Expectations, as compared to harsh reality

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Young people seem to have unrealistic expectations about life. I know when I was young, I had grandiose expectations about my future work career, my married life, and life in general. Boy, did “harsh reality” have a few lessons to teach me!

My knowledge of the role of a “wife” came from observing my sainted mother. I watched her iron every piece of clothing my father wore, including his undershorts. She made him breakfast every morning, and for the most part, acquiesced to Dad being the “man of the house”, going so far as to sign checks as “Mrs. Donald Houston”. I understand in the light of today’s world this all sounds terribly chauvinistic and out of touch, but such a relationship was common in the 50s and 60s. It worked for my folks. Both of my parents had a happy, loving partner and were satisfied with the relationship, which lasted 54 years.

When I married my children’s mother, I held expectations for my wife, but they were different than the expectations my father would have held when he married. I was progressive enough to communicate with my wife knowing the world had evolved and the expectations of the prior generation were no longer reasonable or even appropriate. My wife worked a full-time job, just as I did, and I did not expect her to cook every meal, clean the house single handedly, or iron my clothes. Our relationship would not last, but it was not because either of us held unreasonable expectations of the other.

When I entered the workforce, I foolishly imagined I was destined to accomplish my career goals in the first six months. I worked hard and expected instant results. I was young and unaware of how things worked. It took a while for me to appreciate a year in the business world was a mere drop in the bucket in the broad scheme of an entire business career. I learned to be patient and came to understand leaps forward were made up of a thousand small steps. Success was possible, but it was a long road and demanded a lot of hard work.

This past week I interviewed a young person seeking employment at the newspaper. They had very little experience, but they did give the impression of being a hard worker and goal-oriented. They made it clear their objective was to win individual statewide newspaper awards, as well as national awards. They told me it was important they be allowed to go to all the statewide press convention events so they could be “seen” and make statewide connections. All of these are fine expectations, but I noticed little concern from the applicant on how they would make the paper better for our readers, or a more profitable entity overall. It was much more about how the paper could be a tool for the applicant’s  future success.

The final straw was when I asked the candidate about their salary expectations and was told a number which was 30% higher than the top end salary in the industry for a similar job. I told this young person his money expectations were out of touch with the reality of the economics of the industry. His response was clear: His expectation was he was going to get his demand from someone because he was going to bring so much value to their operation. Never mind that his “value” had yet to be proven. I wished him luck.

Sometimes I hear people make the blanket statement, “Young people do not want to work”. I must respectfully disagree. I have hired a significant number of people under the age of 30 over the past twenty years, and for the most part, they have been ambitious, hard-working committed employees. It has been my pleasure to work with them, see them grow, and occasionally, watch them move on to bigger and better pastures.

Sadly, I am seeing more and more young applicants who have unrealistic expectations of what employment will be like, and to understand that, while it is important for them to have their objectives met, they must bring something to the table which gives value to the employer. There seems to be a disconnect between what applicants want, and business reality. Sure, it would be nice to work from home three days-a-week, to have six weeks of vacation, and lots of other perks, but in today’s competitive world no one has explained how a business budget can withstand such concessions.

I am afraid harsh reality is going to hit my young applicant in the near future. Expectations without experience and knowledge seldom garner a positive result.

Thought for the day: Expectations are like fine pottery, the harder you hold them, the more likely they are to crack.

Until next time I will keep “ridin’ the storm out”

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260