Have you ever had that feeling of being in the office, working really hard, giving something your best foot forward and then “they” tell you – no it shouldn’t be done that way, or “Not good enough”, or “let’s try it this way”, even though it was already discussed that you will do it the way you already completed the job.
That’s my world of work – for those of you who aren’t aware that such things can actually happen in Trinidad. I was wondering once why it is that Trinidadian workers are the laziest group of people I have ever met. Then I learned a very important word that creeps into the lives of the Trinidad worker within a year of their career on this island. That word is “Disenchantment”.
I realized for the first time that I cannot blame the Trinidadian worker for not “caring” about their job other than on pay day. I could be wrong and I could be right?
I would hope that there is always a certain level of pride when doing work. That same pride could make us feel that whatever we produce is excellent work and no one should criticize it. I am not talking about that situation. I am talking about the situation where a boss and the subordinate sit down in a room and discuss a project, agree on what the final product should look like; you, the subordinate, go and do all the work and then present it to your boss and you are told “that’s not what we agreed on”. The first few times you chalk it up to bad communication, so you start emailing your discussions to confirm that this is exactly what your boss wants. Then you start to get confirmations in writing, but yet again when the final product is presented somehow it isn’t what you discussed.
Enter “Disenchantment”. Enter the constant laughter; enter the attitude of “I really don’t care”. Enter the “I arrive at 8:15am and leave at 4:15pm, because ‘heck’ it’s not like my opinion matters anymore, so why should be at work anyway.”
Well do we really think it is all lost? Do we really think that the office environment creates drones out of its inhabitants? Many people who feel this way often get the great advice to do somethig on their own; to start their own business; to write a book; join a band. We can do that, but what if the poor person in that job who has become disenchanted doesn’t want to do any of those things. What does he/she do? What would you do? What have you seen others do? Or have you become too disenchanted to even notice?
2 comments:
Good one, H. But sometimes you're not even disgruntled in a job. You arrive late and leave early cuz you know what you are doing is really just for the money, until you can save up enough or get that break to do what you really want to do. It's no less frustrating, mind you...you pray and you go home and cry and wonder when things will look up (and then laugh at work cuz what else are you going to do??). But you still come to work and "work", knowing full well that what you are doing must come to an end soon, eventually not caring that your work will forever be questioned, because this is not what you want to do anyway.
That's just another take on what you wrote here :). Keep 'em coming!
T.
Now you're getting it! Welcome to Trinidad and Tobago!
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