In 2019, a convicted felon on staff at the cleaning company we used robbed our family-owned chiropractic clinic. As a result, my parents asked my older sister, my younger brother, and me to clean the office for pay. I accepted this opportunity because I knew it would help our family, it would add value to our business, and I wanted to make some extra money. I also thought working for my family business with my siblings would be fun. I reported to my older sister, who reported to our dad, the Clinic Director. I enjoyed the cleaning work initially but then began dreading the weekly tasks of dusting and vacuuming as it started feeling mundane and boring. To make the time pass faster, I would spot vacuum instead
of doing what was expected: providing excellent work with unwavering integrity by vacuuming the entire floor. I eventually did not want to vacuum anymore. I thought, “Why don’t I ask my brother or sister if
they would exchange duties with me?” Neither of them was willing to vacuum, so I kept spot vacuuming, even though I knew I should have been doing a better job. Then, on another cleaning day, my sister called me out about needing to do a better job vacuuming in multiple rooms. She ordered me to go back and vacuum properly, which led to an
argument between us. For the first time in my life, I was fired from a job. What made it worse, it was from my family’s own business. After a couple of months passed, my dad suggested that I come back to work cleaning the office
if I could commit to cleaning properly how he expected it to be done. I accepted because I wanted to do an excellent job for him and show him I could do well. I started working again and
was doing better work, but it didn’t last long; the quality of my work was declining again. On one occasion, my dad told me he doesn’t pay for work that’s not completed, and I don’t blame him because I wouldn’t either. I was not paid for that day since I did not complete my cleaning tasks. I did not correct my behavior and, as a result, was fired for the second time.
It was very painful and embarrassing to be fired twice by my own family. Although it did not feel good, I was able to learn a valuable lesson from this experience. I learned that good work ethic is required in daily life, not just in the workplace, whether I feel like doing the work or not. If I don’t have good work ethic, I might not be able to keep a job anywhere. After being fired, I decided to look for another job and was committed to doing excellent work. I was able to find a
job at Tropical Smoothie Café and was a valuable worker there. In less than a year, I was offered
more money at Culver’s, so I took what felt like a sizeable promotion and switched jobs. Around
the same time, a friend of our family who owns his own business installing and cleaning fish tanks hired me to help him while he recovered from an auto accident. While working with him, he mentioned to my parents that I had been doing a great job and commented on being impressed with my work ethic. What started as a painful situation helped me realize I need to be a person who adds value in any situation. As a result of learning that lesson, I have found additional jobs that pay more, and I continue to be rewarded with more responsibility and more pay because of the quality of
