Societal Norm: Work is a drag, and you should only work as much as you have to, since you're only doing it for a paycheck.
Rather than: Taking pride in your work, and striving to glorify God in all you do, even when you're not getting paid enough.
As you probably know, I work at a store in the mall. It sells all sorts of kitchen gadgets and cookware and spices. It's amazing and I love it. But I don't get paid much more than minimum wage. It's a part time job. It'd be easy to just do the minimum. Just restock shelves, and interact with customers only when the boss is working, and simply follow orders. But it's not a corporate store. It's a small business, owned by a woman who is in her store working about 60-80 hours a week. The woman doesn't sleep much. Or do anything much. The economy is down, and while her store isn't struggling, it isn't booming either. If I choose to be a lazy employee, she's the one that suffers. Her store. Her livelihood. Her dream. And my reputation, my pride (the good kind), and my God. Doing just enough brings no glory to Him. Going above and beyond what is expected of me does. I do it so that others might see Him in me. Or at the very least, not have another reason to dislike Christians.
And it's not a drag. It's the best retail job I've ever had. Sure there are times when I'm ready to go home, but even then the time doesn't drag. I genuinely enjoy the work I do, the people I work with, and the place at which I work. Sure, there are hours I don't give it my all and refill coffee because it's easy. And yes, there are days when I don't want to go to work. But I try my best to remember to be thankful that I have a job, and thankful that it's such a good one, and thankful I get to work with the HLM sometimes because she's awesome. So buy local. And give it your all, because it's what you do when people aren't looking that is the real you. The more I learn that, the better person I am. Because I can handle people looking down on me because I don't follow societal norms and do weird things a lot of the time that I have a hard time explaining. But I really can't be disappointed in myself, in who I am when I'm alone. That is just too much to bare.
Societal Norm: 0
Almost any other rational option: 3
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