You mean you actually did your job? Here's an excellence pin!

There’s this thing at my job called a service excellence pin where you are awarded a pin if you have what is called a “star card” filled out about something “excellent” you did at work. The whole system is flawed and bogus and it’s something that’s irritated me for a while now.

The idea is a good one. If you do something above and beyond at work then it’s nice to be commended for it. The only problem is that the system has become one that isn’t used in the way that it should be and has led to employees effectively begging and somewhat backstabbing each other just to see who can receive the most cards and pins. To my knowledge there is no bonus or raise or really any perk for receiving a card or pin. As one co-worker said to me, it’s really just a morale thing.

I feel that I must get this out of the way, because this entire post might come off to some as bitter over the fact that I do not have a pin. The truth is that I don’t give a damn about getting a pin. I go to work every day I’m scheduled and do my job the way that it’s supposed to be done. I don’t expect a pin for doing this. You shouldn’t be awarded just for doing your job. Have I done things at work that probably could’ve gotten myself a pin? Sure. I’m sure every single person who works at this place has done the same.

The reason why I don’t give a damn about earning a pin is because they’ve become meaningless. The laziest, least productive, worst co-worker that I can think of has received multiple pins. The hardest working co-worker that I can think of has never received a pin. That right there tells me all I need to know about this system.

Popular people are more apt to get pins. Kiss asses are more likely to get pins. Quiet people who put their heads down and work their asses off each day in the back away from the spotlight are not as likely to earn pins.

The most bogus thing about this entire system, and the thing that most irritated me enough to write this post, is that there are multiple people I know who beg and plead and intentionally seek out these pins to the point where they physically show a person where the cards are located or verbally ask someone to fill a card out for them or even go as far as keeping a stack of cards on their person so as to intimidate someone into filling them out. How arrogant and narcissistic do you have to be to do stuff like that, in the first place?  

Helping somebody out or doing something special for somebody is something that should come randomly and without a hint of wanting to be pointed out for doing so. It’s only special, in my opinion, if it’s truly heartfelt. Wandering halls seeking out people in need of directions is not the type of stuff that should be commended. In fact, it’s something that should probably be punished, because if you’re spending your time doing that are you really doing your job? Giving directions to someone in need or smiling warmly at a customer or saving somebody a type of item because you know they’ll come back for it isn’t something that you should be awarded for anyway. Those are all things you should do because you’re a good person.

I may receive a pin at some point in the future. But I won’t beg for it and I won’t kiss ass for it. It wouldn’t and doesn’t mean a damn thing if you do. I’m going to continue to do my job to the best of my ability, because that’s what we’re all supposed to do. If I do get a pin someday I won’t even wear it on my I.D. badge like most of my fellow co-workers do. It really doesn’t mean shit. It may have at once, but needy and greedy people have taken away any meaning previously attached to it.