99 Bottles of Beer on the Job

99 Bottles of Beer on the Job   

 Our crew was working the midnight shift.

THE MISSION: sanitize and spot clean the carpeting in a commercial office building.  

THE SPACE:  a tight maze-like configuation of small workstations grouped together, oftentimes dubbed a Cubicle Farm. 

As we descended on our one-acre cube farm, a song from back in the day of school bus field trips came to mind.  Whether sparked by the full-on shot of those never-ending niches or maybe just the thought of an ice-cold one after work, that famous count-down tune about beer started to play in my head.  Of course I adapted the words to fit the situation...          

 

99 Cubies of Carpet of Clean,    99 Cubies to Clean,

      TAKE ONE DOWN!    PASS IT AROUND!

       98 Cubies of Carpet to Clean...

Yeah, I know the words don't make complete sense (and of course my crew let me know that immediately when I tried unsuccessfully to get them to join me in song) but the singing actually helped to make the job seem less daunting, as I did have that goal to reach ZERO cubies to clean after all.

As we worked on through the night cleaning those little spaces, it was obvious each cubie resident had a style of their own - some dribbled the coffee, others spilled the whole cup; some left crumbs on the carpet, others the whole cookie.  (Hey, in this ecomony when you have 100s of cubicle spaces with human inhabitants you happily deal with any mess, right!) 

So while their "styles" varied, practically every one of them had something in common: a photo of a kid, a spouse, a pet - something meaningful they loved.  There were photo layouts rivaling the art in a museum, while others had placed just one small picture by a keyboard. 

Instantly, I began to feel differently about the task we were there to handle.  Seeing all those images brought me back to our company’s ideals of service in the bigger "picture" (no pun intended).  We were cleaning, yes, but also making the workplace healthier and brighter for those owners of the photos - the actual people who loved those kids, spouses, and pets lovingly on display.        

In life, haven't we all been called on to complete a job or task that might seem overwhelming or one that we might wish to somehow pass on to someone else?  But before passing on it, why not break it down into manageable sections and then have a little celebration as you complete each section.  Why not be inclined to look for what your connection is to the bigger picture and when the job is finally complete the sense of accomplishment you will feel only helps to make that next job go much easier.  

And who knows, you might have a little fun along the way.