Are You a Job RENTER or a Job OWNER?

It never fails. Your alarm goes off way before you ever dream to get out of bed, and you grudgingly drag yourself
out of your warm, cozy haven. Yep. It’s Monday, all right. “Ugh, another day at the office. Fantastic. Well, at least
it’s a paycheck. Still, I wish I could crawl back into bed!” you think as you slovenly dress yourself, brush your teeth,
and lumber out the door, only to arrive at work ten minutes late.

Meanwhile, miles away, your colleague willingly jumps out of bed as soon as the alarm clock rings, which is before
the sunrise. She eagerly readies herself and is looking forward to another productive, exciting day at her job. In
fact, she’s even made a strict to-do list on what she must accomplish during the week (oh, and that was made last
week). And to top it all off, she leaves her house with plenty of time to spare and arrives at work ten minutes
early, as usual.

Do you see something wrong with this picture? Are you more like the first employee than the second one? Then
it’s time to make some changes, stat!

You might have spotted some differences between the first and second employee. One thing that you might not
be aware of is that the first employee is a great example of a job RENTER, and the second employee is the
quintessence of a job OWNER.

So what are the differences between people who OWN their job versus those who RENT their job? Simply put, the
job owners really care about their job while the job renters are only there for the paycheck. Those who “own”
their jobs will accept full responsibility for projects even when they’re not formally assigned to them, take
initiative in their job, and fully believe in their job’s mission. Those who “rent” their jobs will view their line of
work as “just a job” or “a paycheck” and, if a project is given to them that they typically don’t do, they tend to
respond with, “That’s not my problem.”

Here’s a perfect example of a job “renter.” A restaurant manager walks around to the tables, visiting with the
customers and asking if everything is okay. A table of four all had steaks. He asks how the steaks were. The first
three people said, “Good,” but the fourth person said, “It was okay.” The manager then moves on to the next
table without comment.

What could he have done differently? Well, first of all, the manager should NEVER have been satisfied with, “It
was okay.” He should have asked if there was a problem, offered to have another steak prepared, offered a free
drink or dessert, anything to show that he was really listening and cared about the customer’s experience.
Unfortunately, the manager was a job RENTER, and at least one of those customers probably walked out of the
restaurant with a sour taste in his mouth

Dawn Mushill
Customer Service and Beyond
www.dawnmushill.com    dawn@dawnmushill.com
618-444-6808