Impulse #5
The impulse to do the mere minimum - that's all that's expected
This is a pet peeve of mine so here goes: A staff member is unpacking the weekly supply delivery and putting the items away. She comes across an item and doesn't know where it is kept. She opens a cabinet, sees there is an open spot about as big as the item she's trying to get rid of and thinks, "Good enough!" and tosses it in and shuts the door. The next day the assistant is looking for an item that she knows she ordered, but it's not where it should be on the shelf. She remembers seeing her co-worker unpacking the order and asks her about it. Since she gave so little thought to where the item should go, she doesn't even remember unpacking the item. She just shrugs, after all it's not her worry. The assistant tells the dentist she can't find it and he reprimands her for running out of something they need. The assistant was sure she'd ordered it, but accepts the blame and apologizes. Even if her co-worker remembered putting the item in the wrong place, she'd still have felt "Hey, I put it away, what more do they want? At least I helped."
The 3 Second Difference
It's so simple, if you don't know where something goes, wait and ask someone who does. Don't just shove it somewhere and hope for the best. If the staff member had just paused long enough to realize that her action would sabotage her co-worker, she probably would not have done what she did. Getting the item out of her hands in the moment, caused a big problem for an innocent person. If she had just waited and asked where to put it, the assistant would have shown her and she'd have done that simple thing right and avoided chaos.

Comments