Slow Times Show True Character

Photo Credit: apakistannews.com

I am sure it is news to no one that we are in very tough economic times.  Perhaps if you live in a hovel in the back woods you are unaware, but if you own a radio, TV, scan newspapers or go out into public, ever you see that hard times are hitting us with full force.  Though up until very recently this rough patch was only a morning news story to me.  It really didn’t effect me at all.  The bank I am with did not close, we don’t have hundreds (or pennies) in the stock market, we have no major investments that have been horrifically impacted and most importantly my husband and I were both working 40 hours a week.  We work for a strong company and we anticipated that we would just skate right on through this with no feathers ruffled.  That was, until recently.

At first the slow down of electrical work really didn’t make me too sad.  We had quite a bit of fat to trim and I just saw that it would be a great time for the company to clean house.  The fat I am talking about are the guys who are perpetually late, perpetually grumpy, make constant mistakes and really seem less than interested in working for the good of the company they are employed by.  However now the fat has pretty much been trimmed and we are down to a group of electricians that I feel privileged to work with.  They are  great guys.  They care…a lot, they show up early, daily,  they are prepared for work, and at the end of the day they want to make the company they work for shine.  Any company would be thrilled to have these guys as employees; these are now the guys that I have to tell  that there is no work.  Could be a day, could be a week, the answer is different for each guy each day, yet my reaction is always the same.  It makes me sick.

It is in times like these you witness peoples true colors, so to speak.  When life is great and everyone is working not just their forty but sometimes their sixty,  it is easy to be a happy, cheerful employee.  It practically comes naturally.  There is no worry of making the mortgage, no worry of feeding your family; the opportunities for work and money seem almost endless and days off are something joked about lightheartedly.  These are not those times, and I am learning, first hand, what people are made of.

I hand out bad news almost daily.  I feel like I have turned into the grim reaper for some.    I have looked some of our most talented electricians in the eye and told them there is nothing for them to do.  These are not just guys who will be wiring your next door neighbors garage, these are guys that wire houses you read about in magazines or buildings you drive past down town.  They are the best of the best and yet our troubled economy apparently does not discriminate; these are, however, the same guys who have taken this news with such strength I am humbled by it daily.  They are often more worried about the other electricians and are willing to  give up work  for those that might need it more.  They are bringing in jobs that they could do on the side for extra money so that other guys can keep busy and the company can make money.  I have even had guys thank me for trying so hard to find them work, or tell me not to sweat it because it will all work out.  The brave faces I have seen have given me strength to ride this out.

This is also not a glamorous time to be a business owner.  I have seen my boss take countless men into his office and let them go.  He has done it all man to man, he has told each and every one of them to their face that they no longer have a job.  “Fat” or not there is nothing fun about that, ever.  I have gained respect for the company and people I work for, yet envy nothing about their jobs.  I watch daily struggles to get work, not due to a lack of product to sell but due to an economy that shows no mercy, and yet  giving up never seems to be an option.  They are not quitting so neither should I.

I have no doubt that we will get through this rough time.  I don’t know when and thank goodness it is not up to me to know how, but we will get through this.  The reputation of this company will carry it through to the other side.  In the mean time I am going to sit back and be thankful for the opportunity to see the other side of the guys I work with each and every day.  It will never get easier to tell them that there is no work and I am sure that it will never get easier to hear; but if it hadn’t been for this time I might never have known who I really work with or who I really work for.  I guess if I am looking for a silver lining this is it, and strangely I am thankful for it.