In your Reflection Blog, recall two or three
situations from your childhood or early adulthood that had a formative impact
on you. Describe the situations and relate how they impacted you. Pick
situations that have affected how you act and feel in an organizational
or team-based environment.
The first situation I can recall when growing up
that impacted me was when my best friend and I walked into a Chinese restaurant
to order some food. I was about 14 years old and can vividly remember this
young girl who could not have been older than the age of 12 working behind the
counter of her parent’s restaurant. This young lady surprised me as she seemed
to do it all. She took our order, charged us for the food, cooked the food and
packed the food for us to go. I couldn’t believe it. This young girl was
working, on a Sunday afternoon, when most other children would be playing
outside with their friends and getting ready for school the next day. She was
pleasant and kind and didn’t seem to mind that she was there at all.
While waiting for the food, another young girl, who
looked about the age of 10 or 11 walked to the counter from the back to ask her
sister a question. Again, I was shocked. This other young girl was also helping
her family run the back of the business while her sister ran the front. Their
parents, hard at work cooking the food and ensuring all of their customers were
leaving happy. Interestingly enough, I also noticed two little boys who seemed
to be the little brothers of the two young girls who were working. The boys
could not have been older than 7 or 9 years old. One was receiving assistance
from his sister on his homework, whenever she had a moment to help him between
assisting customers, and the other was fast asleep on a chair in a corner. I couldn’t
help but imagine that his exhaustion stemmed from working the first part of the
shift earlier in the day.
The dedication of this family amazed me and I couldn’t
help but hope that one day my own children would be able to know what true hard
work was at an early age, so they could also see that things in life don’t come
easy. These children inspired me to not just work hard at my young age and be
grateful for the things that I have, but the memory of it has stood with me
even now, so I can teach my daughter the same work ethic and appreciation of
life that these children seemed to have. It is a vivid memory that will always stay
with me and has taught me a lesson in itself. Not everything may come easy, but
hard work and a good work ethic can take you a long way.
Watching these children, made me realize that being
a team is extremely important to the success of an organization. In this
scenario, the family was the team and the restaurant was their organization.
They each played a part in ensuring that their business was being run
successfully and even took the time out to ensure that their personal lives,
such as the children’s school work was upheld too. Watching this family, seemed
to be the epitome of what hard effort and teamwork were.
Another story I remember that had an impact on me was
when I was working for an insurance agency as a file clerk when I was about 15
years old. The job was easy and I got paid ten dollars an hour which was pretty
good for such a young girl in high school at the time. I went to work and did
my job to the best of my ability every day. I was pretty quiet and spoke to
very little people who worked with me, unless they decided to strike up some
conversation for one reason or another. While working there, I began to notice
the dynamic of the employees who worked for this company. Many individuals
seemed lazy and when they thought noone was looking would slack on their work,
surf the web, play games, or converse through most of the day with one of their
co workers. Others were impossible to find as they were never at their desk as
they were spending a majority of their time in the break room. I also noticed
how rude everyone seemed to be with one another, which is why I had decided to
keep to myself as time continued to pass.
As I wasn’t anyone “important” in this workplace,
there was a lot that was done in front of me, that the full time workers didn’t
seem to care about as I am sure they knew I would never have the guts to speak
up about their antics or discussions. One thing that bugged me the most about
working for the firm was actually seeing the negativity that was going on in
the office. I would catch two women in the bathroom bad mouthing another woman
and calling her names, and later that day they would all be laughing and going
to lunch together. The men would do the same, talking either about another male
counterpart that they “hated” or even discussing the looks of a woman in the
office they seemed to find attractive or who was not attractive enough.
One day my boss called me into his office and said “I
heard that you don’t talk much to anyone here and people are beginning to get
the impression that you’re anti social.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Really?” I
stated. “I find that interesting.” I couldn’t believe it. The gossip of the
office had finally made it my way and I found myself having to defend myself
for deciding to not associate myself with individuals who only seemed to cause
trouble at work. “I want you to sit with one of our sales associates, Maria. She
was very much like you when she first started, anti social and all that. I think
she could help you open up to people.”
Internally I was infuriated. How dare he make the
assumption, I was anti social and inform me that I needed some type of training
in interpersonal relationships. It was a joke. This man who was obviously
oblivious to what was going on in his department and office, seemed more worried
about me, than the antics of his full time staff that were getting paid to
slack off and talk garbage about each other all day. “With all due respect sir.
I don’t come to work to make friends. I come here to work, and if I happen to
make friends along the way then that is a bonus, but it is not my sole
reasoning for being here.” My boss looked a bit shocked at the response that I
gave him, yet still insisted this training was something that I needed.
Against my better judgment I met with Maria anyway, in
hopes that this would all boil over and I could move on with doing my job and
steering clear of those individuals who seemed to like to stir the pot in the
office. While talking, Maria informed me that she too was considered anti
social because she strayed away from all of the inter office nonsense that was
going on, however after several occasions of being told that she would have to
change and become more sociable, she finally threw in the towel and adopted the
idea of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” “Just go with it she said, if you
act like you like everyone and you talk to everyone, even if you don’t, they’ll
eventually get off your back.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and
decided that day to make a change.
A week later, I quit my job. After that experience,
I decided that there was no way I was going to settle for a job where I would
have to succumb to a negative office dynamic just to “survive”. I was better
than that. I was a hard worker, with a great work ethic looking for experiences
where I would be able to gain the skills needed to start a career later down
the road. I didn’t want to have to strategically play any social or political games
while at work to ensure that everyone in the office knew me and liked me. I
wanted to be noticed, appreciated and recognized for my honesty, my integrity,
my hard work, and my love for what I did. I wanted to gain experiences that
were positive and meaningful, but most importantly I wanted to be challenged.
When I think of it now, I believe that quitting that
job was one of the best decisions I could have made. The dynamic in that office,
was one of the worst ones I have seen to date. While everyone appeared to be on
the same team, it was all just an illusion. No one there really seemed to care
about being on a team or the organizations goals. While working in this office,
I can’t say I learned a lot about what I wanted to do or who I wanted to become,
but I did learn a valuable lesson, on what I didn’t want to do, and who I would
not sacrifice myself in becoming. I have carried this experience with me over
the years and have promised myself that I would never settle for something that
I knew wasn’t right.
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