Who said it recently, in front of thousands of cheering ’employees’?
And, how many times did he say it?
Here’s why I ask. My last column in Merrimack Valley Magazine, I railed political and offended a few readers, one who called me a whiny “snowflake,” when I questioned over-legislation that threatens small business. I also questioned, in so many words, whether in our society’s attempts to protect the exploited and the weak we go too far and actually enable and weaken our overall culture. Because, as a 15 year old, the law didn’t stop me, or my parents from allowing me, to work after 10pm, as an example. (Now it’s against the law.) And, it has never been so easy in all my years of working in and for or owning businesses, for someone to simply stop showing up for work, and then collect unemployment for months–at a significant cost to the business, and I would argue, society. Does that make me a right-wing guy? It surely does in the eyes of those who like to label shit.
I closed the column with a comment about restricting people to (40) hour work weeks and its overall drain on aspiration–because honestly–businesses avoid paying OT every chance they can as it is financially irresponsible when the overall obligation is to be making payroll on behalf of ALL employees while remaining financially viable. (I would posit that not enough legislators have ever had to make a payroll!)
Time and a half generally does not work as it was once intended, and I argue that it works against those who simply want more hours at a fair hourly wage. The law says that is not an option. For anyone. After 40, it’s OT or no T–adults and personal choice be damned. My column’s comment was more questioning whether or not such protections restrict momentum and actually “train” society to aspire for less. Maybe not. Maybe a social scientist (and I am no social scientist–just a guy who worked a whole lot more than 40 hours a week for close to 40 years straight) would say that some people aspire more, and some people just work–and 40 hours is all they should do, because it’s all they will ever do. I guess I don’t really know.
But I know this–the consistently best football team in history (and I admit to being a Giants fan, but one with great admiration for the Patriots…), coached by arguably the greatest coach in the history of the NFL, by a man who says very little when in front of a mic, and almost never above a bored and monotonous tone–yet, when given the mic the day after yet another Super Bowl victory, shout-chanted what to thousands of adoring fans?
“No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off. No days off.”
There is at least one way to reach the absolute pinnacle of one’s professional success. Maniacal commitment.
I am confident in my opinion that it won’t happen for the overwhelming majority of us by working just 40 hours a week, or playing ping pong in the break room and shutting down after 5pm, or, being denied internship opportunities because most businesses cannot afford to pay those with zero or limited skills the ever increasing (universal) minimum wage, be it a 17 year old or a single mother (vs a training wage for those simply looking for access to the ladder of success) And everyday it is more evident that it won’t often happen by going into $200,000 worth of college debt–by an “exploitative” educational system.
But hell…what do I know?
Let’s go. Do your job. No days off. Seems to ring true for me.
Just sayin’
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