Evening star., 1925-03-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Being on time to work is about the
easiest thing an employer asks of an
empIoye, therefore it would seem to
be only common sense for workers to
comply.
Yet any one who has had experience
with modern business knows that be-
Ing on time Is the last thing some en-
ployes do. They may be fine men,
capable girls, but they Insist on be-
ing late to work.
They seem TO regard 1t as a sort of
divine right. For them, at least, II
starts the day right. The boss is an
old crouch for wanting a fellow to
be Johnny on -the-spot. He comes
rolling down when he gets ready
why should the hands lave to hump
themselves?
Even In the Government service,
where hardness is penal:zed by TAX
ing more than pro rata share off
the annual vacation, clerks and other
workers are late time and time again.
You can see them scurrying along
the sidewalks any morning at S:55
o'clock, even running, IN their effort
to be "on time" They will be late,
of course, no matter how much they
hurry.
Take street car at 10 minutes to
9 am, and you viii Immediately see
carload of persons who are going
to be late tor work in the main. Some
of them may manage to squeeze under
the wire, but most of them will get in
late, and have to pretend they do not
see the glance cast at them by the
chief of their room.
Hardness begins in the first grade,
and follows man down through his
various ages. Not being on time
for work knows no time limit. 1t is
no respecter of persons. 1t gets the
old into its clutches as well as the
young. The serious and well meaning
acquire the habit almost as easily as
frivilous and Indifferent employees.
X y x 4
Being late to work is bad habit,
nothing more nor less. It IS not an
Inherited trait, or a disposition to-
ward meanness. 1t is not something
which the employees acquire to rile the
boss. Not at all.
Being late is simply a bad habit.
Like most bad habits, too, it grows
upon one. The seroius worker, allow
ing himself to be late for work few
times, soon comes to the point where
he never hears the alarm clock.
Pope said of vice that it Is of so
horrid q rnien il needs but to be seen
to be hated, but which, enduring. man
soon comes TO tolerate. So II is with
this bad habit of being late 70 work.
Once let yourself get into the clutch
of this fell circumstance. you finally
end UP by feeling as If you had every
right in the world to start your work
ing day with what is nothing more
nor less than a violation of the initial
rule of all
This initial requirement is: Be on
time. Surely, as order is Heaven s
first law, God must have a set time
even for His angels TO report.
So 1t is nothing hostile on the part
of the boss of any mundane work to
establish a fixed time for the hands
to appear 10 take up their duties for
the day.
1t is a necessary thing. Work has
to start some time. Any employe
will admit that So Ehen the time
is fixed it follows as the day the
night that the workers ought to be
there to do the work.
This requires no elaborate argu-
ment There is not an employe any
where who will not agree to it.
But there are many workers who,
while upholding the theory, will vio-
late the practice.
Alas for human nature.
X X X
Now, it is just as easy to be on time
for work as it is to be late. | do
not mean any slavish adherence to
Set rues. If there is any real reason
for tardiness, no employer should
question 1t. Most of them will not.
If your street car is in an accident
which, by the way, street cars seldom