To Whine or Not to Whine

No job is perfect. I don’t care what anyone says. Some jobs are more tolerable than others and there are always duties and job responsibilities that you may not particularly like. At the present, I am working what is regarded as a menial, entry-level job in housekeeping. It is pretty much a no-brainer. You just have to follow directions, use common sense, be friendly, speak English fluently, and clean up messes. This job is probably the easiest job that I have ever had, when it comes to critical thinking skills and stress. The hard part is the annoyance of cleaning up after nasty people and being on my feet all day long.

I have had many high paying, “good jobs” in my adult working life. I am used to more professional jobs which require decision making skills, reading, writing, good communication skills, computer use, phone use, etc. These types of jobs usually pay more, but are more stressful. They are also harder to come by in this sluggish economy. This is why I am currently working in a menial position. I consider this to be a blessing, because a piece of a job is better than no job at all. Working in housekeeping beats sitting around with excess time one my hands or collecting unemployment checks hands down. Plus, I get along well with my supervisors and most of my co-workers.

This pretty much leads me to the whole point of this blog post. I don’t understand people that whine and complain about their job. There is no pleasing people that have a negative mind set. They choose to see flaws instead of the beauty in things. They bitch about everything under the sun to whomever will listen. 

It seems that they think the world should function in the manner in which they see fit. They have a distorted sense of entitlement. People like that should just move on to another job, if they perceive that things are so bad. They need to just resign and do something else instead of complaining.  Better still, they should stay home and drink their Whineken. 

The thing that inspired me to write this post is a situation that occurred on my job. This one co-worker complained about where she was scheduled to work that day. I admit that most of the staff in my department doesn’t like to work in that area of the facility. It is very tedious work, so I understand why nobody, including myself likes to work there. It is not even a hard task, it is just extremely boring and repetitive.

After this co-worker complained to the supervisors that she doesn’t want to work there, she was moved to another area to work for the day. Guess who was asked to work where she should have worked? Unfortunately, I was told to work in this co-worker’s place. I did it, but I wasn’t very happy about it.

What pisses me off the most about this situation is that nobody else likes to work there, but nobody else really complains to management about it. Maybe I am just old school, but I don’t feel that anyone should complain about doing something that he or she is getting paid to do. Aside from that, I wouldn’t want the management to label me as “lazy” or “spoiled”. So, I just suck it up and do as I am told to do. Although I might be upset inside, I try to put a smile on my face and think happy thoughts.

The other thing that pisses me off about it is that the supervisors acquiesced and moved the co-worker, and she still wasn't happy. It is disappointing to me that the sups didn’t just tell her that she had to work wherever she’s told to work. She has to get used to being placed in situations or conditions that aren’t 100% comfortable. This would have been more fair and balanced, versus just delegating an unpleasant task to another staff member.  Aside from this, she doesn't work any harder than the rest of us, therefore, she doesn't deserve preferential treatment.  I see similar attitudes of entitlement in some of the other co-workers as well.  

I won’t ever complain unless I am asked to do something unsafe or unreasonable.  Right now I am trying to pay my dues, since I am still new with the company.  I want to show the management that I am reliable and cooperative.  In this way, when I am ready to seek a better opportunity with the company, I will get a good reference.  It's very hard to garner respect from superiors when you complain too much or you don't want to work.  

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