"Worker Bees And Slackers"

I have worked in a few different places throughout my life. I have had jobs ranging from working in a mall to working for a group of neurologists in Atlanta, and now I am in a high school classroom.

Over the course of time it has been my experience that all of the jobs have had one thing in common even though the positions themselves have varied greatly. The common denominator is always the same. The worker bees and slackers are always present.

The worker bees are, of course, the ones who actually do all of the work, while the slackers are easily identified as the ones who do nothing, make the most money, and get stunned looks on their faces when they are asked directly to do a specific task requiring that they put for effort.

The degree of slackers varies from the ones who just do the least amount of work they can, to the ultimate slackers who have an uncanny ability to "make 8" without accomplishing a single work related task all day.

When I worked at the mall, the head slacker was someone with the mindset of who cares about commission? I 'll just stand here all day, collect my minimum wage, and cash my paycheck. With money in hand, I'll then make a purchase of some funny tobacco for myself that I can roll up in a 1.5 and burn baby burn....Hey, everybody needs a plan.

When I moved onto the doctors office there was a woman there who could very well be the queen of all slackers, if someone should take a poll. Each morning she would pull a few files from the shelf, take them to her desk, open the top one, and pull up a patient information page on her computer screen.

Other than having to move her fingers on the keys, should one of the doctors happen by, so she appeared to be covered up, and putting the files away at 4:00, her work for the day was done.

I kid you not, this woman should have ended her day by standing up from her chair and saying "I'd like to thank the academy".

Now I work in the school system, and surprise the slacker factor exists here as well. When the students have group work the same things go on that have always gone on. One or two of the students are the worker bees while the slacker, who is just along for the ride, waits with baited breath to see what grade they have earned for him or her.

Unfortunately, over the years I've spent in education I've seen the slacker factor in some of the adults as well. Let me also add that not all of them were teachers. Some have held other positions in the school building, some were county office workers, and some even stop by to "serve"students in a specialized area.

I suppose that I feel frustrated because I have watched so many of these people get by with their behavior as I worked diligently beside them and received no more pay or respect than the slacker received.

I feel sure that as you read this you are also thinking that you work with someone just like the people that I am talking about.

Do I understand how these people lay their heads down at night? No. Do I think that this will ever change? No. Do I feel better for having vented here about it? Abso-friggin-lutely!