Does it seem like we are becoming less and less responsible? For everything?

Question

Ever since I started working full time, I've learnt one thing in the real world - that no one does their job properly. Everyone will slack off if they can, not when they should and try to do minimal with maximum income.

Phone calls and emails requesting things that should have been delivered long ago remain unanswered and ignored. A kind word that a team or a member should be putting in more effort when its required is intepreted as a criticism and "too harsh." Men and women alike give birth to their children and forget that as parents, they have responsibilities.

It wasn't like this when my grandmother was growing up. You worked for your fill, or starved. Now, with the dole, government support it seems like the concept of "hard work" is only a thing of the past.

Your thoughts?

Northy - you have my whole sympathy. I was promised a document this Monday and it still hasn't arrived yet.

Answer 1

This is a great question with lots of great answers.

One thing that I have observed, after 22 years and nine organizations of corporate America, is that the larger the organization, the more inefficient that organization can become.

If we work alone on something, and we want to get it done so that someone will benefit, it is easier to feel good about than when a group starts to form. Dependencies lead to disappointments. You work harmoniously with Person A who isn't on good terms with Person B, and now you are not on good terms with Person B, and maybe Person Z.

We ALL need to assume responsibility for our own stuff before we are "qualified" to judge the responsibility of others. But it's easier to judge others in this way, and it's the reason why Person A is not on good terms with Person B.

Answer 2

Finally, something posted on Y/A that lets me know there are adults on this site! And what a great question as well as follow-up. The responses I have read so far are also quite interesting and insightful.

Yes, in too many situations we as a society seem to becoming less responsible for everything. I am a very conscientious person and take my job very serious. No matter how big or how small, I complete my work to the best of my ability as efficiently as possible. At 2 different places where I was employed, other employees made comments as to how I worked. I was actually told to slow down and to not work so hard. I was told if I kept going like I was, the bosses would see how fast it could be done, and they would raise the standard for everyone. I was warned that if the standard was raised it would come down on me, and I would make a mess of enemies. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. To top it off when it happened the first time, I had just started the job and wasn't even a little experienced yet. I slowed down and put in for a transfer to a department where my individual quality and control was only viewed by the manager. I could not let the desires of other employees, who were satisfied with being second rate, stop me from doing what comes naturally to me to work hard. I don't know how many of the employees were involved in keeping the work paced slower, but I got their message. To this day I think back on it and wonder how management let something like that get past them. An entire department that conspired to slack off at a sit down job. I couldn't have done something like that out of shear boredom.
The next time it happened I was older and more experienced, and ended up being harsh with my response. Needless to say, the people who were trying to get away with doing as little work as possible, but got paid the same amount as those who actually worked never approached me again.

"Hard Work," will be a thing of the past as long as we allow it to be. It has to start in our homes, with the way we bring up our children. When I pay my children their allowances they have earned it. I don't pay them their allowances for a job which is half done or is sloppy. I do not let them slide and finish the job the next day. They understand the rules and don't even try to slack off when it comes to their jobs. It only took them not getting their allowances 1 time when they wanted to go skating to figure it out. There was a consequence for not completeing their job properly, and they could only blame themsleves. Even if it happened 5 days before I remember if something was not completed correctly. They do it right the first time, they don't want to take the chance and miss skating! Maybe, it seems "too harsh," but it is how I learned to be a good worker. And, I hope my children will be responsible adults and good workers as well.

Answer 3

Very very good question! I'm a supervisor for a construction company, and we have our share of people that come and go as employees. My biggest complaint about them is that they have a total lack of motivation, determination, and they seem not to care about what they do. Granted, there are the few here and there that are a breath of fresh air and are self motivated independant thinkers, but those are few and far between. It seems that society has kind of taken a dump as of late, and the people I encounter in my job feel that they are owed so much more because they've been there for a while, yet they don't want to perform up to the pay they get. Yet, they don't see it that way. The company I work for is small, and we don't have room for someone to do just one specialized task, like carpenter, laborer, truck driver, equipment operator etc etc. But, for some reason, that's almost impossible to get through the peoples heads. As soon as I have a person who generally does labor run a piece of equipment, they seem to think they no longer have to do labor. Then, to make matters worse, the other people who are doing the manual labor get cranky because they weren't chosen to run the equipment. I'm not talking about 18, 19, 20 year old people. I'm talking about guys that are in their 30's and 40's, and they're acting like teenagers at times. The hardest part for me is that I'm younger than most of them, and they don't like to take orders from someone younger. The reason I got the position I have is because I worked my butt off, and I still do, and I learned everything I could about every aspect of the job. Another thing I've noticed is the total reluctance to take any kind of responsibility. A lot of people are unwilling to take a leadership role because they don't want to be reponsible for that action. If somethings wrong, or if something is going to take longer, or if there's just a lot of decision making to do, they don't want to do it. They want to be mindless automatons, put their time in, and then go home and do who knows what till the next day. I've also noticed that no-one is very willing to put any extra time in. We(my company) have a specific start time for the day, but have no specific end time. We start at 7 am every morning. We try to get done around 5. Heaven forbid if we go later than that...because then I've got a whole fist full of crabby employees because I'm ruining their plans. They complain about how much I get paid, but I always seem to find myself working alone, or with one of the very few dedicated individuals who actually care about their job, and have enough integrity to do a job well, no matter what it takes.

You struck a chord with me...sorry I rambled!

Answer 4

THANK YOU FOR SAYING IT ALOUD!!!

You are SO right...

We have reached a point in our society that makes EVERYTHING "Everyone Else's Fault".

I have a now x-friend that looked me square in the eye and actually told me that it is "George Bush's Fault" for EVERYTHING bad in her life... and she is 29 years old...

It's the republicans fault...
It's the democrats fault...

It's the white people's fault...
It's the immigrant's fault...

It's the cops persecuting people... not the people committing the crimes...

"If I don't steal this then the next person to walk by will so it's not MY fault that I stole it!"

"It's a big, heartless corporation... I can steal from them! They can afford it!"

"It's not my fault I can't get into college! The government discriminates!"

"It's not MY fault I'm unemployed! The people I applied with are all RACIST or Sexist or Ageist!!!"

I see and hear excuses ALL THE TIME and I am SO VERY SICK of it!

ALL of the problems of the world could be fixed if each and every one of us just stopped, took a step back, and really started to take personal responsibility for each and every thing that we do, say, and think.

We are so quick to sugar coat everything bad that we do… every task we do half-assed… Every appointment missed…

We find our excuses piling on top of excuses and it only leads to stress and anger that otherwise could be avoided.

We can't even take responsibility for our emotions and what offends us!

Just look around... The "PC Police" have taken complete control of our society...

Every time I open my eyes I see something else that makes me even more sure that our species is doomed... We have a LOT of growing to do...

Answer 5

I like your question. I want to know your thoughts as well. I am 47 and love to work. I am not me without a job. I have never taken unemployment and I was raised that whatever you want in life....hard work and honest living will give it to you. I tried to be a slacker once and nobody at work would permit it. They know me to be honest and reliable. I am quite a minority in the world I feel. Honesty and Integrity dont seem to be on the menu for the rest of the world. I just do my part by setting a good example. Everyone else can go straight to ....oh I am out of time. Peace be with you.

Answer 6

No, Obama isn't responsible for something his minister says. he's responsible for the place he chooses to coach his faith. His church comes to a decision to furnish a life-time fulfillment award to Louis Farrakhan who's a racist. i think of that critically contradicts Christian values and that a option to be knowledgeable on your faith at that enterprise exhibits destructive judgment. because of the fact for this reason, i consider Christian values of racism. All men are created equivalent. Im no longer asserting Obama is a racist, yet i would not attend that church if i've got been a christian. it could be like me, an atheist, attending a company that preaches the existence of God. What im asserting right it particularly is racism is to christianity as god is to atheism, in a regularly occurring experience, the two contradictory in deeply rooted values.

Answer 7

Compare to the past, there are more things for us to worry about. Advance technology may bring convenient, but it's also make our pace faster. We don't always have time to sit down and have a deep thought before we do anything.

For example, woman in the past only need to worry about how to be a good wife, mother and maybe daughter-in-law. But modern women need to worry more such as work. Once you are diverted with more things, the responsibility become lesses over a single issue.

Answer 8

I see that in my 5+ decades. People now take far less responsibility than in years past. I'm not a "good ol' days" girl, but the trend is to get by any way you can, take all you can get, and do as little as you can get away with doing. I fear that the work ethic that built our economy has faded into the past. What will sustain us now?

Answer 9

I'm always skeptical of the 'good old days' nostalgia.

the technologies and soem of the jobs are different, but the exact same complaints come up time and time again throughout history - all the way back to ancient Egypt.

Answer 10

i agree with the first answerer. things back then weren't all peaches and cream. yes, we're more irresponsible now, and fatter and whatnot. I just hope we don't go down the road of the ancient greeks...get more and more sophisticated and soon be so lazy and unprepared that another country invades us and we can't do anything.