‘That’ll do’ mustn’t do

Behaviorists commonly list two types of workers. There’s the perfectionist, sometimes slow or grumpy, but always analytical and reliable to get the job done right. And there’s the slob, rarely attentive, often goofing off, making excuses and looking for the easy way out, and whose favorite expression is "puwede na ‘yan (that’ll do)".

Good managers invariably scout for the former, whom they know will be assets to their organizations. And they are always searching for ways to be rid of the latter, who can be pull down entire work teams and make problems. Bad managers cannot spot perfectionist talent. They accept sloppy work as a path of least resistance because they, too, habitually nod, "that’ll do."

Perfectionists are a pleasure to work with. Because they embody the Chinese proverb of worrying not of being slow, only of standing still, they are infectious and inspiring. And they win merit not only for themselves but the team.

Slobs get everyone into trouble. They commit all the no-no’s at the workplace, from leaving machines on even if idle, to losing parts and generally fouling up the job at hand. They try to get by befriending colleagues, in the hope of covering up for frequent lapses. But as Bette Davis counseled, "It has been my experience that one cannot, in any shape or form, depend on human relations for lasting reward; it is only work that truly satisfies." It is thus best to avoid slobs. For, they can endanger coworkers’ lives and limbs, and the company’s revenues and reputation.

The that’ll-do mentality can ruin products. A newspaper will be full of wrong stories or spellings because of one sloppy editor or proofreader. A car manufacturer will churn out an entire fleet of lemons with just one goof-off at the assembly line. A state-of-the-art building will leak, its wires will short, its paint will peel with just one careless plumber or electrician or painter. "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself," Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle said of his passion for writing, "but talent easily recognizes genius."

Conversely, the can-do attitude of perfectionists produces legacies. A story goes that a friend came to visit while Michelangelo was putting what appeared to be finishing touches on a sculpture. Days later the friend dropped by again and was surprised to find the artist still working on the same statue. The figure looked the same to the friend as it had days earlier, so he remarked, "You haven’t been working on this statue all this time, have you?"

"I have," Michelangelo said. "I’ve been busy retouching this part and polishing that; I’ve softened this feature and brought out that muscle; I’ve given more expression to the lips and more energy to that arm."

"But all those things are so insignificant," said the friend, "they’re mere trifles."

"That may be so," replied Michelangelo, "but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle."

Truly, perfection is performance with perseverance. And, as Aristotle said, pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

"That’ll do" seems to pervade the government bureaucracy. Some say the low pay makes for low morale. Others claim it’s because of lack of merit in a civil service that puts premium solely on security of tenure. That would have made Henry David Thoreau shudder, for he once said, "Do not hire a man who does the work for money, but one who does it for the love of it."

The excuses for "puwede na ‘yan" among bureaucrats cover up what they sorely lack: breeding and work ethic. Preoccupation with pay, morale and security only highlight their defects. They can never be awardees for being outstanding teachers or clerks, or soldiers or policemen.

That’ll-do negligence stinks toilets at the municipios, causes blackouts at Napocor, and derails trains of the Philippine National Railways. Along with corruption, it makes tax evasion easier at Customs and the BIR, and promotes vested interests in regulatory agencies.

Puwede na ‘yan takes a toll on public health. It lets smoke belchers loose from the Land Transportation Office’s emission tests, or disease contaminate visitors at government hospitals, or stench spread from the Payatas dump to the Batasan and Fairview districts. It kills too. Slipshod sanitation officials, in not strictly enforcing food-preparation laws, are somehow liable for the mass poisoning of over a hundred schoolchildren and the death of 27 in Mabini, Bohol. So are safety inspectors who allowed colorum ferries to sail on the Pasig River, one of which sank and for which two brothers drowned rescuing the passengers. Too, engineers who left unlighted the unfinished road works onto which a cabbie and a motorist rammed to their deaths on EDSA recently.

And, as the nation now knows, a series of slapdash acts led to the attempted jailbreak at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig in which three guards were slain, and the consequent assault in which a policeman was killed along with 23 detainees. To begin with, the detained Abu Sayyaf murder and kidnapping indictees were allowed to have mobile phones with which to coordinate with confederates fighting in Sulu. The guards, negligently untrained in batons, brought holstered guns while making a head count at the maximum-security section. Breaching procedures, they didn’t lock the first gate before opening the second one inside. And the detainees were able to shoot it out with the SWAT teams with guns smuggled in piece by piece by visitors.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]