The drive from Dallas, TX to Magnolia, AR is about 250 miles and takes about 4 hours, turning 5 hours of wedding coverage into a 13 hour day. As I was driving back I was reminded of something that happened to me when, as a younger man, I was working at golf course and helping with bag drop at a tournament...
There were a bunch of us helping out as it was a big event, and we were all standing by the edge of the parking lot and loading up the participants' bags onto their carts as they approached. At a certain point as the spaces closest to us filled up the golfers had to walk with their bags from further away and I took it upon myself to meet them halfway, instead of waiting for them to make it all the way to the bag drop area.
After about 10 minutes one of the other bag drop attendees, an older semi-retired man, pulled me aside. "You gotta stop doing that," he said. "You're making the rest of us look bad." I chuckled at the thought and dismissed him, and continued to do what I had been doing, all while I could feel the rest of them glowering at me.
It was a common occurrence back when I worked for other people, to have my work ethic questioned or unappreciated, and it's the thing I love most about working for myself: that I get to work how I want and up the standard that I expect of myself and if that "makes others look bad" then so be it, because it's not about looking or being better than my peers or competition, it's about doing my best work in all situations.
If driving an extra 8 hours is what's necessary to get the job done, if walking deep into a parking lot on a hot Texas Spring Day will serve the customer in the best way, if staying an extra hour over the agreed upon time in order to capture the send off is what it takes, it's what I will do, because I'm not trying to not "look bad," I'm trying to be good.
