I was lucky during my trip to the mess decks, and by lucky, I don't mean 'good' lucky, but rather 'bad' lucky. During my 90-day expedition into the hot and steamy mess-decks, we were fortunate (once again, the 'bad' luck struck) to go through a one week “Supply Management Inspection (SMI)”. This meant that we not only had to maintain the mess decks clean, we also had to make them shine!
Somehow or other, I ended up with the scullery. This job everyone considered the absolutely worst job of all. Everybody hated it. The scullery was 12-14 hours every day in a cramped room operating equipment at 120-130 degrees Fahrenheit, scrubbing the dishes for the entire ship's crew.
When I found out I was assigned to the scullery, I was outraged. I was working as hard as I could to get the job (which I hated) done. I was always on time, always got all of my work done as well as I possibly could, and I THOUGHT that I had earned promotion to being IN CHARGE of the mess! But here I was, being relegated to oblivion and darkness.
I was being punished, sent to the hottest, the hardest and the most hated job of all.
So I did it.
A month later, after the SMI completed, MY scullery, the one that I wouldn't let anyone else in, became the ONLY space on the entire ship that was awarded a grade of “Outstanding” by the inspectors.
Did this make me happy? Of course not. I was embarrassed. How could I, a person who worked on hi-tech equipment and electronics, be told that I made a great “scullery boy”? After my 90-days were done, I fled the mess decks that had shamed me so much.
Several months later, my time in Panama finished, and I transferred to the USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan. About the second week that I was on board, at our morning muster, our department head came out and mustered with us, which was highly unusual. After the muster was complete, and we would normally be dismissed, he stepped up and announced some awards he needed to present.
He then proceeded to read a Letter of Commendation signed by a Rear Admiral about a “scullery boy” who had received a perfect grade for washing dishes. By the time my D.O. reached the end of the letter, I was about ready to try and fling myself over the side of the ship from embarrassment. How could I live knowing that all of these people with whom I worked would think of me like a scullery maid. I slunk up to the D. O., and accepted my letter with bowed head.
Only now, nearly two decades later, do I realize that this award was not something to be embarrassed by, but rather, something to be even more proud of than any of the other awards I received in the Navy. I should be proud because I did something that nobody else could do, and I got the job done despite hating what I was doing. It was hot, it was dirty, it was dreadful. But I didn't just “get by” with doing the job, I can now say proudly that, “I got the job done!”.
If you have to do something, even if you hate it, then do it as best as you can. You never know when the good work you do will come back and bless you.
Somehow or other, I ended up with the scullery. This job everyone considered the absolutely worst job of all. Everybody hated it. The scullery was 12-14 hours every day in a cramped room operating equipment at 120-130 degrees Fahrenheit, scrubbing the dishes for the entire ship's crew.
When I found out I was assigned to the scullery, I was outraged. I was working as hard as I could to get the job (which I hated) done. I was always on time, always got all of my work done as well as I possibly could, and I THOUGHT that I had earned promotion to being IN CHARGE of the mess! But here I was, being relegated to oblivion and darkness.
I was being punished, sent to the hottest, the hardest and the most hated job of all.
So I did it.
A month later, after the SMI completed, MY scullery, the one that I wouldn't let anyone else in, became the ONLY space on the entire ship that was awarded a grade of “Outstanding” by the inspectors.
Did this make me happy? Of course not. I was embarrassed. How could I, a person who worked on hi-tech equipment and electronics, be told that I made a great “scullery boy”? After my 90-days were done, I fled the mess decks that had shamed me so much.
Several months later, my time in Panama finished, and I transferred to the USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan. About the second week that I was on board, at our morning muster, our department head came out and mustered with us, which was highly unusual. After the muster was complete, and we would normally be dismissed, he stepped up and announced some awards he needed to present.
He then proceeded to read a Letter of Commendation signed by a Rear Admiral about a “scullery boy” who had received a perfect grade for washing dishes. By the time my D.O. reached the end of the letter, I was about ready to try and fling myself over the side of the ship from embarrassment. How could I live knowing that all of these people with whom I worked would think of me like a scullery maid. I slunk up to the D. O., and accepted my letter with bowed head.
Only now, nearly two decades later, do I realize that this award was not something to be embarrassed by, but rather, something to be even more proud of than any of the other awards I received in the Navy. I should be proud because I did something that nobody else could do, and I got the job done despite hating what I was doing. It was hot, it was dirty, it was dreadful. But I didn't just “get by” with doing the job, I can now say proudly that, “I got the job done!”.
If you have to do something, even if you hate it, then do it as best as you can. You never know when the good work you do will come back and bless you.
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