 |
| by Chris McMediocre of AccordingToWhim.com |
I’ve often felt like I’m a
mediocre employee who seems indispensable because I stay busy and I start to
seem better than all the other mediocre to useless employees that I work with.
I find it sad how easy it is to seem like a good employee by just doing what’s
actually expected of you. I work full time. I show up a few minutes late almost
every day. They don’t complain though, because I stay busy the whole time I’m
on the clock. I work late. I rarely ask off. I only call in sick if I’m so sick
that I’m a danger to myself or others. 9 times out of 10 when I’m asked to work
an extra shift, I do it. The sad part is there are employers out there right
now wishing they could hire me, even though I probably just described how most
employees should treat their jobs, and admitted that I have trouble getting
there on time.
that you can operate in on the mediocre side of being an employee. The first is
an odd open rebellion that says, “I’m not performing any tasks that I don’t
want to.” It’s that weird headspace where some people believe that they have
control of their life because they rebel against their boss. They later
complain that the boss just hated them and turned all the other employees
against them. The truth is that everybody just hates having to pick up their
slack, but they won’t tell you that story. The second is doing the least that
you can do while still doing your job task and doing a slight bit extra. It’s
amazing that you can actually be this lazy and still look… well, amazing.
negative attention to yourself by trying to get paid for doing nothing. Or you
can do your job and seem amazing. The problem with the first option is that
eventually they get rid of enough weak links that you’re suddenly the weakest
link. The upside of the second option is that somehow there will always be a
weaker link.
ability to be a good employee when I actually care about the results. When that
happens, I actually engage with the job and do things that matter, not just
what needs to be done. I just tend to default to mediocre. It’s still better
than sometimes being mediocre and defaulting to being a weak link in the chain.
could have written a shorter blog post, but you know what? I’m not editing if I
don’t want to. And don’t you dare turn the other bloggers against me.