Whatever job we take up, we do so out of choice. It is up to us to deliver it using all the resources we have at our disposal or find another job rather than complain about the very job we once desired to have.
On my commute from office to
home in the Volvo bus, I saw two young ladies boarding the bus even as they
were busy discussing their professional progress, annual appraisal, benefits of
one job over the other, should they consider job-hopping and things like that.
Suddenly, one remarked, “One shitty job is like another shitty job” leaving my
mouth open. The girls were commuting in an AC bus, with a laptop hanging from
their shoulders and an office tag from their necks, so it was obvious they worked
in a swanky office of a software company of repute, one of many in that area.
Yet, they called their job shitty.
I could not take my mind off
their casual remark. When a person is unemployed or looking out for a job, the
wish is to land a good job but once the job becomes routine, people begin to find
excuses as to why it is boring, not to their taste, so on and so forth. They
fail to realise that this job was the very one which they desired to have when
they were jobless.
Nothing remains new forever.
Whether it is a job, a relationship, a neighbourhood or something else,
everything loses its sheen sooner or later. But it does not mean that it has to
remain so. The good news is that each one of us has the capability of making
pleasant change/s in the current situation to transform the mundane into meaningful
or even magical.
The photograph I have posted
on top of this article is an example of what I attempt to say. It is one of the
many commonly seen carts of vendors selling roasted peanuts and this one was
outside a mall. There were many other carts vying for attention of the visitors
to the mall, but this young vendor had strived to make his cart stand out – and
his job interesting – by creatively arranging the cones in which he would give
the peanuts. Surely enough, only that cart drew my attention, none other. I
liked the efforts he had taken to make his cart look attractive without any
extra investment.
A resort that I recently
visited allows its guests to get their pets along, so they don’t have to worry
about leaving them behind, and hence thoroughly enjoy their stay and recommend
it to others also. The resort also has its own pets so that people who love
animals but can’t keep them at home for whatever reason can enjoy their company
in the resort. If reviews on social media are anything to go by, the place is
doing really well, but the icing on the cake is that the resort manager and his
staff now have the pleasure of having new pets visit them every now and then so
there is so much fun amidst work. It’s a win-win for the guests and the resort
staff.
One of my gardening friends
persuaded his office administration to spare a small area around his office
building and started a vegetable garden, which he and his colleagues tend to in
their spare time. The produce is distributed on need basis. They say this is very
therapeutic and a healthy way to break the monotony of a desk job.
Coming back to the ladies,
they could take up something worthwhile to engage in – volunteering for the
deprived, visiting a hospital with terminally ill patients, even learning
something new – atleast once a week.
We often fix a date for everyone
in the team or the department or the entire office, to come to work dressed in
ethnic wear. A few of us have had potluck lunch sessions that invariably
involved sharing of recipes and exchange of health trivia during and after the
lunch. A senior executive used to distribute red roses to all women – even the
housekeeping staff – on Valentine’s Day. Come February, everyone used to look
forward to this single rose from the gentleman. All these are examples that even
small initiatives infuse excitement into the atmosphere.
Instilling freshness into
the ordinary does not have to burn a hole in the pocket, or take up all the
time on hand. It all depends on the willingness for where there is a will there
is a way.
I have only suggested on how
employees can help themselves. Organisations or workplaces have specific
functions within the HR department to focus on things to do to keep employees
engaged in their jobs, so that they do not feel frustrated with the drudgery of
their work and look out for ‘interesting’ options elsewhere. That will be the
subject matter of another article if not another book.
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