When does giving and caring become stupid. This may be it! Yesterday, I went to work for 6 hours...free. Yes, I gave the greedy corporate America execs, my time for nothing.
I work in the sales dept. for the biggest uniform company in America. The machines in the plant have been breaking down, off and on, for a month now. The compressors went out for a full day, which meant the whole plant, just about, couldn't function. People have quit, the temps don't show up or they are just lazy workers. Uniforms aren't getting laundered in time for the next delivery, items are lost in the mounds of laundry. The plant employees just seem like they are at the end of their rope, they all have hopeless attitudes that are almost rude, but understandable.
So, I start hinting around to management that they all need to pitch in and help another department that is in obvious trouble. You can imagine the response....zero.
So, the GM's secretary asked me if I wanted to come in Saturday. I, of course, said yes. Maybe we could help a little and set an example. I started to spread the word and was told that I could not work since I was hourly. I said I was volunteering, that I saw someone in need and I wanted to help. Again, I was told I could not....of course, I did! I informed 6 managers, suprisingly--not, none showed up. Lynn and I showed up, along with a service supervisor and 2 manager trainees. The plant supervisors and ladies in the back were so happy and thankful and I must say, we pushed some garment through that plant!
I really left there Saturday feeling great about what we had done, but in the back of my mind there was a little feeling of regret. I almost hate the fact that I helped corporate execs that get fat quarterly bonuses, obviously not for caring about their company nor customers, but only caring about the bottom line. And the way our customer satisfaction surveys are going, it really shows.......I'm surprised we have the amount of business that we do!
Did I do the right thing? I have my doubts.
