We have a saying at work, ‘I need it as on yesterday’. Everyone are under the pressure of deadlines. We all need to toe the lines drawn by our SLAs. Why? Why are we all in such a hurry? Did you ever call a call center and shout at the person at the receiving side for the delay? Were you ever impatient waiting in line at your local McDonald’s? Do you order online and expect a delivery the same day? We all do right? We all have been in these scenarios. We simply don’t like waiting. We have hell a lot of things to do than wait for something. So, what do companies end up doing? Not just to be the best in customer service but also not to risk losing customers to competitors they have to satisfy the customer ASAP. No wait time. Instant satisfaction. Instant gratification. But, to do this, what do the people working in organizations have to do? Do things fast. Very fast. ‘Think on your feet’, we are told. Shoot first, question later, Bond style. Organizations value men of action. Not of thought.
What happens at home? If this person who thinks on his/her feet, who fights deadlines, who can pitch a perfect sales pitch even in their dream comes home and talks to his/her spouse, what happens? When we spend 8 to 14 hours of time at work and use certain skill set again and again, they become our prominent traits. I remember my cousin saying of his spouse – ‘she wanted to me to buy an apartment which I was not interested in. Then, she slowly started explaining the positives, negatives, and ended up showing me a vision of how glorious life will be for us, if we bought that apartment. For a second, I was bought into it. I came back to my senses when I looked at her. She was my wife, not the sales executive of the construction company. But, she being a sales executive stepped into that role effortlessly’. So, can we separate work and life? Or do they seep into each other?
So, if business built success on quenching our thirst on an immediate basis, the skill set they develop in us, the one we have and use start affecting our lives. We play the role of customer and provider alternatively. As a provider we are under a pressure to do things asap and as a customer we become impatient when things get delayed. After all, don’t we have ‘100 places to visit before we die’ stuff to do than wait here??
So, what am I saying? We should wait? We should be patient? What am I? Old school? Or should we be more patient? Expect a little less? Go against productivity? against economics? What if we do? Will we go back to the ice ages?
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