Why do we wake up in the morning and go to work? Why are we even going to work? What’s the point of all of this? And I keep saying we like it will be a big and smart article, but it will be mostly about me, so excuse me for being an obnoxious narcissist. I’m a millennial so that’s ok. Supposedly we are more narcissistic than the other generations (gasp!)
Since I brought the millennial generation, that we so kindly were named, let’s talk a little bit about this. About my generation. I won’t dare to say that these things are generally specific to everybody, but there are things that I hear and see almost every day in my life. Either at work, either on the street, bus, social media etc.
Everyone is complaining about their jobs. About what they have to do, about the boss, about the colleagues, about everything. I generalized a little bit, but this is the feeling that I get. Everybody is complaining about everything.
We refer to ourselves as robots or slaves on a plantation. In Romania we invented a funny name for the job, namely scarbici, a combination between serviciu (job) and scarba (disgusted). Every day we put a blank mask on and go to work, just to complain about it afterward to our friends at a drink, paid with the money we just got from the job we are complaining.
We like to say that we aren’t our job, that we don’t like to work for others and we would like to be our own bosses.
I was starting to think about this. Are we really working for someone else? Or are we working for ourselves? Because let’s think a little bit about this. Everyone is working for someone else eventually. Regardless if you are the dishwasher in a restaurant, a corporate worker in your cubicle, or the CEO of your own company. You work for someone else. This is the world we are living in. This is what we call society. We interact with the people around us and offer them our services and products and they will offer us money. Money which will grant us the possibility to go and buy services and products from someone else and the cycle goes on.
You could say that everybody is working for everybody.
When we got our job we sign a contract. A contract between us and the company that hired us, in which the company agrees to give us an amount of money for our skills and time. And we agree on that. And this is how we get a job. It’s just like any other contract that exists in this world.
And if we think about it, we are acting like an enterprise of its owner. I am the Stefan Stratulat enterprise. And these are the services I offer. That’s how I got my job. That’s how everybody gets theirs.
And since I am an enterprise of its own, wouldn’t be better if I give my 100% to my client? Wouldn’t be better to work on my contract with a smile on my face, rather than complaining all the day. And if the contract, it’s too hard, go find another one more easy for you. And yeah, I’ve just called the company I work for, my client. And probably I could say the company I work with, not for :).
I always try to give my best. Not try, I give my best 100% of the time. To deliver the best possible work that I can do. I try to improve. Because my clients deserve my best. And this is what I want to give them.
But, Stefan, you might add. The money, what about the money, you might ask. And I will say that you are right, money are important because, once again this is the world we are living in.
But seriously, do we really need to reduce everything to money? Of course, I wouldn’t mind getting more money, but should that really stop me to work better? To improve myself, to grow, to give more?. Really? I think that’s just a lame excuse. The money will come. Money always come and, money always go. That shouldn’t stop me, that shouldn’t or you, to work better, to deliver and to grow. And if you think that you deserve more, either ask or go find a better client. But don’t use this kind of excuse to complain.
It’s not always about the money. It shouldn’t be. I think it’s degrading to us as human beings to reduce everything into money. It should be about the principles and ethics. It should be about us.
Do I sound crazy? I might be. But in a world full of crazy people I think I’m fitting in quite ok.