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Yep, love 'protocol' and 'rules' and.... wait for it... Work Ethic. Happened in Raleigh, NC, some months ago. It did make the local paper, though.
The work ethic? Gone with the wind.
Three days later, after pondering that question all weekend, I gave him my answer: "Don't hire anyone under 40."
I was somewhere in my early or mid-40s at the time and the folks that he was complaining about were my (younger) co-workers in the same department. A few had The Ethic, but nowhere near a majority of them.
We smiled, he thanked me, and nothing changed because nothing could. HR would have come down on him if he changed even his interview process... And my old company has 'gone through' at least a half-dozen CEOs since then, with little improvement in success.
Life in Silicon Valley.... [sigh]
Local paper had a comment in the Business section about how today's managers like the newbies because they're technologically more up to date, energetic and inventive.
One of my parting comments at that last pre-retirement job was "sure, you can now go hire two kids out of college for less than the cost of me, and they can go right to work re-inventing the problems guys like me solved a few decades ago..."
I think the equation there has become unbalanced, but for now I see no trend to take advantage of some of the creativity and wisdom we've taken with us when we left.
Whatever... such is life. I'm enjoying wood turning and giving many items away as gifts.
Cheers, and Happy Holidays!
We decided to go have a beer at a small casino and arrived at midnight shift change.
We observed the 2nd shift employee was lazy and careless.
The third shift guy IMMEDIATELY began cleaning up after the second shift person while still waiting on us.
I remarked: "You must be from the Midwest.". He replied, "Yes, why?". I said: "Because you have a work ethic."
He quipped: " You noticed that, huh?"