I worked for a guy with a reputation for ruthlessness in business dealings, usually with competitors. He was honest in the sense that at least theoretically, he intended to give a good product for the money, and he wanted to be a good employer to his people (although now that I think of it, the ways in which he chose to do so often felt a little paternalistic to me).
Anyhow, his business was in serious decline, with maybe 20% of the number of employees that it had at its peak, and he was moving to make everyone, from engineers to machinists, into contractors. And not just in name, paying them by the hour and issuing a 1099, he was having people bid jobs at a flat price. So he was pissed when this one machinist was producing more than he ever did when paid by the hour, even though the piece rate for the part he was making resulted in the boss getting it for less than he did while paying hourly. "Why didn't he work that hard when he was on the clock?" he asked. I found the hypocrisy beyond limits. Everything he ever did in his professional life was to make money and better his own position, but if anyone else works harder when they can make more money, it's the equivalent of stealing from him. Moron. Besides, the company was likely to fold within the next year so it was also possible that the machinist was just making hay in the sunshine by working at a rate he couldn't have sustained indefinitely, which is the mindset you have to have as an hourly employee.
I've always tried to live by the axiom "give two hours of effort for every hour of pay and you will never be in need for a job"
Yes, I relate to that entirely. One of my co-workers stated during the current budget crises here in Cali that people shouldn’t complain about tax raises, as the upper level people can afford. One community was voting on a local sales tax hike to pay for budget gaps. All of the local businesses were against it, as people will naturally go elsewhere. His view was “if you can afford a big ticket item, you can afford the tax.” Ok, thats all well and good. But when same individual worked a pile of overtime, and only saw a small increase in pay, well that was a different thing altogether. Now I like this person, think a lot of him, but it show the disconnect that some people have.