Man, I know how it is. For whatever reason, the boss always singled me out. I was the one who always caught the vibe that the boss had a problem with me. I was the one who got wrote up. I didn't get raises that I deserved, and I never got the slack the other guys always got. I never even got a promotion. I always got screwed. My bosses sucked.
Actually, none of those things ever happened to me. I was the one who did get the raises and promotions – on every job I ever worked. And now as a boss myself for the last 30 years, let me give you some advice.
- Show up for work. If your job is five days a week, be there five days a week. I know guys who have never missed a day of work in years. Being “sick” every other Monday means you can't be counted on and you won't be.
- Be to work on time. If you're always 15 minutes late, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier. I always live by the rule: five minutes early is 10 minutes late. I was raised on a dairy farm, so getting up at 4:00 AM – every day – is in my DNA and a whole lot of my friends were “farm kids” who also did the same. We all survived.
And don't stay up till 1:30 in the morning playing video games – you know have to get up and go to work in the morning.
I always tell my “wayward” employees, the fastest way you'll get shown out the door is to not come through the door.
- You don't deserve a raise just for showing up on time. That's a required part of the agreement from when you were hired. It's not an effort “above and beyond”. You get a raise by earning it. Doing the minimum required work does not make you one who “deserves a raise”. A mentor to me who became one of my best friends, named Ken Otsubo, once told me, “Ernie, always get to work early. There will be a time when the boss needs something done right away and you’ll be the only one there. He will remember that.”
- Get along with the other employees. Don't get into arguments or fights with them. Leave other people's stuff alone. Be courteous and kind to those you work with. If a coworker needs help or you can show them a better way to do something, help them. Be that guy. Unless your boss is deaf, dumb, and blind, he'll notice.
- You get a raise or promotion by showing that you are capable and willing to do more. Businesses don't work off the premise that “give me more and I'll do more”. That's the view of a shortsighted employee. They work this way – do more to get more. That's when you “deserve” a raise.
- Don't complain. I guarantee that what you're doing is not the hardest job in the world or under the worst conditions known to man. No one, not even your coworkers, likes a complainer. Whatever job you have, there are millions of other people in the world doing a lot harder job than you are. Cowboy up – be a man – not a “weasel wimp.”
- Don't steal stuff. I've caught people stealing all kinds of things from valuable products and tools all the way down to rolls of toilet paper. Being a thief will never get you anywhere in life, and you'll end up with one of those hard jobs while you're also doing “hard time”.
- If your break time is 15 minutes long, don't take 20. If your lunch is 30 minutes long, don't take 35 or 40. The results for you are going to be the same as showing up late for work. You're not going to get that raise you think you “deserve”. You're going to get written up and you're going to eventually get terminated.
- Know who you really are. If you work in a place where everyone around you are A-holes, including your supervisors and bosses, let me give you some advice. Go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. There's the A-hole, staring back at you. That's how that usually works.
- Be at least smart enough to know that you're not the smartest or most valued employee that the company has. This is important. Over the years – with no exaggeration – I've had seven employees make the statement, “This company would fail without me.” None of them still work for my company. I still have company.
One of my friends that I worked with a long time ago named Irv Medina, told me once, “Ernie, the graveyard is full of people the world couldn't live without.”
- Don't pay attention to what other people are doing or not doing. That's the supervisor's job, not yours. And for gosh sakes, if the guy next to you is sleeping on the job, don't do the same because he's getting away with it and you think, “Hey, why should I be working if he is not?” I learned a long time ago to avoid stepping in a cow pie. There's only one thing that happens if you do, and it's the same thing every time.
I never gave one whit about what anyone else was doing or not doing. I was there to do my job and to do it well. Some people even accused me of showing off or being a brown-noser. Well, guess what? Now I'm the one who signs the paychecks.
- Lastly, when considering someone to hire, almost all employers look for good character rather than good job skills. A person of poor character with excellent job skills is still a bad employee, and they get labeled as a “bad apple”, and bad apples are always removed from the basket. I can teach anyone how to do their job. I can’t teach someone to be a good person. Be a good person because a good person is always a better employee and it'll pay off for you in the long run.
Behave like your mom and dad are watching you. Would they be proud of your antics or behavior? Or would your children be proud of you, their dad or mom, and the example of behavior that you're setting for them?
If you can honestly – honestly – just say yes to those two simple questions, you're going to go far, you'll get the promotions and the raises, and you'll never get “hassled” by your boss.
Be the Uncommon Man.
Ernest Emerson
