To be Committed or be Committed

Often I wonder about commitment and duty and why we do things as we do?
Me, I work all hours and from getting up in the morning to just before going to bed and that work place comes to mind. I dread (sometimes) getting up at 2:50 am. Waiting for the phone call "that" never comes until I decide it is safe to hit the snooze button. But I do it anyway.
I do it because the job demands it and it pays me well enough so only my wife would complain about the hours.
When I was in the auto industry I started down the” he needs to be committed” path, I would get to work at six to be open at seven, work until break time (about 10 or so) Then work through lunch because no one was there to answer the phone. My shop always had coffee, a clean desk someone to make appointments and take customers cars earlier than before. I would get a snack for lunch and back at it. I stayed late to detail cars or sound guard them (paid extra) and had time to work on my own car. Little wonder why I do hours no lunches and stay later than I should to this day.
I work with great people who aren’t old enough to remember desperate times. When they were in diapers I was washing cars in the cold and getting scared when they announced another lay-off at the local steel mill.
With the economy being what it is there are some lessons to be learned. Lessons I was taught a long time ago and have made me the raving lunatic you see before you today.
Lesson one. You have a job, better do it, or some other person will and then you don’t have one
Lesson two. You need to be good at what you do or you will learn lesson one.
Lesson three. Just because you have a job does not mean you won’t keep it. A better opportunity may arise, but don’t ever count on what you haven’t got .
Lesson four. If you are not a Doctor, Lawyer or Mortician you might get to learn lessons 1,2 and 3 as they are never out of work!

My Father always said ”Hard work was it’s own reward” I guess it paid off because he started his career digging ditches, he retired from his company selling the very ditches he dug so many years before.
Me I thought I started servicing cars I found out that I service people instead. I get up to work with some of the best people on the planet (no wait… I mean our customers) and to that extent the staff here as well.
We may have different views on work and life, how it is done and how it should be done. Don’t learn the lessons I learned the same way. I do things the hard way because that is how they should be done. I do things the long way as it gives me stability, step by step along the way the job gets done and when it is done right I feel good about what I have done.
Crazy? You bet! Committed? Yes! Should I be? YES!! I love what I do and as My Grandfather said “If you love what you do, Then you will never work a day in your life”.