Dear Brooke,

I would love your wise counsel on a work situation.

At my job, 4 of us do the exact same thing. Our customers are equally assigned among us. However, despite which of us is the “assigned” person for a customer, the customers can work with any of us – and the company encourages that.

I knock myself out to do a great job. I do things my coworkers don’t do in terms of outreach and helping customers. My opinion is that a few of my coworkers are uninvested in their work, and I observe them spending a lot of time on personal matters during work hours. Perhaps due to this, many of the customers not assigned to me come to me. Result: I have way more appointments and work than my coworkers and end up working overtime because I want our customers to get great service. The service I provide makes me happy, it makes the customers happy, and is extremely good for the company. But I don’t like working overtime. (We all get paid the same, and there is no overtime pay.) And I don’t like feeling annoyed at my coworkers and wishing they would behave differently. So far, I’m choosing to work overtime and provide great service *and* be annoyed. But I realize it’s also an option to work overtime and provide great service and *not* be annoyed.

The part I need help with is finding thoughts that make me not annoyed even though I’m doing far more than 25% of the work. Here are some attempts:

– My coworkers are going to work exactly the way they work, and any manual I have for them that dictates otherwise is going to make me unhappy.
– My coworkers have many redeeming features, and I like having them in the office.
– It’s my choice what level of service I provide to our customers – whether assigned to me or not.
– It’s my choice to work overtime.
– I have the tools and skills to work in a smart way, and thus accomplish a ton in a short period of time.
– I like talking to customers, and this way I get to talk to extra.
– I’m providing a great service to our company that is recognized.

Am I on the right track, Brooke? Do I have a blind spot about something?