I was reading a blog called NYCO’s Blog, which usually talks about things and thoughts about central New York. In this particular post, the writer was referencing another blog, this time a newspaper blog called The Raleigh News and Observer, on a story that compares the city of Syracuse with the city of Raleigh. Raleigh ranks higher than Syracuse in many areas as far as cities go (well, at least we’re number one in the northeast in real estate), yet the writer of the article found that Syracuse had something it lacks, that being an area of downtown that has a vibrancy, a mix of restaurants and nightclubs and luxury apartments, and wishes it had the same.
I found it intriguing because it reminds me of how some employees at times look at what someone else has and perceives it as lacking something, when, if compared to someone else in all areas, they are probably close to the same thing, if not better.
I’ll use my wife as a quick example here; she’ll love this. She worked at one hospital that paid her fairly nicely, and left that hospital for one that would actually train her in a field she wanted to work in. She took what some might consider a substantial decrease in pay for the opportunity, and she wasn’t happy about it at all. She started thinking about going back to the other place because, even though she enjoyed the new place, she wondered whether she had given away too much to come to the new place; cash speaks volumes sometimes.
However, I told her that, contrary to popular belief, she was actually bringing home more money than she was at the other place, the insurance benefits were much better, and our overall access to health care was immensely better, including the cost of pharmaceuticals. That, plus the reality that if she went back to the other place she would never have a chance at the certification she wants because they weren’t going to help her get it, since they don’t serve a specific population she needed to work with, helped her see that her decision to be where she is now was, and long term will be, the best decision she ever made.
Many times, employees think that the grass is greener on the other side; sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. If your working conditions weren’t all that bad, and the only reason you leave is for the money, you might find that you’ve just made a deal with the devil for the dollar; was it worth it? I’ve “fired” clients who gave me internal grief because they were difficult to work with; the dollar certainly became less important at that moment when my stomach was bunched in knots.
It reminds me of a cartoon by one of my favorite political and social cartoonists of all time, Jules Feiffer, which, since I can’t find it online, I’m going to print out the words:
“Ever since I was a little kid I didn’t want to be me. I wanted to be Billie Widdledon. And,… Billie Widdledon didn’t even like me.
I walked like he walked. I talked like he talked. I signed up for the high school he signed up for. Which was when Billie Widdledon changed. He began to hang around Herby Vandeman. He walked like Herby Vandeman. He talked like Herby Vandeman.
He messed me up! I began to walk and talk like Billie Widdledon walking and talking like Herby Vandeman. And then it dawned on me that Herby Vandeman walked and talked like Joey Haverlin and Joey Havenlin walked and talked like Corky Sabinson.
So here I am walking and talking like Billie Widdledon’s imitation of Herby Vandeman’s version of Joey Haverlin trying to walk and talk like Corky Sabinson. And who do you think Corky Sabinson is always walking and talking like?
Of all people — dopey Kenny Wellington — that little pest who walks and talks like me.”
It’s funny how others who seemingly have it so good already will find something in someone else or that person’s circumstance that they want. As it’s shown, sometimes they already have it. And sometimes, a good manager has to make sure their employees know that.
 Please Subscribe To Feed Here |