A long, long, long time ago, when I was a teenager, I worked a part time job at a Burger King on the weekends. I remember that this particular Burger King was always busy on weekends as it was just down the street from Pitt Stadium and we always got slammed after the Saturday football games.
I always looked forward to a break in the action where me and my coworkers could take a break from the craziness. I remember the manager yelling at us to get back to work, and clean our stations. The manager would tell us, "if there is time to lean, then there is time to clean". We were getting paid to work, not socialize on the job.
If you looked at the situation from my bosses perspective, how would you feel if you walked into your business and saw your employees sitting around, texting, or playing games on your dime? You would probably not be too happy. I'd wonder, why am I paying these employees?
We learn the importance of following through on a job, completing assignments, and being responsible early on in the troop through the patrol method. Just the same as most business organizations, everyone reports to someone in the patrol. We practiced this while at camp. In our troop, each patrol has different duties each day. Someone needs to prep, cook, and clean up meals along with fire duty, camp cleanliness, and all the other various assignments needed for a successful camp. If one, or all neglect to complete their assignments, it has the possibility of causing a ripple effect to the next individual or patrol who is assigned next.
As we practice within our patrols, we are preparing ourselves for when it is time to work at a job. It doesn't matter what the job is. It could be anything from flipping burgers, mowing lawns, tending kids, or picking up trash. Make sure to take pride and ownership in your job and do the best that you can as you implement the Scout Law into your daily work activities.
Your boss trusts you to do the work for which you were hired.
Mike Rowe, from "Dirty Jobs", once said on the importance of work ethic, "work ethic is important because, unlike intelligence, athleticism, charisma or any other natural attribute, it's a choice".
A Scout is Trustworthy