I've been reflecting on this all morning. It's Sunday morning here in the office and I was here all day yesterday as well. There's a marketing project I'm working on to reach out to the newest members of NAR and it's taking longer to get ready than I had hoped when the project started. Part of the delay is because it's hard to find employees that really want to work hard to make extra money these days.
I offered overtime to our staff here to try and get this project off the "to do" list but not a single one was willing to work the weekend and give up their plans-- even on overtime! It made me wonder about work and balance and whether there's a "change" happening [especially among our younger people] that has them in a "I just won't do THAT for money" frame of mind. On the one hand I applaud them for wanting to have a good, solid mental health break from the office. On the other hand, I'm wondering if the world is so completely different from when I was their age-- because I would do almost ANYTHING [note: almost anything!] to make some extra cash and get ahead. Do they want less than I wanted or do they simply have so much now that chasing more isn't that rewarding for them?
I have 4 sisters and a brother and we were a family that lived by the "whoever finished everything on their plate first [including the brussel sprouts-- yeeew!] got the last pork chop. We weren't dirt poor but we weren't well off and the drive to "get more" was a real one. When I was young I was all about making extra cash-- just about any way I could. Things I've done for money:
- Carried 8' solid core doors up stairways and spread them to under-construction mountain condo doorways for installation.
- Swept warehouses and cleaned toilets.
- Folded and delivered newspapers for a penny apiece (400 papers to make $4).
- Made pallets from 7am until 3:30pm.
- Wiped up messes [you figure it out] as an orderly in a mental facility from 4pm to midnight while making pallets from 7am until 3:30pm.
- Drove a tow truck and took accident [and other law enforcement] calls-- some not especially pretty memories [if you add in the suicides].
So what have you done for money [that you're willing to talk about here]?
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