I just got some really irritating news about my van so I'm going to try not to make this too negative. It's a post I've been thinking about for a while now. I really hope that this isn't a general experience. But I feel like in Rexburg, mediocrity kind of takes the cake right now. I go to the Dollar Store and it takes me 15 minutes standing in line before 3 people, all of whom have less than 10 items, and then it takes me about 5 minutes at my own turn. I know this sounds like such a short period of time. But think about it. It takes about 2 seconds to scan and bag an item. And when I only have 15 things that should take about 1 minute or less to get through the entire check out process. And yet I usually leave the kids in the car with Scott for the Dollar Store because I don't want to have to stand in line with them for 20 minutes. I can't be good in line for 20 minutes, so why should they have to, right?
My experience is, granted, limited to my husband's department for the most part. But it blows my mind the students that keep jobs here. At the moment, Scott has a really competent crew, but it's taken some hard work, some serious talks, some intense training, some students graduating and moving on, and one student being fired. It blows my mind the resumes that come through. They look like they were written by a 4th grader! No use of spell check, incorrect grammar, messed up formatting. I mean, come on. This is a college job at a university. Use spell check and have someone proof read! And yet, people with resumes like that get hired. All the time.
The other day, Scott came home kind of frustrated. You can debate the honor code all you'd like, I'm not here to talk about that. I'm just here to state facts. Beards are not allowed on campus. You must be clean shaven. Scott and one of his coworkers have headed up trainings each semester for all the students department-wide where they thoroughly outline the expectations of the job. Grooming is one of those areas they talk about. And yet, every time students from one crew show up to work, without fail, at least one has foregone shaving for the day. Eh, it's not his student, so who cares, right? Right. That's what I thought at first too. Until people outside of Scott's department started talking to him about how "his students" aren't clean shaven. For the record, these aren't his students, but because he is the audio engineer and is actually present in the room instead of a remote location, they assume he's responsible for them. So Scott has taken to letting their supervisors know they aren't dressing in the prescribed "uniform" for the job when others point it out to him. They usually just say thank you but nothing ever changes. Well one day things were going particularly rough and some of the students from that crew hadn't even bothered to show up for work and the one that did wasn't clean shaven. The response from the supervisor when informed of the shaving neglect was "that's the least of my problems today." Well, good sir, I would tend to disagree with you. I think it's the crux of your problems. You can't get your students to dress appropriately for the job (a VERY basic and fundamental part of employment at any level). Why do you expect them to take you seriously? Why do they still have their jobs? Because everybody is afraid to look down on mediocrity. That's why. We can't offend anybody. We can't judge anybody. Well guess what? Two of your three people didn't show up to work. That's not a first time offense rule breaker. That's someone who's been getting away with little things for so long they don't value their job. They feel entitled to have it. They know they won't get fired because, hey, they haven't yet.
My van. Oh, my van. The AC quit working. So we take it in. They say it's leaking coolant and "fix it." Then, a few weeks later, it's not working. So we take it in. They say it's leaking from somewhere else and they "fix it" and give us a "discount" on labor. Which basically means, "hey we should have caught this leak and didn't so we won't charge you for having to tear into your van again." Or "Hey we broke that when we were in there so we'll try to keep a customer." Well, then, a couple weeks later it's not working again. Now, as a 16 week pregnant lady this is starting to get really irritating. So we take it in again, when they find out that a $900 something repair is needed because apparently they missed the sound the AC was making every time the car turned off. Well here's the thing that's odd to me. I told them about this sound. All. Three. Times. So apparently the evaporator core is out. Oh, like the main part of the AC? And you're just now catching that? I guess the guy that worked on it said he listened for the noise but didn't hear it. So here's my thoughts. I told you it was making a sound like a CD spinning in a player, only loud. That's the exact sound that means the evaporator core is out. So you started the car once and didn't hear it? How would I make that up? Are there no other tests you could have run to check? The way I see it, it was very clear from the beginning what the issue was and they ignored me and didn't bother looking into the information I gave them. And now they want to charge me almost $1000 to fix it? Mediocrity. Needless to say, I picked up my van. I'm tired of paying hundreds of dollars to not get it fixed.
I'm trying to figure out what exactly is causing this epidemic. Now, don't get me wrong. There are SO MANY people who work hard, who adhere to standards and values, who excel at what they do. But I'm making a statement that in general this generation isn't quite measuring up to the "work hard, work smart" mottos of generations past. Is it the rampant use of technology for less than useful things? Is it the fault of parents? But ya know? I think it's caused by the new movement in society. You all know the one I mean. The one where "we can't have morals or we are bigots" and "what's right is defined by every person in their own situation" or "what's right for you is right, regardless of what anyone (including God) says." The one that says, "If anyone tells you that you are doing something wrong, they are infringing on your rights or discriminating against you." The one that says, "You are entitled to whatever you want."
So let's stop celebrating mediocrity. Let's instruct our children to do things right. To ignore the lies of the world. To take correction humbly. To care about other people and how their actions and the kind of job they do affects them. To reach their potential. To strive for excellence.
Well said.
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