I think we were discussing awhile back that I try to work hard and I rarely turn down work and therefore I have time management issues, and that one of my pet peeves is people who actually HAVE jobs and yet, seem almost pathologically unwilling to do them for some reason. By this I mean, if you are working at my post office, and I come in during business hours, and I have a lot of packages, I would like you to conduct my transaction without rolling your eyes, or commenting on how I could have “done this online,” because HELLO YOU WORK THERE I AM BUSY PLEASE LET’S GET THIS DONE.
As I mentioned in the last post, I have no problem saying something if, for instance, someone is creeping up on me in line, so why should it be a surprising to you that if someone is complaining about doing their job, I would call them on this as well? I am that person who calls people on things, dude.
Uh oh, here it comes. You’re uncomfortable again.
Because I don’t just say something. I…..say something. You know what I mean? I will call it out. And in fact, I get a little carried away with it sometimes, and occasionally, I have been known to actually fire people who don’t actually work for me.
Fire people, you say? But… that is insane. And yes, it IS a little bit crazy, but every once in awhile someone aggravates me so much, for no reason at all, I say “You know what? You’re fired.”
That really throws people for a loop. This unauthorized firing has happened several times, and each time, the person in question says something like “Um….I don’t even work for you.” This makes me laugh, and I usually reply: “No, but if you keep working like this, you are going to get fired, that I promise you.”
I know, it sounds mean. But, you guys—I honestly do work really hard, and most of the people I know work really hard, and when I take something on I try to do it the best that I can, and when I see someone who is collecting money and doing the absolute bare minimum, somehow I feel I must tell them about a future time when they will, in fact, be fired. I will admit that I frequently do this with lazy customer service people who work at banks (and also AT & T)—customer service people who CAN find a solution to the issue at hand, but are clearly much more dedicated to passing the buck, and we all know that the phonecall that I have placed is a waste of everyone’s time. I had a friend back in college who called this kind of practice “collecting,” as in, you are collecting your paycheck without doing any actual work. This also bothers me because I know some perfectly qualified people who are looking for work and would certainly do a better job at whatever is being done than the person in question.
And that, my friends, is why I fire people who don’t work for me.
Is this weird? Maybe. Still, I think you should try it sometime. It is quite liberating, and the lazy people’s reactions are really quite noteworthy. So, the next time you’re super frustrated, just think of me and let that person know that unfortunately, it’s not going to work out, and that they are fired.
omg, are you uncomfortable now? I thought so.
