The Manager 162 - Wishing for decline
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"The Manager" Newsletter
Hi,
I hope you are doing well and looking forward to the week ahead. Well, it was only a matter of time until COVID reached our household.
My eldest has spent the last 10 days isolating in his room after testing positive. The rest of us, at least so far, have remained free of infection.
To make matters worse, it was his birthday last week. Weird to watch him opening his presents via video call when he’s in the same house. It also changes your perception of everything. The virus is not POSSIBLY here, it IS in the house. Hence plenty of cleaning, airing the house and disinfecting everything.
Anyway, enough rambling.
Wishing for decline
I was in the London office the other week and I popped into the local supermarket to grab a drink and some treats. After queuing at the checkout I was greeted with a miserable assistant.
No “hello”, no “how are you?” just grumblings about how she wished the queue would end. She proceeded to rage at me about how the queue is never ending and why she just wanted all the customers to stop shopping.
Now, I don’t know what’s going on this woman’s life but wishing for the demise of the work that keeps you employed is quite common.
I worked with a dev once who hated the fact customers requested new features, he just wanted to build “cool” stuff. When we built call-centre software I would often visit sites and hear call-centre agents bemoaning how the calls never end. My local shop owner seems frustrated and annoyed at every customer that comes in. The local fish and chip shop owner is lucky he has no competition nearby; his attitude is awful.
But when you boil it all down - it’s their job. It’s the demand that they exist to service. Remove the demand and you remove the need for that role. Remove too much demand and the business ceases to exist.
Wishing for the decline in customers (or demand) seems a wholly fruitless activity. But it happens.
Don’t get me wrong - working in a supermarket is a tough job. I did it for 10 years - I even wrote a post on what it taught me and how I became the fastest checkout operator in the West….of Sheffield.
Now, I blame management. You get who you hire. You get the customer experience that reflects your employee experience. You get what you train and coach for.
But on a personal level I guess there are a few things you could do:
1. See the good in everything you’re doing
2. Look for something else (if that’s a possibility for you)
3. Stop complaining (especially to customers)
No work is ever thoroughly meaningful all the time. There are highs and lows. But there are always ways in which we can change the way we think about our work. And wishing for the very demise of our job seems like a thinking pattern that’s only going to end badly.
If you’re a manager hire better. Teach and Coach. Deal with poor behaviours like this. Draw a circle around yourself and look for problems there. And study what your employee experience is. After all, the customer service of a company is typically a direct reflection of the management.
And if you spend your days wishing the demand for your job would go away…what can you do?
Think differently?
Or try to make a change?
A Poem
Here’s a poem. I’m working on a few more and aim to have a short poetry book of “Dear Managers” out next year. Does that sound interesting?
Dear Manager,
I’d like to leave early tomorrow
I’ve got personal stuff that is filling me with sorrow
I’ll make back the time and deliver my work
You can trust me on this - I’m not going to shirk
Regards
The Employee
----
Dear Employee,
I think not, because I know best
Don’t you think we’d all like some time to rest?
We’ve got deadlines to meet and I’m in meetings back-to-back
We’ve all got too much to do, for you to slack
Regards
The Manager
Interesting Reads
Discovered this interesting site about tech, start-ups and innovation - all from the East. As in, not Silicon Valley.
The joy of dropping a routine
Wow - a device that helps elders stay in touch.
The power of visualising.
Embarrassing stories are a good way to start a brainstorming session.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has died
I’ve got some cool toys - said the boy who called the police. Heart-warming story.
Track your day to see where you spend your time.
Until Next Time
Rob..
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Rob..