Never Say It's Not My Job!

I still remember my first job. I was 16 and I was hungry to learn as much as I could on the weekends I worked. Earning my own pocket money gave me a deep sense of accomplishment. Even then, I understood that earning comes at a price. My weekends, my self-discipline and the freedom to do whatever my friends were doing. Yet the reward was far greater than the money. It was knowledge. Exposure. Experience.

I bet you're dying to know what that first job was. Well, frankly, I was a packer at a bottle store. It taught me more about people than I ever expected but that's a story for another day.

What mattered most was what those weekends built in me. Respect, hard work and a willingness to help without holding out my hand for an extra cent. Without my knowing it, they laid the foundation for everything that was to come.

A FATHERS SIMPLE TRUTH.

My late father reminded my sisters and I of this often. "Never say it's not my job. Become indispensable. If they don't notice you while you're there, let them feel it when you're not."

I've carried those words into every role I've held since. Over the years I've realised they were never really about ambition. They were about service. Showing up so fully and caring so genuinely, that your absence leaves a gap people can feel.

SERVICE IS A CHOICE.

From the '90s onward, almost every job came with customer service training. It was simply part of the deal. You learned to greet people, to listen and to go the extra mile without being asked.

Somewhere along the way, that became optional. Most of us have spent our hard-earned money somewhere and walked away feeling it meant nothing to the person who received it. I don't say that to point fingers. I say it because it reminds me that good service is never automatic. It is a choice we make every day, in every conversation, with every person we meet.

WHY THE NOSTALGIA REFUSES TO DIE.

At ONE39 Central, we've chosen to hold on to the old ways. Not out of sentiment, but because they work. They work for a peaceful life and they work in business. It costs me nothing to be kind. And I've come to see the business itself as a tool, a mechanism only, through which we extend the love we have for people in everything we do and accomplish for our clients. In our world, that choice shows up in small things that never appear on an invoice, yet are always felt.

TAKE THE WALK WITH ME.

So this is my walk of remembrance. Back to a bottle store on a Saturday morning, back to my father's words, back to a time when service was simply how things were done. I'd invite you to take that walk too.

Who taught you to show up? Whose words still echo when you're tempted to say, "That's not my job"?

if you ever find yourself at one of our events, I hope you feel it. Not because anyone is watching but because it's who we have chosen to be.

— Jacques Groenewald, Founder & CEO, ONE39 Central