Take It On Tuesdays: "Little Debbie, anyone?"

Take It On Tuesdays is a weekly encouragement for you to either Take It or Take It On. You'll use both depending on the work situation. You may need to turn the other cheek or confront, surrender or stand your ground, step back or step up. Here's to knowing which and when, and having the courage to follow through.

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When I was eleven, I remember spending one long summer day riding bikes with Eric and his brother. We rode for miles up and down the western Pennsylvania hills on BMX bikes (read: no granny gears). At that young age, we had plenty of energy but little common sense, so while we covered a great distance, we hadn't considered the return trip. In fact, by the time we stopped traveling, we had almost zero energy to return.

Coincidentally (perhaps), we crashed in the parking lot of a small convenient store. We were starving and weak. And we had no money. In a very memorable and (I thought) desperate act, I went inside and painstakingly took a Little Debbie snack from the shelf without the owner's notice. 

I had never committed such a crime, but we were hungry and I was excited to provide a remedy. I felt brave, like a mini hero. The brothers, however, were shocked. 

"You have to take it back! It doesn't matter if we're hungry - you can't do that!" 

Here I was the church-goer of the three and yet they were serving as our communal conscience. So I took it back. The store owner may have given the .25 cent cake to us had we told him our story but that hadn't crossed my mind. We were genuinely in need of food and I justified a way to get it.

Similar deeds take place every day in the workplace: a Little Debbie in accounting, a Little Debbie of plagiarism.... When you're tempted, you can either take it, or Take It. Go the hard route. You might let a boss or client down, but go hungry anyway.

My friends made me do the right thing and I hope yours do, too.

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