Wednesday, April 12, 2006 @11:26 PM
We had a laboratory spring cleaning today. It was just not a usual cleaning event but it was a life show of human nature.
My boss called for a 9am action. No one was really punctual. I was there starting to clean up my own bench. A few walked and popped in their heads to check out whether the chore has started. But when they saw no one, they just walked away. Some were doing their own experiments. Oh well, it is really tough to gather everyone for teamwork.
An hour later, someone came in and said, “The boss will be here soon. We better start cleaning.” I was almost done with my own bench and started to cleaning up the communal area (common benches that everyone works).
I only saw the rest starting the cleaning task after the boss has arrived. A postdoc walked up to me and grumbled, “I am really annoyed. No one wanted to start cleaning. But when the boss is here, almost everyone pretends to be so busy. Did you see so-and-so didn’t appear until the boss came?! Urgh!”
I giggled and responded, “This is just human nature. Just do what you can for your part and not bothered by others.”
I don’t mean that my lab mates or coworkers around are lazy or not nice people. But I do understand that sometimes we can be a little selfish when it comes to teamwork. You just think about yourself but not others; you take yourself as the top priority and abandon others if you have to. I have had a couple of such encounters. Let me share with you my recent encounter; I was sharing some chemical and material with a lab mate. When we were making the order, we both listed out the exact amount that we needed to facilitate the ordering process. It was all sorted out. But just when I wanted to start using the material, she told me on the last minute basis that the material has run out. I was puzzled and checked with her how much she intended to use initially. It turned out that she changed her mind after the material arrived and without informing me, she took my share of the material to finish her work. Therefore I have to postpone my work schedule and to reorder more new materials. My coworker did not realize because of her selfishness, she has actually not only caused me pushing behind my work schedule but she has nearly killed me because I do have a timeline for that work.
Sometimes this can be really irking when you find out that due to selfishness or not willing to share, the other person has brought you some inconvenience. This is especially obvious when you are working in an environment with others. Well, in a way, I wasn’t that happy about this encounter but I sort of see it coming. So the only thing I could do and I did, was to immediately make an order for it and be prepared of not meeting my timeline to finishing that project.
So back to the Oscar nominated Cleaning Day show today; I was pretty amused by observing the human nature as the theme of the show. It is just very funny to see highly educated matured adults behaving in such way. Yes, I know everyone likes to impress our bosses. I do that too but by trying to make progress of my work. I really see it foolish to pretend to be someone in front of your superior. Isn’t it awful if your superior finds out that you are pretending? Cleaning chore might not be an appealing task, but if you’re in a team then you’re obliged to perform your duty.
If only everyone could be less selfish, more considerate, more truthful and not pretending, the world would certainly be a better living place for you and me.
