A young man stands in a four-foot by four-foot cell next to a window, let’s call him Billy. There is no chair for Billy and he is expressly forbidden from sitting or leaning. He will stand there for four to seven hours, and will rarely leave the cell for the duration of his stay. Billy works for McDonalds. As customers drive up to the speaker, he takes their order, and when they pull up to his window he takes their money. He enters these orders into a computer and deposits the money into a register. Nothing he does requires, or is made more efficient, by standing. Still, it is corporate policy that he stand.
This isn’t a teaser for a “Save Billy from Standing” foundation, but I do consider him the poster child for the absurd American work ethic. It is a cliché idea that Americans are lazy. People foreign and domestic have labeled us this way for the last few decades. In reality we work harder than many of our peers with the exception of Japan. Europeans work fewer hours, have more days off, and take longer vacations as well as enjoy governmentally mandated maternity and paternity leave. Yet in spite of all the hours of hard work, the Euro still beats the Dollar.
The national health crisis, however, is due in large part to the national level of stress. Given that the highest physically and emotionally stressful jobs are many of the lowest paying, those who are at the highest risk of health problems are not paid enough to afford health insurance. Why do we do it? Do we get a better product in the end? Is the service any better?
All became illuminated when I went to lunch with my fiancée at Los Mochis. As we sat and talked I realized that there was a relaxed attitude about the place. The waitresses spent their time after the lunch rush sitting in the rear of the restaurant chatting and eating while we were there. Our drinks were always refilled, and we never ran out of chips. In short, the service was excellent as always and we enjoyed the happy atmosphere. Compare this to your average resturaunt chain where the staff is over worked and the atmosphere is one where you just become another problem
So why force employees to work joylessly under unusual and illogical guidelines? Is there any sense by the directors of human resources that these people are under their care? That perhaps a healthy work environment entails more than allowing the appropriate amount of breaks as mandated by law? Morale has more application than just warfare, so will someone please get Billy a f***ing stool?