Southern Work Ethic?

I probably haven't been down here long enough to accurately judge the Southern work ethic, but this is just a limited observation.  It is a slower pace down here, but I haven't been that impressed with the work ethic.  There are exceptions of course.  But, some of the people I've been impressed with are from the northeast.

I'm pretty sure my work ethic comes from my Dad and I'm not just saying that because he's reading this.  You can tell that some people are paid by the hour and their efforts are just lacking.  I've always thought of myself as being in my own business, before I actually had my own business.  lf you work like you're in charge and as if what you do really matters, you're going to do well, at least that's my opinion.

A funny thing happened to me last week while I was working.  I walked into an elevator in a hospital with someone who was delivering Edible Arrangements.  I noticed right away that he looked beat.  It was 2 pm and he asked me how I was doing.  I said I was doing well and asked about him.  He said something about the drivers out there and I replied, "it's a beautiful day to be out there."  He said to me, "how many more deliveries do you have?"  I told him just these two and he clearly was jealous that I was headed home.

That's when the conversation got interesting. (at least I thought so)  He said I was lucky to be heading home and I asked when did he start working that day.  I expected him to say early in the morning, but he said, "11 am."  He had only been working for three hours!  I told him I started at 6 am and then he said, "you deserve to go home."

We parted ways and I had to laugh.  He was wiped out after working three hours and I felt pretty good after working a pretty easy eight hours.  And, he was probably 25 years younger too!  Imagine what his reaction would be if I told him that I'm used to working 12 plus hours a day and I used to work 19 hours in one day each month.

It's possible he was just getting over being sick or he has a baby at home keeping him awake or some other reason he looked wiped out.  But, it's also possible he's just not used to working that hard or that long.

It's now 5 am on a Saturday morning.  I'm getting ready to go out and "work" by driving around and picking up some people who need rides.  It should be a relaxing day.