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Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

thesash.me

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Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#61

Post by jarek »

alnayyir wrote: post #57
jarek wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm much more willing to do an undesirable job related to my position than cleaning. If you make it clear during interviewing that it's a small company and the employee will be expected to help with cleaning, then there's no problem. (For the sake of argument; I actually don't mind cleaning all that much but nevertheless it's not high on my list of things to do at work. I'd prefer fixing hairy old VBScript code.)

Relevance is besides the point, you're paid to work. Your job title isn't some kind of license to refuse work you don't want to do. You keep trying to frame this as being an issue of relevancy when really it's that you're simply not eager enough to get dirty like edw's father wanted out of his people. You tell me to clean the bathroom on my first day, I'll ask where the scrub and bottle of 409 are. Now if we're talki…

I am not eager to clean bathrooms on my first day as a software developer. Relevance to my job title, which is important to me for both self-fulfillment and career management reasons, is a big part of why. I am eager to create software, and I understand this includes the mentally dirty parts. If I was eager to get physically dirty I'd go and make more money for an easier job at the tar sands.

You want someone who will do whatever you pay them to do, hire a cocker spaniel. [1]

[1] http://www.google.com/search?q=%22hire+a+cocker+spaniel%22

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#63

Post by VladRussian »

sloak wrote: post #45

Reminds me about the story of Netflix CEO. From http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/0... [... Huffington coaxed Hastings to talk about leadership -- and one early experience that informed his leadership style. Hastings recalled how, as a 25-year-old software programmer, he would stay up all night, propelled by coffee. He'd leave an array of mugs on his desk. Once a week, he would discover the c…

'You do so much for this company, this is the only thing I can do for you.'

Typical lie of a boss. He could have given him more options or a promotion for example.

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#64

Post by muhfuhkuh »

jarek wrote: post #50
edw519 wrote: post #39

This reminds me of the litmus test my father had in his small business years ago. Every new employee, no matter where they worked, had the same first task: clean the bathroom. Lots of people never made it through the first day. I guess he figured that the best way to have employees who would "wash the dishes when nobody else will" is to only hire those who would.

Maybe it's just my millenial entitlement, but that strikes me as a bad strategy. Unless the business was a cleaning or maintenance company, cleaning the bathroom seems far removed from anything relevant to my work and is in essence busywork. Questions that immediately spring into mind: is this some weird attempt at saving money by having employees do both their job and cleaning? Is this supposed to be some hazing rit…

So, you wouldn't work out at a place like Zappos, where everyone had to hit the phones and do customer support their first two weeks, from application developers to executives.

"Making employees clean it on their first day? Not so much."

What will you do your first day as a business owner (that is, if that's the end goal for you)? That's just one of the many things you'll do yourself for awhile, just FYI.

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#66

Post by ukaszg »

edw519 wrote: post #39

This reminds me of the litmus test my father had in his small business years ago. Every new employee, no matter where they worked, had the same first task: clean the bathroom. Lots of people never made it through the first day. I guess he figured that the best way to have employees who would "wash the dishes when nobody else will" is to only hire those who would.

I think this is a bad example. If a company hires a person to do X (where X is not 'cleaning the bathroom'), than that person should do X. If one does not do what he/she is hired to do than that person just wastes time and is not earning money for the company.

Who would you prefer to hire? Someone that 'cleans the bathroom' when it needs to be cleaned or someone that just ignores this and earns money so you could hire a cleaner?

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#67

Post by presidentender »

sudont wrote: post #60
presidentender wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I washed dishes at a restaurant during high school. One day, someone defecated in the employee restroom and missed, leaving their waste on the floor behind them. The first waitress to enter the room thereafter shrieked, then began laughing, and called the rest of us in to go look at it. I assume she used the customer restroom. We all looked at the offending object in question, and laughed among ourselves. I grabbed a…

You couldn't tell it was plastic? Must have been really good quality. I've known quite a few people who worked in gas stations and other places where they had to clean the rest rooms. If there was shit, it was generally either sprayed everywhere or rubbed on the walls. I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate the politeness of a single fecal clump. As this was after the advent of cell phone cameras, I've seen the evidence.…

One treats shit rather gingerly when one holds it through paper towels, I daresay. Its appearance was in line with my expectations of that category of objects.

I do not debate the nastiness of a shit-encrusted public bathroom stall.

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#69

Post by jarek »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #64
jarek wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just my millenial entitlement, but that strikes me as a bad strategy. Unless the business was a cleaning or maintenance company, cleaning the bathroom seems far removed from anything relevant to my work and is in essence busywork. Questions that immediately spring into mind: is this some weird attempt at saving money by having employees do both their job and cleaning? Is this supposed to be some hazing rit…

So, you wouldn't work out at a place like Zappos, where everyone had to hit the phones and do customer support their first two weeks, from application developers to executives. "Making employees clean it on their first day? Not so much." What will you do your first day as a business owner (that is, if that's the end goal for you)? That's just one of the many things you'll do yourself for awhile, just FYI.

No, I personally wouldn't work at Zappos. But their reason to hit the phones is to understand the business and its customers. Unless edw519's father's company was in cleaning or maintenance, cleaning bathrooms won't help you understand its business.

While I currently have no concrete plans for my own business, I imagine that on the first day, I will be working from my home, which I currently clean myself. When it gets big enough to need an office, it'll be big enough to pay for cleaning (likely through the facilities' central management).

Re: Want to be a leader? Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will.

#70

Post by jasonlynes »

jarek wrote: post #50
edw519 wrote: post #39

This reminds me of the litmus test my father had in his small business years ago. Every new employee, no matter where they worked, had the same first task: clean the bathroom. Lots of people never made it through the first day. I guess he figured that the best way to have employees who would "wash the dishes when nobody else will" is to only hire those who would.

Maybe it's just my millenial entitlement, but that strikes me as a bad strategy. Unless the business was a cleaning or maintenance company, cleaning the bathroom seems far removed from anything relevant to my work and is in essence busywork. Questions that immediately spring into mind: is this some weird attempt at saving money by having employees do both their job and cleaning? Is this supposed to be some hazing rit…

thought this too, when he said the kitchen kept getting messy. why didnt those slobs pick up after themselves? "oh the ceo's got it"..
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