How Much Is Your Best Worth?

How much is your best worth?

In Walmart two days ago, with a family member at the self-checkout. I had an issue and needed help. I glanced around looking for someone to assist me. The only person wearing a light blue vest which the employees wore, was a female a few feet away, on her phone. Calling out several times, she was so engulfed in her phone she couldn’t hear me. I had to go to her and she was startled and put the phone away and assisted me.

I complained to Jayne, a distant cousin who accompanied me, “Why is she on her phone on the job?”

Her response shocked me, “Why should she give her best, Walmart is not paying them enough for them to be killing themselves.”

Shock held my tongue captive for a few seconds, and then I released the anger, “So what? She is at work. She should give her best no matter what!”

“Which world do you live in?” She demands.

“I hope the same one you and her live in,” I replied.

“For us to give our best, the salary they pay us must not compete with our performance, but match it,” she explained.

“So, your best depends on how much you are paid?” My rage demanded as I stared at her in shock as we exited.

“Hell yes!” She threw back at me.

“You sell your best to the highest bidder?”

“It’s shark devours shark world out there,” she elaborates.

“So, Simpson Technology doesn’t pay you enough for you to give your best?” I asked.

“Whatever?” she said.

I swallowed my rage as a thought caressed my memory.

“The other day I heard you, Denise, and Paula, complaining, belittling, and criticizing Joy.”

“Because for the past 10 months, every month, they give her employee of the month as if she is the only one working there,” she complained in envy.

“She is never late for work,” I reminded her as it was the opposite for her.

She rolled her eyes at me swaying her head.

I went on complimenting Joy, “She is courteous, kind, thoughtful, understanding, and helps everyone in her department. She is organized, plans her tasks ahead of time, and always completes her workload every day.”

“Look,” her anger flared. “It’s a lot of work.”

“You all have the same workload. She is the only one of the four of you who meets all her deadlines.”

She sighed deeply, and I went on. “All she does is give her best. That’s it, and it shows in her looks, how she treats others, acts, speaks, and her personality and attitude too.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, she is Miss Perfect, but did she have to do it so well,” she let out.

“How does doing your best, make you perfect?” My annoyance at her words was showing as my voice became louder. “Are you even aware that when doing your best becomes a habit, it spills over into your life and then failure begins to fear you!”

“But she does it without even trying,” she says staring at me weirdly.

“Probably because she was raised by someone who taught her to give her best. Maybe that’s all she knows.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” she said.

“Her excellent performance on the job, she does it naturally, like all of you mess up naturally,” I remind her again.

“You really think she was raised to always give her best?” She asked in a softer tone.

“I think so because, on the job, someone is always watching. She was raised to give her best by someone who was also raised to give their best too,” I explained.

Silence circled for a few moments, then she said, “Just by giving my best all of the time, I can make failure fear me?”

“Failure teaches lessons success can’t and must be a part of our lives,” I said remembering the many times I failed.

“She really does a great job all of the time and her name will be on the list for promotion first,” Jayne said with a hint of regret.

“It’s common sense cuz, the people who give their best every time, hardly fail. And when they do, it’s life teaching them a better way of doing what they do,” I motivate her.

An eleven-year-old child taught me that when your best becomes a habit, it will spill over into all areas of your life and make failure fear you.

It’s important for you to give your best especially when you have children. Children will be watching and they might give back the minimum to you and life because of what they see you practicing. Someone is always watching.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

Make failure fear you, by giving your best every time!

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.