My Life According To Wayne Bass

This is an excerpt from a paper written by Wayne Bass for his Com. 111 class

Are we a lazy generation- Part I

(Editors note: This article is the first of a two-part series focusing on what causes certain employees to be so loyal in their chosen vocation in this age where loyalty is not what it used to be. The first part identifies my subject one Zachary Paul Gibson of Oklahoma and his work habits.  The second article will explore the advantages and the problems a company is faced with today in employee disloyalty.)     

Hey Zach, were going to go kick flaming tires down a spill way are you in? Most collage aged young men would jump on a chance to blow something up or go catch a tire doused in gasoline on fire and kick it down a hill.  Although, Zach Gibson has to work that night and he won’t be able to make it this particular man-date.  Not to say that Zach has missed out on life, because he hasn’t, the kid is a social butterfly that enjoys going to concerts, fantasy football, and just hanging out with friends and with a campus wide fan base his popularity only grows with each new semester.  He is like the Mormon version of Van Wilder… on crack!  But Zach’s loyalty to his employer has always come first when decision making events occur.   Zach has been a loyal employee at Little Creasers Pizza since his freshman year of collage back in 2005, and he works there still to this day.  This is uncommon in a world where the average 32 year old will have held approximately 8 jobs since the age of 18. Zach is 25 and has had two since the age of 18.  Is there something different about Zach Gibson then say the average 18 to 32 year old male?  Or, is it something else that has caused Zach’s loyalty ? 

          The first job Zach had was at Taco Bell which he only kept for a month.  When asked why only a month he said without any hesitation I HATED IT!  That summer when he was only 15 he was taking care of the grounds at a private resort off of Grand Lake at Monkey Island back in his home state of Oklahoma.  He recalled while laughing.   “The old man (A.T. Saunders) didn’t know I was only 15 but after about a month of working for him when he did find out through casual conversation he said with a shrug I guess I would have hired a dog to mow the lawns if he would have shown up every day.”  Zach worked at that same resort every summer through his entire high school career.  Zach said “If A.T. hadn’t of retired after that first year and Mike his replacement wasn’t so cool I probably would have done something else.”  Zach really enjoyed his new boss’s comradeship and after work at 5 o’clock they would sometimes hang out, Zach would sometimes eat even dinner with Mike and his wife and kids, and then go to play Playstation.

          After Zach had completed his mission in Lisbon Portugal he began his college career at Brigham Young University in Idaho, Zach realized that he needed some extra income, so he began to job hunt.  He was kind of worried about going back to the world of fast food because of the negative experience he had while in his youth at Taco Bell, but he had a friend working there who informed him that Little Creasers was looking and promised Zach that it is a pretty cool place to work.  So, the hesitant Zach Gibson though he would give it a try and went in anyways.  His new boss Jerald is a friendly guy who Zach liked from the start.  They have since become good friends and even though there are times when Zach really would rather go and do other things besides go to work he chooses to bite the bullet and go in. Zach knows that he would not have had a good time knowing that he left Jerald in a bind back at Little Caesars.  Zach says “I end up having a pretty good time anyways when I go in.  If the people I work with bug me at the time then I just turn my I-Pod on and make dough in the back.”

Zach has quit working at Little Caesars three times.  The first time was because he was going home to Oklahoma for the seven week break.  The second was during an off-track semester when he went with a friend of his to sell art in Jackson Hole Wyoming.  And, the third time was due to going home again for an off-track break.  All three times he has been welcomed back with no hesitation.  When his manager Jerald was asked why he keeps letting Zach come back he said that “he is a good worker, and it is hard to find loyal employees like Zach.”  Basically it’s not that Zach has really quit it’s more like a break until he returns back to Rexburg. 

His friends from school are recognized on occasion in Little Caesars as being “Zach’s friends.”  They will refer to the 5 dollar hot and ready pizza special as the Zach Gibson Special in hopes that the name will catch on.  They also hope that after his years of loyalty will pay off and the corporation will make a nationwide name change.  The friendly atmosphere that is at Little Caesars help encourage this joking spirit.  Zach told of a time when a small group of his friends showed up at Little Caesars dressed up like The Burger King, Ronald McDonald, and Colonel Sanders.  He said “I guess Wendy’s and Jack in the Box had asked them what they were doing and had asked them to turn off their video camera but Jerald thought it was hilarious and took pictures for a couple of employees who just happened to have their cameras with them.”  “It’s a relaxed atmosphere but we have a lot to do, we work hard in-fact most of the time it’s just go go go.  But, we usually have a good time doing it and I really like the people I work with and that makes all the difference in the world to me.”