The Peril of Complacency

    To shield her identity, I’ll call the waitress Jane. That’s not her in the photo. But that’s one of the tables she wiped clean for over twenty years.
    Jane served me and my parents on many occasions. We appreciated her friendliness. Her work ethic was good. She outlasted one manager after another.
    Last year the restaurant added another waitress to the staff. She worked the lunch shift with Jane. The pair of waitresses often chatted by the waitress station. They got along great.
    Too great.
    Dirty plates lingered on tables. Jane’s attention to her customers slackened. This new waitress distracted Jane from what mattered. 
     One day my family showed up for a lunch. A different waitress greeted us. I asked about Jane. The waitress told me that Jane was no longer with the restaurant.
    In other words, Jane had been fired.
    I asked around for details. Nobody had much to say. They didn’t want to jeopardize their jobs. I did learn that Jane had broken out in tears when she was let go.
     Jane is missed. But she has nobody to blame but herself. Jane became complacent.
    A high tech visionary named Andy Grove once said, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”