In general, women like everything about weddings. Guys like it when
the wedding is over. Having been to dozens of weddings in my life, I
have come to the conclusion that there are few things more useless
than a groom on his wedding day. He must be there, of course, or the
wedding won't happen. But in most cases, his job is to show up, hold
up the suit, speak when spoken to, kiss the bride when instructed,
and generally, not mess things up for the bride. After all, it is
her day.
It may be the only instance where "Just
showing up doesn't get the job done!", isn't completely true.
In all other areas of life, whether it is the marriage after that
wedding, volunteering to help in the local school, or in our daily
work, showing up just doesn't get the job done. Somehow in our
culture we have started to believe that we are hired to “show up”.
I have actually heard coworkers say, “I get paid to be here”, as
if their mere presence added value to the world.
So
what does get the job done? Work. Steady, constant, focused work. By
the way, that is also what employees are paid for. We are paid for
the value we add to whatever product or process we are a part of.
What would we think of an employer who contracted to pay us a
specific amount in exchange for a day's work, then decided that we
would be paid less? We would consider that employer a thief, someone
who had stolen from us. So what about when we are collecting an
hourly salary, and not working, not putting forth steady, constant,
focused work? Are we any less guilty of stealing?
People
aren't always satisfied with their jobs. In our economy we have the
luxury of finding one that better suits our ability and willingness
to put forth steady, constant, focused work and compensates us in a
manner we are comfortable with. What we must not do is find ways to
rationalize doing less than our job requires while expecting to be
paid as if showing up is enough.
