Free Will. Eee!

I had an epiphany of sorts yesterday. All this time I've been complaining that my employees are like children, I've been wrong.

They don't push in their chairs, even after I point out that it's a safety hazard to leave them in the aisle, and even after I inform them that it's not pleasant being the first one in the shop in the morning and tripping over a chair on the way to the light switch.

They don't shut off the lights when they leave the bathroom. Even with all this "green" talk going on nowadays, they don't pay the utility bills, so why should they care?

On (fortunately) rare occasions, they don't flush. Many of them don't wash their hands after leaving the restroom.

The latest thing (as described in "Baby, it's cold outside." on 11/9/08) is that they leave the door wide open, to let the cold air in.

All along, as I push in their chairs and switch off the lights and shut the door, I grumble, "I'm not their father." This is true; a father can make his child do something.

Children do what they're told. If they don't, they are punished. My employees are adults; they are allowed to make their own decisions. I can't discipline them, either.