This will make me sound old but I have to say it:
What happened to work ethic?
I own 2 comic/game stores. I built them from 800.00 cash and a desire to be the best. I started when I was 18 and after 10 years things are coming together. I have gone through a lot of employees in that time and I have noticed one thing consistently.
Nobody wants to work for anything. They just want you to give it to them. I have tried it all...good pay, incentives, pep talks, meetings, bonus stuff and anything else I could think of. The people that work hard will work hard regardless of how much they get paid. The slackers will slack no matter how much they get paid. I mean come on...it's a comic store. We're not digging ditches here.
What I want to know is why I seem to stay late every day to make sure everything is running smooth. The answer is that nobody seems to care about their job or take pride in their accomplishments. I have had employees in the past that were proud to do their job well so I know they exist. It just seems like it's getting harder and harder to find those people.
Is it too much to ask that people care about their job? Apparently so for some folks. Lots of people have told me that I shouldn't expect so much. Well I do. Why? Because if it was me I would work hard to be the best at whatever I did. It's just the way I'm wired and I expect that kind of performance from people who work for me.
But perhaps that just isn't realistic and I should settle for mediocrity. I refuse to. When you settle for mediocrity in ANYTHING then it's a slow spiral down the toilet. Maybe everybody needs to stop settling for mediocrity. I mean nobody seeks out restaurants with mediocre food or searches for stores with mediocre product and prices.
Resist Mediocrity...it's not just a bumper sticker!