Interviewer: “ So what do you do at work?”

Person 1: “I just take out the trash, wherever there is trash I take care of it”.

Interviewer: “So you’re a lab technician . . . a Scientist?”

Person 1: “No, I just take out the trash”.

Interviewer: “Well, excuse me for not having clarity in my reference to the lab technician and  Scientist – but truly you are when it comes to taking out the trash, especially nowadays. It’s not just throwing it in one spot and that’s it, it’s performing an analyst of the trash to see what you will drop off by the categorized piles of trash, you’re brain is thinking in a logistical and strategical pattern to where you will be bringing the trash all while you are using efficiency with your time and labor to get from one end of your workplace to another. So, you see you’re not just taking out the trash”.

Person 1: “I never looked at my job in that way before”.

Interviewer: “You’re Welcome!”

The above is from a conversation I had with an employee years ago at Mohegan Sun – the employee is still there, has moved on to being a manager all because he changes his mindset about his job.

I worked in a factory in Florida at the height when all these small electronic companies were popping up. I assembled and soldered PC Boards for various computer operators at my employments. There was a time when I was working in Tampa Florida at this mid-size factory – the PC work side had slowed down because of the delay in our Field Technician Training. When this happened you went to perform your side task jobs – these tedious jobs that needed to get done, but nobody liked doing them.

One of these jobs was to punch holes in the plastic covers that protected the PC boards out in the fields. It required a one 1” hole in the top center. This job was on my side task list when there was downtime. I hated this freakin’ job – I hated the sound of the machine (it got in the way of hearing the music) – I hated sitting there doing the same extra thing every minute of my shift – I hated picking up all the plastic discs and saving them (we used them in the field as spacers) this little factory was way ahead of the times.

After work on that Friday, we all meet at a local bar for Happy Hour to gather and bitch about our jobs, not me, I loved my job I just hated doing this side task. Someone yells to me from across the bar  “Hey Cheryl, we’re going to need 500 of those covers next week”, I said to him “oh my God, 500? it takes me 2 days to get 50 done. My friend sitting next to me says “you know sometimes it’s the way you look at a situation that makes you unhappy about it, change the way you look at it”. I thought, WOW she gets very psychological after a few glasses of wine! But, something to ponder. . . . . 

The following Monday, I went to work with a new perspective of that shitty job. I asked my manager if he knew what was the most covers done in an 8-hour shift, he gave me a number I wrote it on a piece of notebook paper taped it to my machine – asked my department lead if I could turn the music up a little louder, she said absolutely. I sat at the machine and expressed that I did not hate her today! I had all my amenities within reach and I began to punch holes. I surpassed 50 in that 8-hour shift. I was 20 years old at the time and have carried that lesson of Mindset with me throughout my career(s) and in my life. The number on the paper was 44!

Peace Harmony & Looking at it differently!

XO Cheryl