More Job Satisfaction

I remember the colonel in charge of the camp in "Bridge On the River Kwai". Anytime he addressed the prisoners he would end it with, "And...be happy...in your work". Of course, this was always ironic because these were prisoners of war forced into labor in the jungle.

My working conditions aren't so bad. I don't worry too much about catching malaria while I work. I don't even worry too much about breaking a sweat. About the biggest danger might be a smelly bathroom shortly after lunchtime. It really beats tarring roofs in Montgomery, Alabama in August. In fact, I have it pretty cushy compared to most of the world.

I just got my raise from my manager. I got 3%! As she pulled out the sheet informing me of my increase, she tried to soften the blow by telling me that I was rated as having met expectations but that, unfortunately, that only meant 3%. I think I surprised her by being happy about it.

The way I see it, this is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. And it is further proof that there is no monetary incentive to truly excel here. I plod along and do good work. I meet expectations. I get 3%. If I really went all-out and put in maximum effort would I get 5%? It's not really worth it.

I blogged on this before, but I didn't really have an exit plan at the time. Now that I got accepted into Shepherd's I feel like this further confirms that I'm in the right place. Amanda would like to see me go somewhere else and make more money. To be fair, she is not your typical money-grubbing American woman at all. In fact, she knows how to be content with little as she certainly didn't have much when I met her. But we all would like to have a little more money, I think. The point is that it's not about the money. I make plenty of it. My coworkers might be surprised to read that, but I do believe I make plenty. I'm already in the top .8% of the richest people in the world.

No, it's not about the money. It's about my situation. Could the environment be better? Absolutely! But I don't think there is an ideal job environment. What I do know is that this environment will let me keep meeting expectations while I also work on my MDiv. And that's as good as gold to me.