Success Story

A few months ago, the company where I worked hired a fence installing company to update the gate and put an electric motor on it. The new gate had to have a track installed in the ground, which required a fair bit of manual labor. Naturally, the fencing technicians excersized a bit of senority and allowed some trainees the opportunity to do the manual labor. There were a couple of trainees helping out, and it was pretty obvious that they didn't have much schooling or higher education in their work history.

One of the young men that was helping prepare the ground caught my eye, and we spoke a little about careers and jobs and such and he made it pretty clear that digging holes in the ground wasn't the easiest or most convenient job in the world. Naturally I was thinking to myself that he didn't have to dig holes if he didn't want to.

There are alot of people in life who move from job to job without much of a goal in mind other than blowing the paycheck on frivolous activity. These individuals view the future as something that will never come, and usually they end up old and used before many of their peers.

This young man in particular struck me as such, because he was probably 27 or 28 years old, and should have had many opportunities to succeed in life. Of course he may have had an illness to set him back a bit, or maybe not quite the right opportunity, but nevertheless he was doing manual labor on this particular job.

Time wore on, and in a week or two the new gate was up and working fine and we were all happy because of the increased convenience. The fence installation company went away and along with them also this young man.

About 6 months went by, and by heavy use, the gate needed a little maintenance and so the company where I work called the fence company to come out and look the situation over. I was expecting some of the technicians that I had seen before come out and do the job, but to my surprise, and general consternation, the young man stepped out of the company truck and very professionally began to do the technical work that 6 months ago he wouldn't have had a clue about.

Of course I had to say something, and I casually commented that it looked like he got a promotion. Well he looks up and me and grins and says, "Yeah, and a good raise too!" Well, I pondered this situation a while and went my merry way.

So of course it becomes a story on my blog. This kind of a story gives me a thrill because he could have worked there for a while, and then quit and done something else, but he persevered the hard manual labor, did his job properly and professionally, and in a few months was rewarded.

"Let this be a lesson to you!" I says to myself. And it was.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment and/or e-mail me at: not.a.pipe.dream@gmail.com