Follow Your Passions

I used to be a waiter in a restaurant (several, actually). I spent a lot of time in that job observing people, thinking about how I can serve them better so that they would leave me a better tip. After all, in Arizona the wage per hour for waiters and waitresses is $2.13, which essentially is enough to cover at least most of the taxes on the tips you earn. Usually.

One thing I discovered early on, which I have transferred into many other aspect of my life, is to set expectations accurately, and to do so as soon as possible. If a group came into the restaurant, were seated, and then I didn’t get to them to take their drink order for five or six minutes because I was swamped (”in the weeds” is the restaurant term for “swamped”), the customers would be very agitated when I got to them. This would not bode well for my tip. However, if I got to the table within a minute or two and just said “Folks, just want to let you know I’ll be with you shortly to get your drink order”, then they’d usually be quite fine with not getting their drink order five to seven minutes after they sat down. I managed their expectations appropriately, they felt acknowledged and not forgotten, and as long as there were no other problems with the service that evening, I was probably in line for a decent tip.

Nowadays, everyone talks about the forty hour work week in America as though it is an urban legend, continued by cruel people who want to set our expectations of corporate life in some way that is not in line with reality. True enough, many exempt employees work fifty, sixty, seventy hours a week - voluntarily! They say it’s good for their career, proves they’re team players, and you might as well get used to it now because it’s just how it is. I know people who work over eighty hours a week, and proclaim that if you want the job they have that’s just what you have to do.

If you want to work that many hours, and you’re just really passionate about your work, and that all fits in well with your perception of a quality work/life balance, then good for you - you found your place in the corporate biosphere. But I know more people who work tens of hours of overtime each week and then proceed to do nothing but complain about it. For years. They get up early in the morning, dreading to go to work. They work ten, twelve, fourteen hour days regularly and have an ambiance around them like they are martyrs, doing what’s best for the company at the expense of themselves so that they can further their career. Then, when they finally leave, they go home and complain about the day at work, and have little energy to do much more than watch television and go to sleep. Or, maybe, to log into work from home and check on things for a few hours.

Let me be so bold as to suggest that there may be a few questions you ought to ask yourself if you are in this boat, or more importantly, to consider carefully if you are thinking of getting into this boat.

- Are you working hard, or working smart?
- Does your manager know that you really don’t like working this many hours?
- Do you live to work, or work to live?
- Would you prefer a work/life balance, or a life/work balance?
- Have you managed your employer’s expectations accurately?

I’m not saying forty hour work weeks across the board is going to be realistic in today’s corporate environment in America. But by setting people’s expectations to be that you are going to work smartly, diligently, and passionately during the hours you are at work, in order to work less hours and spend your evenings and weekends happy and enjoying your life outside of work (enjoying the fruits of your labor), you can probably find a happy medium somewhere between forty hours a week and where you are today. When you find it, stick to it. You’ll be a much happier worker, which translates into increased productivity, could boost the morale of those around you, and will improve the quality of your time outside of work.