Okay, I did break a sweat. We were even busier this afternoon, but accomplished quite a bit. I have one co-worker who is very conscientious and tries to be productive. It is an interesting thing to me, that the better of the two co-workers I have is the non-Christian. He is the youngest of the three of us by twenty-two years and belongs to a religious cult and constantly gets hammered by this group with very subtle types of manipulation and really, a kind of emotional blackmail that produces feelings of obligation. It is all based on fear and pride.
This 'church' does push a good work ethic. I suppose that's why he is a good worker. He and I can do something in half or less of the time it takes the older more experienced guy, who evidently thinks this is something I'm not smart enough to figure out.
The older guy (my age, ha ha) cannot be trusted to work independently. When he is supposed to be taking a ten minute break, he milks fifteen or twenty minutes out of it. He sometimes accomplishes absolutely nothing when I have a day off and I find that infuriating. He did this so many times last year, that I took to going back and inventorying the jobs needing done, both inside and outside before I would leave. One night last summer, I marked everything, and positioned the servicing equipment in such a way, so that I could tell whether any of it had been used.
I returned to work after a day off and not only had he not done a single thing that I could see, he literally raced to the service area after we opened, to get to the equipment and get it placed and ready, believing that I would not know what he was doing. He had no idea that he was proving my case.
The problem with all of this is, I can't do anything about it. Because he has "problems at home," my boss does not want me to confront him about this stuff. The problems he has at home are completely of his own making. He has as much as admitted it. She also does not want me to confront him about it because when I do, (and it doesn't matter whether I get indignant or not) he sulks, sometimes for days and is a pain to be around.
I say, tough, ha ha. I mean, really, when you 'work' at not working, you're a type of thief because you're stealing time from your boss, and it should not be allowed. The perpetrator should be confronted and rebuked. He should be given the opportunity to repent and be forgiven and stop stealing the time.
I have taken to basically tying a mental rope to this guy and dragging him to nearly each and every task he performs, and keeping him busy so that he will get at least some things done in a not too terribly timely fashion.
He doesn't like it.
I don't like doing it.
But what other choice do I have? You occasionally hear somebody, believers and unbelievers alike say something like, "You know if everybody lived their lives modeled after the teachings of Jesus, the world would be a better place." That is one of the understatements of the millennia.


"Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." Colossians 3:23 NLT

Heb. 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.