On ‘THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU’ By Miriam Mukasa

 The World Does Not Revolve Around You Your parents will love you unconditionally but don’t expect your boss, your lecturer,...


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 The World Does Not Revolve Around You

Your parents will love you unconditionally but don’t expect your boss, your lecturer, your neighbour or friends, to feel the same way. 

So, here’s the thing.  You grow up with parents who, despite everything that you do: rudeness, lateness, messiness, disrespectful habits, laziness, lack of discipline, little help around the home, expecting money for doing nothing etc etc etc  they still adore you, even making excuses for you at school when you don’t complete your homework. You then go to university and expect the same flexibility and perhaps because of the education system, you manage to leave things to the last minute, do lots of cramming and manage to secure a second class upper. You pat yourself on the back and say: why do people complain about life? Life is so easy!

And then you enter the world of work and you freeze.

You are surrounded by colleagues who not only care less about you; they do not even bother stop in the corridor to ask if you are ok when on your first day, it is obvious that you are lost. There is no one to hold your hand, to show you step by step where everything is. People simply walk past you, looking right through you and the only colleague who stops to chat, is asking you to do their filing for them?  You cannot wait to call home and explain to your parents how badly treated you are. You inform them that, despite the fact that it took you a long time to secure this job, you want to quit now. Your colleagues can stuff their job; your parents will come to your rescue as they always do.

You call your parents only to hear them sympathise but there are no offers or advice for you to resign immediately and come home. Why? Because it has now become apparent to your parents that you are spoilt. They know you have not been treated badly; that this is the reality of the world of work. No one is there to cover for you. Your colleagues have their own problems and challenges. Many have responsibilities. They have no time to babysit someone who is not even their child.  They expect you to learn tasks fast and quick. They have no patience for your excuses; they have no patience for someone who wants a pay check like an adult, yet in return, wants to be treated like a student intern. They all know your game. You assumed that just like your parents, colleagues would make allowances and give in once you gave them your dimpled smile as your parents always did, but this strategy no longer works; a deadline is a deadline and no one is finding your excuses cute!

So Gen Ys, start to live on planet earth. Start to live in Reality not Virtual Reality; VR is where you play not get paid. Stop the entitlement attitude, roll up your sleeves and get to work just like your parents and grand parents before them did. Stop moaning and expecting recognition for even the simplest of tasks which are part of your duty. The world does not need to stop and applaud when you submit work before deadlines; this should be the norm and it is called, growing up and taking responsibility! To read more posts by Miriam, click HERE

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