Be The One

My current job is in the produce department for a local grocery store that targets foodies and other people who care about the quality they buy. Walking through our department you will notice everything is beautiful. The produce is of the highest quality, and it is presented in a manner that speaks to the standards of those who work there. It is not unusual for customers to come up to me and remark on how nice everything looks. I routinely offer samples to customers of our produce. I have joked in the past that beautiful people shop here.

The garbage shoot is in the back hallway behind Produce. This may surprise you but there is a lot of food thrown away every day. Yes we should donate it to a food bank. We do. As much as they will take, and we still throw away food.

I mention all this because where the department looks amazing the back alley where the garbage shoot is almost always looks like hell. Nobody cares. Now I get that nobody thinks it is their job, but what I don’t get is that people are okay with letting that filth lay there untouched. Similarly the floor of our walk in is disgusting.

No one wants to do this cleaning. So my thought here is, be the one who does the things no one else wants to do. There may not be anything in it for you. It will add nothing to your salary, and would be lost in the rounding error of any evaluation you get. No, do it because it needs to be done. Be the one. Set an example of what it means to be a responsible adult. Show others that it’s okay to do more than you are asked. As far as that goes, if you see someone that is, for example trying to get out the door at the end of their shift, lend them a helping hand. People will notice, but that’s not the point. Well maybe it is, because small acts ok kindness are contagious, they spread like a virus, and others seeing you sweep the back alley before you clock out may start doing such things on their own, and wouldn’t that be something.