Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We all need assistance in our work. There are requests for assistance that bring assistance. There are requests for assistance that bring nothing.

We all need assistance in our work. Persons who can do their job well all the time are stalled in a job that doesn’t challenge them. There are requests for assistance that bring assistance. There are requests for assistance that bring nothing.

Method 1 of requesting assistance: “I put this together. It needs work. Here.”

Method 2 of requesting assistance: “I’m stuck on this, especially the part that does such-and-such. Would you please give me some tips so that I can start moving again?”

Method 1 is an example of superior-to-inferior speech. “You do what I tell you to do. I am telling you to fix my work.” If a person was hired to fix the work of another, fine. That is the job that brings compensation, do it.

If, however, the speaker and listener are members of a team, method 1 is unacceptable.

If the speaker in method 1 knows the product needs work, then that person should catch their breath, roll up their sleeves, use whatever cliche’ they need, and work on it. Don’t tell someone else to do what you should be doing.

Method 2 is an example of how co-workers speak to one another when they work together. It is a polite request on specific items. The listener can do something with this as a co-worker, not an underling.

A response to such method 1 and method 2 that I have heard often is something like, “I don’t have time for all this quibbling about words. It’s all the same, just do it” If you say such, become accustomed to others never assisting you.