Unwritten Rules to Follow on the Job

A job is more than just something that brings you money and helps pay your bills. It is also your livelihood and an item that gives you satisfaction, pride and purpose. It hurts your dignity to lose your job. You are about to learn many things to avoid doing in order to keep your job.

Do not work a very light schedule, especially if you are a new hire. When I began my first job in July 1991 at a fast-food restaurant in high school, I worked a few days a week before the new school year started. After school started, I only worked on Saturdays. This greatly hurt me because I did not work enough to master cooking, working the drive-thru window, operating a cash register, etc. As a result of my incompetence, I missed out on learning skills, I spent almost all the time sweeping and mopping and I started being scheduled to work on a rare basis.

Do not display a bad attitude or frown. Once while working at the restaurant, I heard a manager say, “We fire people mostly because they have a bad attitude.” While mopping the lobby on the last day I worked there, the boss told me, “If you don’t work a little faster, I don’t think I’m going to have you working for me anymore. I’m watching you today, Todd.” I frowned and continued mopping but never saw my name on the schedule again even though I started working faster. My Sunday school teacher told me my frown probably cost me the job.

Never use dirty mop water. Sometime after I lost the burger job, a schoolmate told me the boss just fired him because he mopped with dirty water. While I walked by as a patron at a different place a few years ago, a supervisor scolded a worker, “Why are you using dirty mop water? Clock out.”

Do not be so quick to call the police if you see someone doing something you think is illegal. When I saw a fellow worker making a copy of a film while I worked as an audiovisual assistant, I left the room and called the campus police. A few days later, my fellow worker came into the room and said, “Why did you call the police? It’s only illegal to reproduce films if you distribute them. That really (beeps) me off. If I was a mea
MF, I would beat you into the ground.” The supervisor warned me to discuss such matters of conce
with him in the future.

Do not walk far to work in hot weather. If you do, you will get sweaty and funky. Fellow workers will not want to be around you and management will let you go without telling you the true reason.

Do not run away from a challenge. At one point while doing window demonstrations, I started clocking out early because I had trouble writing leads and I did not want to look bad by working several hours and not acquiring signups. One night when I called my supervisor to ask where I would work the next day, he said, “You s--ked the other day big time and clocked out early again. Don’t do it anymore. That’s the bottom line. I’m tired of it.”

Do not overreact to evil customers. A customer once gave me a snide remark as I greeted him to give him a window demonstration. I retorted, “You didn’t have to be rude.” My immediate supervisor told me, “If Michael (his boss) had been standing here, he would have fired you and asked you for your badge. You should have let that guy walk out the door feeling like he was the jerk.”

Do not lie down on the lobby sofa. After I lied down on a lobby sofa off the clock while working as a market research telephone interviewer in a building with several offices, my supervisors got a call and I was reprimanded.

Do not sound weird or unprofessional on the telephone. I was once reprimanded for talking to a respondent with a funny pitch while I was excited.

Do not fall asleep at your station. This could lead to a warning or firing.

Never oversleep. If you must take a nap elsewhere while on your break, do not put your head down. If you put your head down, you are likely to literally fall asleep and not make it back to your station on time.

Follow these rules and do anything else that applies good common sense to keep your job!