We Must All Stand Together. . .In the Energy Cave

One of the biggest things I’ve learned while working at a convenience store is that jobs have a lot of things in common; schedules, deadlines, coworkers, bosses. Throughout my career I’ve made a lot of money. I don’t make a lot of money at the convenience store. But that’s not the point. I’ve often said that if you hated your job, or your boss, and then your boss doubled your salary, you’d still hate your job. I’ve discovered the corollary: If you love the job and they cut your salary you’ll still love your job. . . probably.

One of my jobs at the store is to make sure the cans of energy drink are properly stocked in our Energy Cave. Think of a beer cave, but with Monsters and Rockstars and about a dozen I’d never heard of. The cans get loaded from the back and gravity helps them flow to the front.

It’s a pretty simple task. The cans stacked next to each other keeps them all upright. The plan works great unless one of the cans falls over. This happens when there is too big a gap between cans. When that happens I have to reach back can stand it back up.

It reminded me of a saying from Benjamin Franklin,

We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

He, of course was talking about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. But it applies to us as well. We do better when we come together, as a team, as a family, as a workforce.

Even if we are drinks in the Energy Cave

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Miscellany III A Collection of Holiday Short Stories, is an anthology that includes his latest short story, “You Can Call Me Dan”

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