What Work Teaches a Person

My years in labour taught me to respect work. NUPENG and the Nigeria Labour Congress put me close to people who keep the country moving: drivers, depot workers, attendants, technicians, cooks, cleaners, clerks and the families waiting at home.

You learn quickly that dignity is not grammar. It is how people are spoken to. It is how their effort is treated. It is whether anybody notices when things are unfair.

A place like this is also a place of work. The rooms, kitchen, pool, bar, laundry and reception all depend on people doing small things properly.

Real service is what happens when nobody is clapping.

Hospitality is not only smiling at the door. It is discipline. It is cleaning what nobody may inspect. It is keeping water ready, food honest and promises realistic.

Work forms people. If the system rewards carelessness, people learn carelessness. If the system rewards ownership, people begin to stand straighter.