I stood there, keys in hand, catching my breath and feeling frazzled as I looked at the clerk’s eyes staring into the clear plastic bag. She must have been contemplating the racial harmony in Singapore or solving the equation for world peace because it wasn’t possible for her to move any slower unless there was some traumatic world event at stake. Jeremy was dying and she stood there looking at him hypnotically.
I spent the last 15 minutes prior removing him from the fish tank into the plastic bag and transporting him to the pet store with more bedside manner than a pediatric nurse. It was only a matter of time that he would begin floating at the top of the water if he wasn’t put into a tank full of antibiotics.
She took the call coming in on the phone attached to her hip side as she turned his plastic-bag-world into a tidal wave, swishing the water around as Jeremy struggled to survive. When the call was over, she set him into a tank to wait another ten minutes before she administered antibiotics.
It was something out of the 10 Years music video, “Wasteland,” where the fish out of water gasps a final breath before he dies.
So I ask myself where the sense of urgency is in the workplace? Where is the unselfish and relentless LeBron James in all of us? Where is the dedicated worker who sees a call to action and goes to the hoop? Where is the aquarium store clerk who sees anxiety in mine and Jeremy’s eyes that cry, “I need your help,” and remedies the problem? Why do we lack motivation, sensitivity, and urgency? Are we so consumed by our other responsibilities, either personal or work-related, that we fail at the most crucial moments?
What if Jeremy represented the winning 3-point shot in the NBA Championship game? Fans do not willingly accept defeat when the point-guard misses the shot. Uproars of disbelief are the immediate response followed by sulking and swearing. What if Jeremy was our loved one in a hospital bed in need of pain medication? Nurses and doctors cannot move fast enough or care as much as we need them to at that moment. If only the roles were reversed we would move things along much more quickly. So shouldn’t it be at this very moment we commit ourselves to work harder, excel quicker, and move faster?
We should see it as this: Someone else’s fishy dilemma can become our next solution. At
Nexus 21, we strive to rejuvenate our efforts with Ginseng in our step, a shine in our smiles and determination in our brains. Step up to the plate at work or in your personal life. Be the go-to person in your office and volunteer to take on a new task. Save the Jeremy’s of the world! Correlate the dissatisfaction in someone else’s eyes to that of your own dissatisfactions and sympathize because the next menial task to come across your path could be time sensitive and crucial to the person who assigned it to you.
