> the lack of passion from the cleaners
I doubt cleaning other people's shit is anyone's passion.
I doubt cleaning other people's shit is anyone's passion.
My Parents use AirBnb to rent out an in-law apartment they have at one of their houses (they each had a house prior to getting together). They're retired and they now treat it like their job, despite it only bringing in around $30k/year. I've recommended that they find a local cleaning person since I think they can find someone good who's willing to do it for the cleaning fee they charge ($50), but they're finicky about it being done perfectly and value their star rating (full 5 stars). So they do it themselves before every new renter arrives. Sometimes this involves driving 1.5 hours in each direction just to go up there and clean, but they insist on doing it anyways.
Similarly, I used to have a cleaning person come once a month. She was an immigrant single parent who had built up a large number of loyal, repeat clients and was making enough to send her daughter to college. Doing our dishes and vacuuming our floors probably didn't provide much enjoyment, but you can bet your ass she did it passionately because of the larger context in which she was working.
You're probably right about the actual act of cleaning...almost everyone won't have a passion for that. But your comment is incredibly myopic and shows a complete lack of understanding of human motivation.
Hmm. I would be more comfortable with "professionally". Frankly, I think that's the far better word to use here. In your comment, you even go on to doubt that almost anyone would have a "passion" for cleaning.
Professionals do an excellent job where an excellent job is required. Passion is not a factor in the quality of the work.
I don't think it's reasonable to require cleaners to be that enthusiastic, but I don't really see why somebody should feel less proud about making things nicer through cleaning than I do about achieving similar ends through coding.
You can do a perfectly good job cleaning without pretending you're so passionate about cleaning you'd just love to do it for free! (I have similar complaints about development jobs, btw -- you can do a perfectly good job and be a great employee whilst not pretending it's anything but a job, and you're doing it because you get paid, and if you weren't getting paid, you'd be seeing family/friends/dog/beach/mountains/woods/recreation of choice / etc.)
If I'm at a table service restaurant and my waiter is visibly unhappy about having to bring us food and drinks, I don't want to be an asshole by keeping on making him do that. I'd rather cook my own food at home next time. But a table service restaurant where waiters aren't bringing customers food and drink is going to go out of business pretty soon.
That's why waiters are trained to engage in emotional labor - in saying "of course sir, it's no problem" when they'd rather sigh or complain; the emotional labor is actually an important part of the job.
Personally I've never hired a cleaner because I'd feel like an asshole asking some poor stranger to scrub my toilet. But if I did hire a cleaner, and they came around and left me feeling that yes, I am an asshole for hiring them to scrub my toilet, I probably wouldn't hire a cleaner again. If you're running a cleaning company, that's not good for business.
I understand that sentiment and I was tempted to feel that way. OTOH, I realized that that sentiment in itself involved a certain amount of condescension, as it assumes that their means of making a living warrants my pity.
The service we use is owned by a very nice lady who also shows up to clean. She has an assistant and a couple of additional employees who clean other houses for her. To my mind, she is simply a fellow business owner who provides a service for a price. I hope that she is taking good care of her employees as well and, for our part, we tip to show our appreciation.
You could really feel this with the lack of passion from the cleaners and
the severe lack of quality cleaningWhether someone can "feel" your passion about a job isn't about morality. I can do my job well, even if I feel its the equivalent of shoveling horse shit, and have zero passion for it. Whether someone is doing their job well is never a moral question. If someone didn't do the job you agreed to, its contractual; don't pay or pay a reduced rate based on the agreement and move on.
So yeah, you don't have to have passion for your job, or even like it, but if you're not going to try to do it well, just quit and let someone else take over.
I don't disagree, but I'm in the privileged position of being an in-demand tech professional who could have another job the same day I quit my current one.
The inherent problem with the "sharing economy" is that its built on using people (primary) who are economically disadvantaged who need the job (I concede that someone people who drive for Uber don't require the job, but do it do to the flexible schedule or extra income it provides). Its hard to always do a shitty job well, constantly.
This is the equivalent of a cleaner -> programmer acting "immorally" (true morality is nevertheless found outside the realm of work).
I don't see how that's immoral. You either completed a job to spec or you didn't. API works but you didn't complete the tests? You didn't do what you were paid for. No morality comes into play.
Maybe its because I've been doing this for 14 years, but I produce to the spec. Of course, I'll make recommendations during the scoping process, but what I produce matches what I've agreed to with a client or employer; no more, no less. My time is far too valuable to me to provide anything additional than to what I've committed to. If you want to give your time away for free because you think you professionally upstanding, more power to you.
In particular, I'm worried about judging people to be unprofessional simply because they are dispassionate. They are separable.
I agree with you. You can be dispassionate, but hold onto professionalism. That's actually the whole point I'm making by saying even if you are dispassionate, you should still act professionally.
This is not acceptable. No matter what you do, be a professional and strive for excellence.