My Job Makes Me Unpopular
April 1st, 2020 Posted by Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin Ask the Rabbi 9 commentsSir, I’m reading one of your books, “Business Secrets from the Bible.” You talk about making your customers happy.
The nature of my work now is to catch energy theft and fine/sanction them and at the end some are not happy with me.
I’m confused, please still explain more for me.
Thank you
Jide
Dear Jide,
In the spirit of full disclosure, we must tell you that we get pretty annoyed at letters that we regularly receive from our energy provider telling us that we use more energy than our neighbors. The tone of voice they use suggests that they caught us stealing. As if morality were about how little energy you use. Absurd! If they were to send a person to our house to fine us, we would not be pleased. But we do know that this is not what your job is. You are employed to find those who are actually stealing electricity with surreptitious and unofficial wiring to the grid.
I am sure that many of the energy thieves whom you apprehend are, as you say, not happy with you. A mistake you are making is thinking that those people are your customers. They are not. Your customer is your employer. Allow us to explain.