UNITED STATES—I really don’t know how to say this, but I have a major pet peeve when it comes to lazy people. I guess it is because I think you should live your life like each moment could be your last. That could potentially be the result of me having a near death experience or having my life taken away from me. That encounter with ‘death’ tends to change people, some for the better some for the worst.

In my case, it forced me to realize I don’t want to live my life with regrets, and I have a high standard of people who surround me. Now, do I expect you to behave and act just like me? No, but I do expect you to respect my fight, my drive and my eagerness to attain success in all avenues. This is especially true in the workforce. Nothing and I mean nothing pains me more when I see people who are in the same work environment as me, do absolutely nothing or attempt to do little to nothing, but still collect a paycheck at the end of the week or month, wherever you get paid who cares.

The reason this bugs me is because it opens the door for that employee or worker to think it is acceptable to not work. They have the thoughts, it doesn’t matter if I work, I’m still going to get paid mentality. That makes me want to knock sense into that employee, but then I have to take a step back and realize: this is not my company; I cannot dictate how things flow. I might want to, but I can’t. So this is where I turn to the bosses to make such decisions. I’m bringing an issue to your attention, I expect you to do something to change the course of that worker.

Why? There is a serious issue and it is so vital as someone who studied organizational psychology heavily as an undergraduate. Work morale has an impact on how business is conducted and the overall environment of the workplace. You tend to have groupthink issues, where if a select few people get away with things, it soon becomes a domino effect for other workers at that place of business. Lazy workers tend to become a plague for more lazy workers and it creates friction for those workers who actually show up to work and perform. They don’t just sit around and do nothing, they are active and busting their tail picking up the slack for those workers who sit around and do nothing.

That friction soon becomes animosity, so much to the point that you have people who don’t want to interact or deal with that lazy person. The mere mention of their name, their voice or seeing them in the flesh, just boils a person’s blood. They smile, they act like you’re buddies, but in the back of your mind you’re telling yourself I can’t stand this person’s guts. I don’t want to be your friend, no I don’t want to have lunch with you, no we will not be hanging out after work, hell, I don’t even want to interact with you while I’m at work.

Those dynamics are not good for the overall morale or success of the company when you have workers at each other’s throats. Seeing is believing! Some in management are ignorant or don’t care to call out a potential problem to make things better. That becomes a major mistake because that employee who works, starts to sense the company doesn’t appreciate what they do or have done. That opens a door for that worker to gain or look for employment elsewhere. There is a reason we have that saying, “You don’t know a good worker, until they’re gone.”

You know why: the company realizes that after that worker has vacated the premises. The worst thing about that situation is the company is left with that lazy worker. Yeah, if you would have dealt with the problem while it stared you in the face you may have kept that stellar employee in place, and instead you threw them out in the trash and you’re left with the trash that you should have taken out a long time ago.