so simple but can really be difficult if our society raises children with toys that give instant feedback, then they grow into teenagers and soon after adults that only know a world of instant gratification. There's so much more to this than I'm writing but there just isn't enough time in the day to write about it all!
I think you're catching what I'm saying here and I'd love you hear your opinion if you have something more to say. I didn't even touch on the globalization of our world and dealing with how children are raised in different cultures! Maybe another time.
This is something that BOTHERS me (blog heading) with most people my age and seems to be spreading to older people in the work force too (or maybe it's just me that's getting older =P). I hear about people in college that want a good job right after graduation, or others that have a job but don't necessarily like it. There are tons of these situations, and in all the execution is lacking. Whether that execution is getting a job or leaving one to find a better one. I myself can't claim to be all mighty, since I didn't have a job lined up after college. I did start graduate school instead which has been great, I've learned lots, and I feel much more equipped to go and find a (good) job. Once I find a job I'm prepared to do the best job that I can, work hard, and learn how "things work in the real world" using the skills I've learned through school. What I do NOT plan to do is wait for a job to land in my lap, or if I find one to hope that it's the easiest thing I've ever done. No, I think a person should have to do some real, hard, and informative work. I don't want to be just a machine who works for 20 or more years saving money so that one day I can enjoy it. That is sort of the idea of a job, but hopefully a job is more than that. Hopefully you can learn things and hopefully if you don't like that line of work you'll find a new job. For the most part, I understand that people need jobs to make some money sometimes, but shouldn't you be on the hunt for something else if that's not what you were hoping you'd be doing? I'm not saying be a workaholic, or to ignore your family or friends because you jobs requires 40+ hours of your time each week. What I'm saying is that you should get something out of your job besides money. It's great to have a lot of money, almost anyone will tell you that, but it's even better if you are able to get something lifelong from your work: friends, knowledge of an industry, connections to other organizations, or heck you might even learn something new about yourself! I do think that yes, in today's job world it is harder to find something worthwhile, but if you're dedicated to the hunt, you will find something.
Mostly what bothers me are the people who think things will immediately happen *poof* like the people I see on their phones all the time getting a text message every few seconds. Then they get in the habit of expecting immediate responses or actions when that's just not how things really work. I am part of this generation of "give me immediate feedback!" and it has probably affected me more than I think, but at least I am aware of it, and I want to change that feeling. I want to modify that anxiousness I get when someone isn't thinking fast enough or speaking fast enough; that, instead of thinking they're ignoring me or not listening or don't understand me, that they're just taking time to think about what they're saying. It will happen more once I find a job too, with coworkers and bosses, and I know they won't put up with that kind of behavior. Most of the time the people you work with just want you to get your job done and do it well. If your job depends on others for feedback and perhaps they're not as on top of things as you are, then you can either do the tasks yourself or be patient. You have to realize that only some things are in your control. For the things that are, you should do the best job possible, and for the rest that's out of your control, well, there's just not a lot you can do. I'm not saying be complacent and to not care, that is not the same as patience. Complacency and patience seem to get confused with people my age. When you don't care, others can tell, and they'll just stop asking for your help or opinion. When you're patient they'll (that is, coworkers for instance) realize what you need to get your job done and start working on it. In the mean time they know you won't just stand there tapping your foot until you have what you want, you'll go get something else done. It seems so simple but can really be difficult if our society raises children with toys that give instant feedback, then they grow into teenagers and soon after adults that only know a world of instant gratification. There's so much more to this than I'm writing but there just isn't enough time in the day to write about it all!
I think you're catching what I'm saying here and I'd love you hear your opinion if you have something more to say. I didn't even touch on the globalization of our world and dealing with how children are raised in different cultures! Maybe another time.
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