Lazy'n rude

Tis been a month since I got here to work. But till now just how slow and lazy the work pace is hasn't sunk in. At first it was a source of amusement. The general disbelief at how little work could be done over such a large time frame but now it is simply a frustrating pain. I have always tried to give guys under or with me as easy a time as possible at work. But when crunch time hits I expect an added effort all round. A lil bit of give n take if you will. But here even when I give them the most basic of jobs. Jobs that anywhere else I would expect done in 30mins max they can take it in excess of 3 hours with 4 times the manpower I deem sufficient. Hell 1 job I gave them involved turning a handle in order to drain the aircraft's water tanks. Literally walk to a control panel and turn a handle, that's it... Took 2 people and 4 hours to complete. Then when a load of them were allocated 2 hours on overtime I decided to give them a job, but instantly they commented " can we do it tomorrow? Its almost time to go home" WTF man its the start of your 2 hrs OT. The fucking start and you want to go home! If thats the case fuck the OT go home now then. The previous line I actually stated in more polite terms in the presence of those incharge of the OT and those doing the OT. But then again those in charge of the OT (manager types) just exacerbated it all by finally saying that they should only do half the job but still claim the full 2hrs OT. Its not like the job was huge, any mechanic I have ever worked with would have taken 30-45 mins to do it on his own, don't even consider a group of 4.

Part of me trys to side with them and their predicament of being very lowly paid, hence the reluctance to work. But I think to anyone faced with it, dyed in the wool, work shy bone idle laziness is clear as day to those facing it. To me there is a clear line between work shyness and the protest against pay inequality. And out here the former is pretty clear.

Another thing struck me about peoples attitudes. Several instances and stories of rudeness come to mind but 1 by far stands out.

Was at a shopping mall last weekend and held a door open for the next person behind me which was a guy walking ahead of his girlfriend/wife. He walked thru and rather than acknowledge me or take over holding the door from me, so as to hold it open for his gf/wife. He completely ignored me and strolled thru fully expecting me to hold it open for his g/f wife too. Ummm don't think so... I let the door go right in her face.
"Oops... did I do that? I expected your other half to hold the door for you... oh well"
Yup, indeed, how very rude of me...