Lessons Learned While Working at Slave Labor

Being unemployed was awful. Being underemployed is not much better but at least we get to live indoors and some bills get paid.

I've been working as a night stocker at Hickham and Pearl Harbor commissaries for the last several months. Good things about the job: I've lost weight because of the physical labor; I'm getting stronger; I now understand what it takes to get a store ready for customers; I've met some really terrific people. Bad things about the job: It's sweaty, physical labor that I was certainly not used to; I get paid 35¢ per carton unpacked -- that translates to about $3 per hour. I'd make more if I was stocking large items such as cartons of juice, but I'm unpacking health and beauty aids like aspirin and vitamins. Those dang things are wrapped in enough plastic to gift wrap a car. It takes so much time to wrestle the items out of their protective coatings of plastic and then line them up on the shelves that the idea of making a decent wage is nigh impossible. Gotta get a real job...

I've learned some important ideas on this job:
1. It's important to recognize the things that are done well rather than only point out the things that need improving.
2. As important as praise is, a decent, livable wage is even more so.
3. Clear, written instructions save everyone wasted time and lessen miscommunication.
4. Job training cuts down on wasted effort.
5. Sharing time-saving shortcuts with the employee lessens frustration and improves performance.
6. A manager's job SHOULD include mentoring the employee
7. Employees are valuable assets that make money for the employer. They are NOT slaves to be taken advantage of.
8. Making money at the expense of the employee is unethical.
9. Poor people aren't lazy; most of the poor people I know work their a***s off. (This is in regards to stupid quotes from stupid public personalities:

"You know, people are poor in America ... not because they lack money; they're poor because they lack values, morals and ethics. And if government can't teach and instill that, we're wasting our time simply giving poor people money." — Radio personality Bill Cunningham

"[Y]ou gotta look people in the eye and tell 'em they're irresponsible and lazy .... Because that's what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen. In this country, you can succeed if you get educated and work hard. Period. Period." — FOX News host Bill O’Reilly

)

One of my goals is to become an employer. I swear I'll do a better job than any of the employers that I've worked for. Maybe THAT'S the take-away lesson from this experience.

Bad employers are another really good reason to be an entrepreneur.