Frontline service workers - are they all that ?

Madam_X wrote: »

Well that's fair enough (if a little idealistic IMO - e.g. in relation to extremely mundane jobs which just require going through the motions in order to get them done properly anyway)

Idealistic only to those MX who lack the motivation to make it a reality. I started off my working life breading chicken in Supermacs, it wasn't rocket science, but I made it a responsible job by becoming efficient at it and making it interesting for myself- today I can do 24 pieces in ten minutes, tomorrow I'm going to aim for 24 in 7 minutes while retaining the same coverage quality. That's just a simple example of how the most mundane task can be made interesting by challenging yourself.

I trained into all the various behind the scenes work- burger prep, fries, lobby, front service (hell I even made the rank smelling Super Bunny costume look like hot shìt, til a kid took a run at me and headbutted me in the nads and floored me! ). I was eventually trained into management, but it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life, so I changed up careers when I went to college.

but it's not the same as saying "Anyone whose primary motivation for their job is money is a waster" which is a presumptuous, disingenuous, insulting and... fairly spiteful thing to say.

I'd never say something like that though, but if someone's primary motivation for doing their job is money, and they're only prepared to do their job "well" for said money, then they really don't have a right to complain that they're not getting paid enough when they're not doing any more than just the expected standard to get by. I've often come across people who I thought had the potential in them to do better, but they weren't really interested in doing better when you challenged them, they just thought they should be entitled to be paid extra for letting their untapped potential talent go to waste.

Depends on the person/job/stage in life really. I mean, a 17-year-old packing bags and cleaning the meat fridge in Tesco... obviously their primary motivation is money.

See my example above, I was 16 then, at 17 I was making myself responsible for the fruit and veg dept in Tesco, there wasn't so much as a discolored grape on display. I took pride in my work, and when I decided to move on, the store manager decided to put me on trash compactor duty for my weeks notice. I took exception to what I saw as a demotion and in disgust disrobed in his office and walked out naked through the store (even then clocking fastest naked mile run home I ever did and have had the sense never to do since! ). Last year I met a guy who was a shelf stacker when I was there and now 17 years later HE was the manager in a recently opened Tesco store I was in to do shopping. His "Oh shìt!" reaction upon seeing me walk in was priceless!

Well you shouldn't just quit and go on the dole either - it can take time to upskill and move jobs.

No way would I advocate ANYONE go on the dole, that shìt will drive you mad! You upskill while you're in a job- night courses, part time courses, distance learning, self taught and then apply for exams to get certified courses. Hell some employers will not only encourage you to upskill yourself but they'll even pay for your education and training and still pay your salary while you're upskilling yourself.


It's like I said earlier- the only limits you face in life are the limits you set on yourself.