Work Hard & Be Nice to People

Found this posted by Scholastic on FB yesterday ... 

...with a comment saying this was the key to success.  What do you think?  Is it?  If so, how come so many people take the easy road?  How come so many people who have a good-paying job have such a poor attitude and do the bare-minimum-for-survival to keep that job?  In my profession, as in many, that could be called malpractice.  

What happened to the work ethic?  When did "good enough" become the mantra?  When did we stop listening to our mothers?

SOURCE

I'm sure you have all encountered the employee who just doesn't give a shit.  You can almost excuse it at McDonald's or the grocery store (oh, never at Wegman's though!) because most of these people are working temporary jobs -- or they're students working for the dime.  But it has almost become the norm nowadays.  

It bothers me tremendously that people don't want to work hard.  Okay, I complain about my work load, or the hours, or the miscreant children I encounter from time to time, but it never sways me from doing my best.  I like working hard and the satisfaction it brings from knowing I'm doing my best. In fact, most of the time I try to figure out how I can do more or be more effective.  I'm constantly striving to be better than my best.  Where did that drive for self-satisfaction go?

I think we've swapped self-satisfaction with self-gratification.  Our lives have become too easy, too filled with ways to distract us from our work, too inundated with technology that lets us play and communicate perhaps too easily.  We want immediate results and don't have the patience to wait for anything.  Hell, we can't even solve problems anymore.  What happened to innovation, intuition, and ingenuity?  Perhaps that's why people can elect a president based on what he can do for "me."  We look to a government to make our lives easier, but with more governance we end up with less personal freedom.  All of that "free stuff" has a price.

And now I stop.  Peace offering.  Here's a little giggle on the topic.  Oh, and listen to your mamma.  Work hard and be nice to people.