The stack of sheets and partial sheets of MDO was getting out of hand, and it had started spilling out from the wall and blocking access to the panel saw in the back room of the shop. I leaned the whole stack back away from the wall, and while balancing it there began shifting the pieces closer to vertical. This bulk of materials was big and heavy, and the balancing act was too much, so I called my son Sloan back to help me.

 

We soon had things in better shape, but I knew before long we would have to sort through the scraps and throw the excess in the dumpster.

 

Though we hate to throw away smaller pieces of perfectly good material, this stuff grows out of hand if we're not careful. In the beginning, when I ran a one-man sign shop, I was anything but careful.

 

My first shop was a small 30' x 40' building, and the main worktable was a 6' x 6' unit shoved up against a corner. Every time I had a small drop or part of a sheet of plywood, MDO, Masonite or anything left over, I would throw the part under that table in case it might be used later.

 

Over time, the pile of "might be used someday" junk became an uncontrollable mess tumbling out from under its hiding place. Some of it hadn't been touched in several years, home for spiders and who knows what else.

 

One day, a teenager I knew from church, just old enough to drive, dropped in the shop looking for work. I had never hired anyone to that point, and he certainly knew nothing about sign work. But, I took a long look around the place, and then I pointed to that table, and all that lay under it, a fairly filthy pile of stuff at least 6' x 6' and more than 2' deep.

 

"There's some good stuff in there, but I need it all dug out from under that table, and only the very largest of pieces we'll sort out and keep. The rest goes on a trailer that we will haul to the dump. Tony, you asked if I had any work. I'll find you some work to do if you're willing to start there."

 

The boy paused, looked at that dirty pile of junk, spider webs included. He gazed around the rest of the shop, then looked at that mountain of odds and ends again. Finally, he said, "Mr. Rick, I appreciate it, but... I think I'll pass."

 

When I told Sloan that story, I laughed when I thought about how little my young friend really wanted to work. He gave up the possibility of a part-time job because he couldn't see himself starting on his hands and knees in the dirt, cleaning up a mess that would take an afternoon at most.

 

Is it only me, or does it seem that over time hard work has almost become a dirty word to a significant number of Americans? (Well, two words I guess.) While there are still many who work hard every day, I believe that more than a few of us have forgotten what hard work really is.

 

Our country was built on solid values, opportunity, and lots of hard work. And, there's lots of hard work to do, starting from the top down. Our president, for example, has many challenging priorities he's trying to balance all at one time. But, according to published reports, not unlike others before him, he managed to play golf 24 times in the first few months of his presidency. "I want that bill on my desk by the end of the month! Now, where's my clubs?" The job certainly doesn’t work like that, and probably requires a lot more overtime and a bit less tee time, if the truth were known.

 

Because it costs so much to run a business today, perhaps more than ever it is critically important that all workers do their jobs productively and consistently. Yet, some reports show that many businesses recognize they lose up to 20 percent of their net productivity just from the time lost while employees answer their personal e-mails. Who can afford that?

 

Conversely, after downsizing in the past year, some corporations are now seeing their productivity and their profit margins actually going up. In a recession, how can that be? Is it possible, or even probable, that a good percentage of the people they had to let go were not really pulling their load in the first place?

 

The bottom line truth is, today no less than in times gone by, a business, sign business or any other, thrives because of a number of factors, not the least of which is good old-fashioned hard work. And I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. If anything, we have to be continuously increasing our collective, and personal, productivity. Which, by the way, is what I’d better get back to doing.

 

I hope your business is doing well, your productivity is up, and your golf score is low, however often someone with an important job like yours gets to play, at least.