by Eric Goudie

Created on: March 02, 2009

My fiancee and I get up at 5:30am every weekday morning so that she can get to work on time. Monday morning's aren't too tough to take (we've slept in all weekend) but by Friday we're walking zombies. While I'm lucky enough to work from home she's got an hour-long commute. She leaves for work in the dark, she gets home in the dark. The only time she sees the sunlight in our home is on the weekend, and that's if we're not out running around trying to catch up on things we just couldn't get time for during the week.

Making money is hard work! I get so angry when I hear my twenty-something friends complaining about their "tough day" and their "boss from hell" when I see just how easy they have it. I spent years in a business where I regularly worked 16 to 20 hour days for weeks on end, at the hands of an abusive, picky and heartless boss, breaking every labour law in the book, for less than half of minimum wage, and because I needed the money I had no choice but to suffer through it.

Face it, no one is ever going to pay you as much for your time and expertise as you think it is worth. If you're pleasantly surprsised with your paycheck at the end of the week you have self-esteem issues. Businesses wouldn't make a profit if they paid you what you are worth, that's just a fact of life in our modern, declining superpower society. So if you want to make as much as you think you need, you're going to have to work far harder than you think you have to.

I wish workers under 30 would understand that they're not God's gift to their employers. While I've dealt with some wonderful young people over the years (many of them teenagers) I've also been disappointed time and time again by the lack of focus, the arrogance and the dependency that's all too common among younger workers.

They walk into a job expecting to simply show up and be told what do, not that I need them to show up early, pick-up some materials on the way there, and follow some written instructions I've left because I'm too busy to babysit them. They don't seem to understand how important their work is, and that if it doesn't get done properly and on time there are other people who can't get their work done, and as a result the whole business is going to suffer. They don't care about letting me down, or realize that incurring my wrath could lead to their dismissal. They seem to believe they can't be replaced, and that they're doing an exceptional job. At the end of the week they happily pick up their check and then complain about the deductions, something over which I have no control.

Most of all, though, these young (and often not-so-young) people don't understand that making money is hard work, and if they aren't working hard then I have to work harder to make up for their unrealistic expectations.

Think about all the single parents are out there who are working two jobs with no benefits, raising their kids, caring for their parents, paying down a mountain of debt, trying to put their children through school, and still finding enough time and money left over at the end of the day to put food on table. That's an employee I wouldn't mind having. That's someone who knows what hard work means, and knows what it means to work hard for your money.

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