Character

Whenever the warehouse that I clean has all three shifts working overtime on the weekend I am required to go in and do my job. When the second shift supervisor told me on Wednesday that I needed to come in on Saturday I did a little good natured grumbling but I quickly got over it.

When I arrived on Saturday afternoon there were some serious bad attitudes going on in there.

One guy in particular was pretty ill-tempered. As I was pushing my cart to the back of the warehouse he stopped to ask if I was angry that I was in there on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I told him I was there to do my job. He advised me to make one pass with the vacuum cleaner and go home.

"F--- them," he said. "This is bulls---!"

I just smiled and kept moving. A little bit later, as I was ducking into the men's room with a mop he walked by and said, "Don't do that! Just pretend to clean and go home!"

I thought about his words. Perhaps it was easier for me to keep a positive attitude than it was for him. He was going to be there until midnight. I would be out by 5:00. I could still salvage my evening. His was blown.

But I also knew, that even if I had to be there until midnight, it's not in my nature to pretend to work. "Why not?" I argued with myself. It sure would be easier.

As I scrubbed the urinal with my little yellow brush, the answer came to me.

Character is what you do, even when no one is watching.