During the recent presidential campaign the issue arose of the working taxpayers versus the non-working tax-takers. The liberals twisted Mitt Romney’s 47% comments but there is a segment of the population–ever growing–that takes more than it gives.
Beyond this obvious divide, I have increasingly noticed another: among the half of the country that still works, there are those who take pride in their work and do their best and there are what I call “non-working” workers. A typical example is a government worker, who we know clocks in 9 to 5, takes breaks without fail, and does not go the extra mile.
I could not get away with that in my job, but I work in the private sector.
Even in the private sector, I have increasingly noticed a lack of customer service. That is the place where we can see if people are working. If someone is slacking off at his desk, only his boss will know.
Recent examples of the non-working worker I have observed:
* In some big chain drugstores in New York, the cashier is becoming a thing of the past. Stores like CVS have self-checkout, which can be quicker than dealing with a cashier. What gets me is that they have a worker monitoring the self-checkout, serving almost as a greeter. This isn’t a restaurant. Why not have this person work instead of the customer?
* I frequently have to walk by construction sites in the City and I see many men, probably supervisors, standing around not working. I think to myself what a good deal they have. They proudly wear tee shirts indicating their union membership which enables them to have non-working yet lucrative jobs.
*Then there is the escalator on the PATH train at the first stop into New Jersey which has been out of commission for many months with no end in sight. I don’t know if the parts are coming in from China or what but what’s interesting is that day after day one can see workers standing in the escalator, laughing, staring, talking–but not working.
*At a local cafeteria, with hours from 8 am to 4 pm, some of us went for a slightly early lunch at 11:55 am. I saw the cashier who was sitting and one brave person from our party asked where the servers were. The cashier announced that they were all on break for another five minutes. I walked out because I didn’t have time to waste–I had work to do. Why not take the break at an off-hour as opposed to right before the lunch rush? And furthermore why not stagger the breaks so not everyone was unavailable at the same time?
*Finally, at a nursing home I visit many of the aides are like the cafeteria workers and take their breaks at the same time so they can chat. The problem is, with numerous, needy patients this is not acceptable. Instead of telling patients they have to wait, the aides need to take their breaks at different times so that someone is always available for the needs of the elderly, who are already so underserved due to understaffing. The most outrageous thing I have seen is when an elderly person needs help and the aide is sitting in the room and refuses to help because she is–wait for it!–on break.
There are countless other examples but these are just ones I have observed over recent weeks. It is frustrating because I think to myself that not only is there approximately half the country that does not work and receives benefits, but also even among the workers there is a difference between those who care and those who don’t.
Just like everything else in this culture we are witnessing the deterioration of the American work ethic.
