Do it right the first time.
There is a Billy Joel song to this effect – technically the
song says ‘get it right the first time’, but the gist is the same. It’s been a
lesson that recently we’ve been forced to contend with.
Sometime ago we had a leak in our kitchen, no big issue, got
cover from insurance and fixed the leak nice and quick, no problems.
Now, six or so months later, we have planned and pondered,
pontificated and proposed, prepared and ……
Nope, can’t come up with a sixth. Shoulda got it right with
just the first two, perhaps three. But I digress.
In the process of the upgrades we have come across several
problems with the construction of the house. Now I am aware that this is not
unusual with houses, but the builder – both this one and the one previous – told
me that when we did our bathroom our house was unusually bad.
The two biggest of the faults thus far have been the window
that was unceremoniously moved from the original plan and thus made the whole
wall unstable, and the roof that was simply not finished so that rain had been
dripping into another wall ever since, oh, some 15 years ago or so.
My question is why didn’t they do it right the first time?
Our builders have fixed both of these and it took about three hours for the
window and about a day for the roof. I am reliably informed by the builders
that neither of these problems would have taken more than about five minutes to
fix when they first appeared, but now I, as the current owner of the house,
must pay for the repair of people who wouldn’t take five more minutes to make
the house secure or safe.
Now I work hard; I always try to do the best possible job that
I am able. After all, I am being paid well for my work, I have the skills to do
it, and people who commonly do not have these skills have paid me to use the
full extent of them.
Thus I am annoyed by those who have not done things to the
fullest, or to even the legal standard. I mean, come on people, taking
shortcuts is one thing (I can even understand doing a half-hearted job at the
end of a particularly long week), but not doing things to a legal standard on
something as permanent as a house, come on people!
It also reflects the character of a person. It shows if a
person is honest in what they have committed to do, if they will abide by the
laws of the land that they, as a representative of their profession, have
agreed to uphold.
Imagine going into a café or restaurant, eating a meal, and
then finding out that every person in the flow of food had not done it right
because they felt like they didn’t want to. The farmer had fed the cow on bad
food because it was cheaper and the cow had got a disease; the slaughter house
hadn’t cleaned their tools and so the meat was infected; the cook hadn’t cooked
it right through so all of those diseases and infections were still alive; and
the waiter hadn’t washed their hands so they added another one to the mix. This
is all just one element of a simple meal.
Get it right, people. You are paid to do a job and that
comes with conditions upon you. These conditions do not only affect you if you
do not meet them; they affect all those you interact with and those that
receive the fruits of your labours. In short, other people rely on your work to
be done to the standard that you agree to by taking your job.
It’s about more than you, it’s about more than money, it’s
about more than just doing the bare minimum, though you should at least be doing that.
