It’s 9 o’clock! I quit! At this moment I took off my apron
at a local pizza establishment hung it up and proceed to walk out of my job
making pizzas. Let me roll back a couple of hours. My brother Zach was coming
into town later and I told him that we would play ice hockey that night. It was
six months since I saw my brother. There was one thing that kept me from
possibly meeting up with my brother and playing hockey…WORK.
I had to work at 4 and I was a good worker for a pizza
establishment known for crappy workers. The previous day an assistant manager
came up to me and said “Man, it’s great you’re here. The only time we have
people come in and actually want to work is when they are working to become a
manager, it’s nice to have someone to come in and work without further their
career.” I responded, “Thanks, I guess.”
I told my brother I had to work but I will make sure I get
out of work early enough to go play hockey. He said it was no big deal, I told
him I missed him and for the next three weeks we would spend every hour
possible together starting tonight. So I walked into work at 4 for my shift
knowing they don’t put when we finish and if we get slow (We usually did about
9) people get sent home. So I asked my boss, hey my brother is coming into town
tonight and I wanted to go out with him can I get out at 9? Usually what
happened, he would keep me because I was better then two of his awful employees
(I am not saying I am the greatest worker in the world, but these people were
very bad employees and did not do a good job) and he could send both of them
home. So he told me we will see.
At 7 pm, I asked again can I go at 9? He went into his
office and said, “Oh I have you scheduled to close.” Everyone knows he didn’t
put end times on our shifts. I told him if I don’t get out at 9 I might walk
out. He laughed at this comment. 9 came around, I took off my apron and said
loudly, I QUIT!!!!! Originally everyone thought I was joking, until they saw me
starting to walk out.
The manager came over and said, “What are you doing?” I
responded, “Quitting.” He then started to lecture me, “You know Clarrisa, two
days ago she got mad quit and two days later came in here begging for her job
back. Do you want to do that and have to come crawling back?” I said there is one major difference, “I am
already starting a new job on Monday and I will make $6.25 an hour instead of
the minimum wage of $5.15. His facial expression changed greatly. He said,
“Well, wait a second, you can have tonight off but I will seeya for your next
shift on Sunday right?” What a change of heart.
This job sucks is a statement most have made. It feels like
the job we are doing might not have much point to it. It’s a question we have
to ask ourselves repeatedly are we doing something for the right purpose? What
are some of the pointless jobs you had? Or a job you felt kept you from doing
what you wanted to do?
I wasn’t a Christian and didn’t act with a Christian heart
at that job I quit. I would take back how I would quit, as it’s never good to
leave on a bad note. Yet we all have to look at what we do and is it worth it?
Is what we do for labor worth what we go through?
Paul shares this in 1 Corinthians 15:58…
“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move
you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the lord, because you know
that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
In the past people used to stay at companies for 30 years.
They say the average someone stays at a job today is about three. I think
people struggle to see a purpose and stay at a job making them miserable. I
have seen stats they show between 80-90 percent of people work at a job they
don’t want to be at. We can fail to see the purpose of a job.
Working and living for Jesus can be tough. As a church
leader you can see some of the beautiful things in people and how they can
overcome or transform their lives. At the same time you can see some idiots
complain and respond in the most unholy of ways. I have seen many people leave
a role of church leadership that were not for immoral reasons but rather they
fail to see the point of their leadership.
People can get frustrated and leave in tough times when they
don’t see the purpose. In the church we can see the pitfalls of people and they
can overcome us. I met with a leader of a church about 15,000 people and he
said if his elders just focused on divorce in the church they would not accomplish
another thing in the church. There were that many couples struggling with
divorce.
God has a purpose for each of us and this includes
leadership. We have to be humble but realize that there is a great goal for the
church. That what we do can make the difference from someone going to heaven or
hell. It can be the ability to see the change of heart in the people. Through
all the bad we see in our jobs, there is a beautiful side of each job. We have
to realize we can learn from each job and each experience we go through.
Are you working not in vain? Are you working with a purpose
and a goal in mind? As a leader in the church we always have to be reminded the
tough decisions we make are not to please people but to please God and see
people coming to know him more. Are you learning from your job or do you need
to move on? If you need to move on, do it in a better way then I left my pizza
place.
Have a great day.
