“That’s not my job”

My stress level quickly elevated when I arrived in the returns lane.

“How am I going to get all of this stuff and that little boy to the airport in time to catch our flight?”

A car seat. Two check bags. Three carry-ons. And one sleepy toddler.

I made several trips from the trunk of the car to the Enterprise curb unloading stuff. Then I popped Jackson, my 3-year old, out of his car seat and dashed him off to wait alone inside the rental facility. I ran back to the car, quickly disconnected his car seat and ran it back to the curb. He wasn’t too freaked out, just confused.

I poked my head into the office, “When is the shuttle coming?”

Four grown men in big winter jackets turned around and looked at me. They had all been watching me unload the car, I saw them laughing at me… but my feelings aren’t easily hurt, I probably would have laughed a little, too.

A fat guy, a toddler and all those bags. I get it. Hardy har.

“The shuttle is here. It’s parked over there…” One of the guys said, pointing at a minibus about 100 yards from the building. I looked at Jackson. I looked at the pile of stuff. And I looked at that minibus.

“Is there any way one of you guys could help me out? I’ve got more stuff than I can move over there and carry him at the same time.”

Two guys stood up and quickly walked towards the room behind the counter. Another guy didn’t even move or acknowledge I’d said something, but he did stop laughing. And the other guy just looked up and said, “Yeah, that’s not my job. You’re on your own for that.”

You need to understand it’s 6:00 AM. I was the only customer there. I was the only person getting on that shuttle. They didn’t have anything else to do. They were just sitting there in their Enterprise jackets in an Enterprise office, working for Enterprise. And they didn’t move to help an Enterprise customer who clearly needed 1 minute of help.

Shocked and disappointed I mustered out something like, “OK, have a nice day. I appreciate the help.”

I turned around and picked up Jackson to head out into the cold.

Once outside I picked up what I could carry and started dragging my stuff. Literally, dragging it as I tried to carry him and reassure him. I figured it’d take me at least 2 trips and I’d have to leave Jackson in the shuttle by himself.

I got about 10 feet when I heard a woman’s voice. “Put that stuff down. I’ll help you! You get the baby and I’ll get your bags.”

I turned around to see a woman trotting towards me. She was the same person who had checked in my car. By then another couple cars had pulled in and were waiting, “I can check them in later… let’s get you taken care of.” She then picked up all of my bags and carried them over to the shuttle for me. It was so nice. I made it in one trip, I never had to leave Jackson. In other words, this one lady was doing 2 jobs… hers and the bums who sat in the warm office doing nothing but saying what wasn’t their job.

What’s the point?

The point isn’t that Enterprise is a bad company. I rent from them all the time and usually get great service. This was one moment at one location.

The point is that it doesn’t matter who you are, what role you have in an organization, or what your job is. When you are in the service industry [and we all kind of are] there is no such thing as, “That’s not my job.”

Get over yourself and help your customers.

Everything you do serves the greater good of the organization.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:22-23