work ethic

[Mobuck]

Where id you get yours?
Mine developed early in life at the end of a heavy leather belt. It has served me well although distinctly hard on relationships. In my "senior years" this want to has seriously exceeded my can do but I still try.
I have problems working with or even being around people who do only the minimum required and/or have a preset effort index.

 

[Watchman]

The question is, do you live to work, or work to live?
The answer to that question reveals a lot about any individual.

Without work, leisure time is meaningless and life is unfulfilling.

I learned the value of work as a kid, because we weren't affluent enough for my folks to buy us everything we wanted. I mowed lawns, washed cars, ran errands and even babysat (a girls job ) to make enough money to buy slot cars, bikes, and later on my first car. It took all summer to save enough for my first 10 speed road bike, but I was never prouder than when I rode that bike to town for the first time.

Work builds character. It keeps idle hands (the devils playground) busy.
A job well done is it's own best reward.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

My Father and the school of hard knocks.
My Father was up long before the sun came up taking care of the fields and feeding animals. Then he went to work. Then he came home and did it all over again until after the sun went down. He did it his whole life.
My first real job was when I was 11 or 12 years old. I was paid 50 cents and hour to clean the bathrooms at an ENCO gas station.
In my teen years I worked on farms , chopping cotton , irrigating fields and digging ditches .
I grew up in times where if you didn't work hard and do a good job they could actually fire you.

 

[Bob Wright]

I was taught to work from my childhood, best as I can remember that era.

But I lived by the adage, from Abraham Lincoln I believe: "The man who doesn't do more than he's paid to do isn't worth what he's getting."

I was blessed that in later years of my working life I had a job I liked, was good at it, it paid well, and I had the respect of not only my employers but of our clients as well."

That, and with the wife I have, I am a man most richly blessed.

Oh, and y'all here and having a few Rugers, too!

Bob Wright

 

[DHD]

Mobuck stated "It has served me well although distinctly hard on relationships." and I understand this very well. My father figure was my maternal grandfather and he was an old school hard a$$. Very little was ever good enough and it would frequently have to be re-done until he was satisfied. Unless you were following a natural curve of land he had a saying about fence posts where you should only be able to see one, the one closest to you. That search for perfection has stayed with me and caused me all kinds of issues with the aforementioned "relationships".

FWIW, I grew up in the late 70's and my grandfather was not a young man by any measure. The belt wasn't necessary as I wouldn't test the boundaries with him as there weren't any boundaries. It was his way only. All that said, I enjoyed my childhood and would do it again with some changes to my attitude but not my work ethic.

 

[blackhawknj]

I must have inherited it, I grew up fatherless-divorce-my mother had to work to support us, I learned early on that money doesn't grow on trees. I grew up milieus where adults went to work, nobody lying about idle, living off taxpayers, "disability"' etc. Also no drinkers, drug users, gamblers, etc. No sense of entitlement, you wanted something, you had to work for it.
"Hard on relationships" ? I have read most marital arguments are over money, I would say most family problems are money related.

 

[Fox Mike]

I guess I got mine by watching my parents and grandfather (mom's dad). No matter how tedious or meanial. If given a job you gave it your all till finished. I also learned that there are two ways to do any job. The right way or over

 

[Colonialgirl]

My Mom and Dad taught me and my brothers that IF we wanted something we had to earn it. SO Sold papers on a Navy Base Millington, TN (STILL have a 1905 mint condition liberty head nickel I got as a tip from a Sailor) and in Jacksonville, FL; Picked strawberries, picked up pecans, picked raspberries, and then cleaned rooms and floors on a private college campus and also mowed the lawns and droves Ford tractor with a rotary mower on larger fields.
So yeah, I've worked all my life and enjoy the benefits of doing so.

 

[turd]

My dad was hard but fair. One thing he said often that I will never forget, "any job worth doing is worth doing the best you can." I've lived 68 wonderful years with that as my code.

 

[blackhawknj]

"Money doesn't grow on trees."
"You're not the only pebble on the beach."
"If you earn it, it's yours."

 

[Pat-inCO]

Mine got started when I was in early grade school. If I wanted something I would
ask for it and almost every time I was asked "What did you do to earn it?" That
got me headed in the right direction.

In Jr. High School I had a very fortunate change for three years. I got a HUGE
(for 1957-8&9) $2 per week allowance. That ended when we moved to Colorado.
Guess what restarted?
If I wanted something, get a job to earn the dollars to buy it.

The funny part, at least to me, was that all through high school, of the six or so of
us about the same age (less than 100 people in town), I was the only one regularly
employed. 8)
Amazing how that works. :wink:

 

[blume357]

School of hard knocks... 38 years of spending my working time in the soot and ashes.... and I finally figure out how to be a sucessful chimney sweep, only three rules:

#1: Show up on time
#2: Do what you say your are going to do for what you said it would cost
#3: Don't pee in the corner

 

[bogus bill]

I am a slug by nature. Both my folks worked, dad told me any job is a good job. Dad came from a huge family, the oldest of ten. He had seven older half brothers and sisters. Most of his half sisters left home barely in their teens to work as maids for rich family's but all married well. None of my eleven aunts were stay at home house wives. Both my grandpa & grandma had lost their spouses young, both were Germans raised in the now Ukraine. Dad got in a fight with his school teacher and says he quit school in the third grade. Grandpa had the largest farm in the county and put him to work. The youngest of them went to college, maybe two graduated high school, the rest either quit school or got to the eighth grade. The same with moms family. Grade school was it. I started out with dirty hard bull work for peanuts. Somehow I fell into a good paying guard job and could hardly believe the job was so easy and paid so well. I always was a overtime hog so practically lived at work and think I averaged 60 to 65 hours a week for 35 years. If it was roofing or some other hard job I couldn't have done those hours. It did make me a lazy man. I never heard of a aunt, uncle or any of my forty plus cousins drawing a dime of welfare. None went to jail. Most everyone of my generation were similar. I am 79.
Now days I get the impression one out of three persons work and support the other two. Where do these sob`s get the time to protest and riot? They aint at work.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I wonder if the path of hard work that I took is such a great advantage these days? I sold papers and did odd jobs at 12 and worked almost every day until I retired from a utility company after 33 years. During those years I had plenty of chances to do easier work that would supposedly pay more money but was not as steady as the utility company. These days I think being smart and versatile is probably more important than steady work. I'm sure being smart and well educated would be a lot easier, more valuable and maybe more rewarding in a career.

 

[Gator89]

Where id you get yours?
Mine developed early in life at the end of a heavy leather belt. It has served me well although distinctly hard on relationships. In my "senior years" this want to has seriously exceeded my can do but I still try.
I have problems working with or even being around people who do only the minimum required and/or have a preset effort index.

I grew up very similar, rules were enforced by leather if/when necessary.

 

[Mike J]

I learned my work ethic from my parents. Dad was the oldest of 9. He grew up working in the fields & quit school so he could make money to help with the younger kids after 10th grade. I remember Mama telling me, "the Bible says if one will not work then neither should he eat." I have honestly had it pretty easy. I did odd jobs around the house for an allowance in my early teens & cut grass when I could for more money. My first job was washing dishes. The next was warehouse work loading trucks. Since then I did a brief stint I would describe as shuffling paper, spent 5 years working at a printing plant & the last 31 doing Sheet Metal work. One thing Blume touched on. Showing up, showing up on time & being willing goes a long way.

 

[blackhawknj]

I have known plenty of people who got their work ethic from the BAD example set by their parents and families, they decided they wanted something more than a hand to mouth existence, living from paycheck to paycheck-or welfare check to welfare check.

 

[Jeepnik]

From my dad. He raised 4 kids, bought houses and cars and paid all of his bills. He did all that by getting up every morning and going to work. Sometimes long hours, sometimes really hard physical work. But, he grew up during the depression, fought in that little dust up called WW II and like I said raised 4 kids (3 girls, which is a trial all in itself) all of whom raised kids, bought houses and cars, and one of us fought in that very little dust up in SEA.

 

[contender]

I too give credit to my parents,, with a bigger nod to my Dad. He too lived during the depression as a teen, served WWII, worked hard, saved & was frugal with everything. I can still hear him say; "Work smarter,, not harder!"

I'll admit to a desire of laziness in periods of my life,, but I always knew that if I wanted something, I had to work & earn it. So,, that desire was stifled.

 

[vito]

Never thought about where my work ethic came from. There was no choice, you work or you starve. I never doubted for a moment that my responsibility was to provide for myself and my family. The reality that I found my work meaningful and of value was just a bonus. I spent my first 24 working years in the U.S. Army, then "retired" and started a second 24 year career in the nursing home field. At 70, after 48 years of continuous full time employment, I decided it was time to retire, and I have enjoyed being work-free for almost 7 years now.

What is happening in our nation now is distressing when it comes to work. I have a nephew whose son was laid off, but due to the extra pay the government mandated for the unemployed, he is making more money weekly by doing nothing than he did when working. He is in no hurry to go back to work since this is such an easy gig for him to just sit around. What a poor lesson our government is teaching by making it easier to not work than to work.

 

[Watchman]

What is happening in our nation now is distressing when it comes to work. I have a nephew whose son was laid off, but due to the extra pay the government mandated for the unemployed, he is making more money weekly by doing nothing than he did when working. He is in no hurry to go back to work since this is such an easy gig for him to just sit around. What a poor lesson our government is teaching by making it easier to not work than to work.

The Democrats are just looking to expand their base.

They'll have those lazy trash voting Democrat for the next 200 years...

 

[bogus bill]

The irony of it is those lazy azz`s on the dole`s vote counts just as much as us dumbbells that worked and paid taxes all our lives.

 

[InjunBro]

Mom's side of the family were mountain Mohawks who hunted, logged, cut firewood & fence posts, made maple syrup, etc. If it was light enough to see you were outside working, when it got dark you worked by lantern light. Dad's side was Dutch flatland farmers who worked 15-16 hours a day... unless there was a problem & then you worked day & night until it was fixed. The only pay I got was meals & clothes. I ran a trap line for spending money. I hunted but had to account for each bullet. I had to earn/save the money for a gun. I got a job running a bulldozer the day after I finished high school & thought I had the world by the tail - only had to put in 12 hour days. It must have carried over, our son works 6 days a week as a mechanic, welder, machinist, landscaper or whatever is needed @ the moment.

 

[Tensaw]

Six kids in our family and mom stayed at home raising us. Dad worked for a railroad so it paid ok. But if we wanted money we had to work for it. I cut grass as soon as I could push a mower. Started working at a service station/corner store when I was 15. Made road calls before I had a drivers license. I have always been proud of my work and wanted people to be proud of me. Working at that Gulf service station really developed my work ethic.

 

[Jeepnik]

Anyone ever notice that the folks who hang out here have similar backgrounds, work ethics and morals? I wonder what that says about us as a whole.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I learned early in life that if I wanted things I had to earn the money to pay for it.
I started working as a kid when my father would rent me out to the farmer at the end of the lane to do chores like cleaning out the dairy barn and stacking hay bales. Don't know what it paid...my father kept that money. He was an assistant manager at a gas station and would take me to work with him on days I wasn't in school to pump gas, wash windshields, fill oil bottles, etc. He would give me a dollar each day to spend.

At 14, I got a work permit so I could get a summer job working for the trip county youth corps for "economically disadvantaged youths".
At sixteen, I was working part time at a truck stop and a restaurant...earning enough money to buy a used car and have some spending money.
I quit college just before I turned 18 and got a full time job in the Steelworkers union with a company that manufactured boilers and HVAC.
That lasted 28-1/2 years until I got downsized in 200. Transferred my Steelworkers membership to a local at a company that built printing presses but that only lasted about a year and a half before the parent company moved the manufacturing to Austria.
Then I found a job working for a spice company and stayed there from 2002 until I retired in 2018.
Always managed to make a fairly decent middle class living and retired at 63 with two pensions.

Would I have done better if I had stayed in college back in 1972???
No idea... I have done OK. I have most of the toys that I can want, a fairly substantial library of military history books, a nice house, nice vehicles and my only debt is a very manageable mortgage.
Certainly not wealthy but I am comfortable financially and have enough disposable income to fund my interests and deal with any unexpected expenses.

All because I have always had a strong work ethic. Everything I have was paid for by me.

 

[Mike J]

It is interesting how many people that responded stressed the importance of doing a job right. That is something I have had to somewhat break myself out of. Both when I worked in the printshop & in the construction industry many employers want the job done just right enough. In other words they don't want the time taken to get things exactly right if "good enough" will get by. I have been messed up at times by trying to do things too right.

 

[Poco Oso]

Dad was a Marine for 20 years, and a mechanic after he left the Corps. Mom was a homemaker. They started me and my two sisters out washing and drying dishes as soon as we could reach the sink standing on a chair. Worked in the yard at home, and spent the summers working on my Uncle's farm, until I got my first paying job at thirteen. (75 cents an hour flipping burgers) Four years in Uncle Sam's Brown Water Navy, then sarted working as a cabinet & furniture maker/wood carver at twenty three. Opened my own shop in 1994 and retired in 2011. Got a divorce in 2017 and have been doing remodels and handyman type work to stay busy and alive since. I have also been accused of "overworking the job" many times. I was taught young, that "good enough" was never good enough, and have done my best to honor that.

 

[eveled]

Sounds to me like you all were born with the white privilege I’m hearing so much about lately! Lol.

Work ethic is tough to hold onto when you feel like you get beat down every time you move up. Most of my work career has been climbing a ladder sinking in quick sand.

Some time I want to roll over and die. Instead I just put my boots on and go to work. Then come home and do the dishes. Vicious cycle.

 

[blackhawknj]

I learned early on that there is a great deal of satisfaction and happiness that comes from being as self reliant as possible and not having to depend on others. And I learned that when you do not do something right the first time you will be doing it over and over again-and often at the most inconvenient times until you learn to do it right.