Trust Each Other, Unless You Live in D.C.

I have worked for many, sometimes it feels like too many, years in management.  My first management job was in a small bookstore.  It was basically me and one part time associate.  Obviously there was not much delegating.  If something needed to get done, I did it.  My next management position was with Stride Rite shoes.  With Stride Rite, I had several part time associates and an assistant.  While with Stride Rite, I learned a lesson that our government needs to learn.

Part of my job as manager was to train my assistant to be a future manager.  Tisha was one of my first assistants who was serious about getting her own store.  After some basic training, we split the daily tasks and paperwork.  Once on Tisha's day off, I had finished all my usual activities and had probably listened to the Dino Dave recordings a couple of times too many for the day.  I went back to the office and noticed that Tisha had a couple of days' paperwork still unfinished.  So I decided to do her a favor and finish it for her.

I was off the next day, but got a phone call from the store.  It was Tisha, and she was irate.  She asked if she should start looking for a new job, or maybe a transfer to another store.  I had no idea what could possibly be the problem.  I thought everything was going well.  Finally she calmed down enough to ask me if I thought she was incapable of doing her job.  I told her, no. I thought she was doing well and would be able to take her own store soon.  She then asked why I would do her job if that was the way I really felt.  She was insulted at my doing her job for her.  From my point of view, I was doing her a favor.  It seemed a case of "no good deed will go unpunished."  From her point of view, her manager did not trust her or did not think she was capable of doing her job.

Tisha went on to get her own store with Stride Rite and did very well.  She eventually moved on to another management position with another company with even more responsibility.  She taught me a lesson that I think about each time I "help" a trainee.  I always tell them this story and let them know the reason I'm "helping" them.  The story is used as a motivator for those who may not be as self-motivated or as capable as Tisha, in addition to teaching them a management lesson that I learned the hard way.

Unfortunately, I have had trainees that did not have the drive or capability of Tisha.  In their case, I "helped" them a great deal. Until they either caught on or moved on.  As a rule, the more "help" they required, the more likely they were to move on.  

I don't know if the good folks in D.C. think we are capable of taking care of ourselves.  The majority of Americans will gladly take care of themselves and do the right thing.  All we ask is that the government get out of our way.  We are more than willing to help each other and contribute to causes in which we believe.  As long as the government leaves us the resources to do so. I believe most of our representatives think they are doing the right thing.  They feel a little like I did during the phone call from Tisha, "no good deed will go unpunished!"

More and more, I have come to believe that our government doesn't want to trust us.  They take our tax dollars and spend them for us on causes the majority of us do not believe in or support, in order to further their own agenda or strengthen their positions.  No non-profit should receive federal funds.  That's no, none, not any, for any reason.  Nowhere in the constitution does it give the federal government the authority to collect money from the general population to give to any non-profit organization.  Leave that money in the hands of the individual who earned it.  Let that person decide where his/her contribution will go.  Let the non-profit organizations compete for our dollars.  Then let's see if ACORN gives tax advice to pimps for Salvadoran teens, or registers the lineup of the Dallas Cowboys to vote in Las Vegas(you knew I had to work the Cowboys in here somewhere).  Or if Planned Parenthood takes 15 year old girls from their school in Washington and gets them a free abortion without notifying their parents.  If they do, and you choose to support them with your hard-earned dollars, that's your choice.  In that case, I am pro-choice, as are most Americans.  But do not force us to contribute.  We will gladly contribute to causes we believe in.

We need to learn which representatives want to control us, and which just need a phone call from Tisha.  Soon, while we still have any choices left.