Being Mediocre Isn’t Really Living!

Daily writing prompt

What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?

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I have a serious problem with people who just do enough to get be, whether on a job, in college, or at home. Being mediocre means not even trying to do the best you can, which I always thought was the goal. To do less than my best was emotionally painful and shaming for me, but I learned that not everyone feels the same way.

As a new graduate teaching assistant with my first class to teach at a university, I wanted every student to earn an A. I was determined to do whatever I needed to ensure each student passed with a great grade. But, it took one student to disavow me of the belief that everyone wants to earn an A.

The student hadn’t turned in some assignments. When he came for the final exam, I told him that I would still accept the late assignments so that his grade would improve. He responded, “I just need a D.” It felt like someone had kicked me in the shins! Just need a D! I asked, “Why are you even here?” He just walked away. He had calculated just how much work was required for a D, and he got one!

It never occurred to me that anyone would be satisfied with a D in college or being mediocre in life. And that a D was a passing grade seemed to scream insanity to me. The grade of a D means that you didn’t actually do anything or learn anything, which is anathema to me. I have always believed in working eight hours for eight hours’ pay. I would be so ashamed not to give my best.

At my last job before the telephone company outsourced by IT job, I was the top producer in clearing trouble tickets. I completed about 50 tickets a day, so you can imagine my shock when I received an anonymous email to stop because of fears that management would require the same of everyone. I learned that most of my co-workers were only completing half as many in the same time period!

How could that be, considering what we were being paid? I still have, after twenty-two years, the award I received as a “Miracle Worker,” and I still take pride in giving my all in my work, especially as a professor, because someone is paying to receive a good education. As I return to teaching college in about four weeks, I will still work to help every student earn an A or to their level of potential.

To be mediocre means never going for the gold, being satisfied with a field goal rather than a touchdown, just getting by and not attempting to reach the pinnacle of who you were created to be! That to me is a doggone shame!