The way I see it, TIME IS TIME.
Did it ever occur to you that for every precious second that you take from your job and refusing to be productive, that it actually equates to an act of stealing.
Hmmm. Never thought of it that way huh?
I know of someone who worked at one of the small hotels on Nevis and when the Four Seasons Resort came on stream, she was one of the hundreds of individuals who showed up for job interviews. She got the job and for the first month or so, seemed to be enjoying the experience.
By the way, the money was SWEET. She was getting almost twice her usual paycheck, for the same period.
Then reality struck and she went back to her former employers and fortunately was able to get back her job.
The problem? Well, she soon discovered that resorts like the Four Seasons are PRODUCTION DRIVEN and therefore were more concerned that the needs of the guests are met in a timely manner.
They are stringent on time. Punctuality is key.
She soon discovered that despite her wage increase, she just was not happy.
She could not just ask her supervisor to allow her an hour to pay bills or do some other ‘necessary’ errand in town.
She could not just take off the day, if her child was sick. She had not calculated the privileges to which she was accustomed at her former place of employment and thus could not cope with the new way of doing things.
Private sector businesses are like that. TDC, Horsfords, Social Security and such like, are like that.
As a matter of fact, some of these businesses give incentives for regularity and punctuality at work and put punitive measures in place for those persons who are consistently late.
As a matter of fact, the workers know the literal meaning of the term, ‘time is money,’ because your late minutes could be reflected in crucial deductions in salary.
Sadly, in the government service, this is still lacking. The Hon. Wendy Phipps—recently indicated her drive to ensure such high standards within the government service and I do wish her well.
I remember one day, I went to a certain government office. The office is scheduled to be open at 8.00 am and I went there sometime after 8.30 am. Shockingly, it was closed and no one had reported there for work as yet.
Well I newa!
At about 8.45 am, one of the workers arrived and as she approached the door, she exclaimed: Oh,——aint reach yet? She has the key!’ Well, around 9 am or so, ——arrived with the key and I finally got my business transaction on the way.
I had to return for a document, so I went back at 3.30 pm. I knew the office was scheduled for closure at 4 pm.
I met ——–coming down the stairs and I politely remarked: ‘Oh you got off early today.’
‘No,’ she said, matter of factly. ’I am going to get my hair done!’
Well I newa!
So herein lies my problem. When we treat the people’s work like that, we are ultimately and deliberately STEALING…and all TIEF ah TIEF!
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?