How Reliable Are You?

When you see the word reliable, what do you think of? The definition, as taken from, The Free Dictionary by Farlex, online, includes,

1. dependable, trustworthy, honest, responsible, sure, sound, true, certain, regular, stable, faithful, predictable, upright, staunch, reputable, trusty unfailing,adjective

2. safe, dependable, adjective

3. definitive, sound, dependable, trustworthy.

Let's put some of these words to work, shall we.

The issue of reliability is one that can have far reaching implications. You see, life or death can be involved. For instance, suppose you have a serious accident, and an ambulance is called. Suppose two ambulances were called, after much discussion one is decided upon, one takes off and goes to another emergency. The one that accepted the call, decides they would make a pit stop along the way, eventually a more, (they consider), serious call comes through, and they decide to take that one instead. Wouldn't you say, reliability was very important and that it could have been a life or death issue in this case. This may be a far fetched example, but I hope it makes my point.

Reliability in marriage, and friendship can be the mainstay of both relationships. A marriage can quite possibly end, or be thrown into serious discord if one or both are not reliable. What about other familial relationships, parent to child, child to parent, sibling to sibling, etc? In business also, reliability is very important. There is a fine line between trust and reliability, however, at this time we're not discussing trust, which can be serious, but reliability can be just as serious.

We can ask ourselves, Are we reliable? Can we be counted on to keep our word in all situations? Do we count on others to be reliable? Is reliability even important to us?

There is a scripture in the bible that says, "let your yes mean yes, and your no, mean no." Think about that for a minute. Has someone ever invited you to a party, let's say at their home,and you accepted and agreed to attend? Later you were invited to a "better outing." And in the vernacular of today, "you blew off" the first person that invited you, in favor of the "better outing." Did you give any thought to the fact that the first person prepared the gathering with you in mind, or rather they prepared food with a specific number, and you were counted in that number.

In the marital arrangement the usual promise from the man is that he will take care of his family's needs. Suppose the man does take on that responsibility, but along the way he shows himself to be unreliable. In time his work ethic changes or is revealed, and he goes to work at his own discretion, sometimes late, or other times not at all. Consequently if he's unreliable in his employment, his job could be seriously jeopardized, or even forfeited. How long do you think peace and harmony in that marriage will last? What about the wife, she's been known, at times, to not be true to her word. A noted incidence occurred when, she said that she would put the husband's clothes in the cleaners, (she does not do laundry,and, that's alright). The husband wears uniforms to work, and must always present a neat and clean appearance to the public. Well, today is an especially important day, he's getting his annual review for his raise, (very important to the family). What happens? He goes to the closet to take out one of his nice clean uniforms.........and, nothing, not even a part of one. Where are they? Guess! Yeah, in the wife's car, dirty, and she's gone to work. Was reliability important in this case?

Parent child relationships: Being reliable here is a serious enough issue to merit consideration. To begin, parent to child. First let me begin by saying, I watch those TV mystery shows, such as Law & Order, CSI, etc, and occasionally I see very relevant topics, that I learn from, (paranoid me). So, I'm going to use an example from one of those shows to make my point. Suppose both parents have the responsibility of chauffeuring the children to and from school. Let's say it's the father's turn to pick the minor child up. Well school is out and no provisions are made for anyone, but, the father to pick up the child. Everyone, after checking with the child as to the whereabouts of the father, is assured that he is on the way, (child has cell phone), leaves. I'm not going to go through the whole scenario, but suffice it to say the father, takes an "important last minute call," (how much more important than his child, I'm just saying), thinking it will only last a few minutes. One hour later, he leaves to pick the child up, when he gets there, no child, (kidnapped). Wouldn't you say that being reliable in this instance had far reaching consequences.

Let's lighten it up a bit here. Child to parent: Both parents work. The arrangement is that the teenager, after getting home from school, starts dinner for the family, (three smaller children). Well this young lady gets on the phone to her BFF, you know where I'm going with this. Right, seven o'clock comes, parents are just arriving home, no food cooked or even started. Reliability was very crucial here.

Sibling to sibling: Both are assigned chores. Sibling One is very reliable, Sibling Two, not so much. Sibling One has the task of taking the weekly garbage out to the curb, the night before, the next day's pickup. (Big party weekend before, receptacles all completely full). Sibling One (reliable one), has mounds of homework and asks Sibling Two to take garbage out, just this once. "Oh sure," says Sibling Two, while playing video games on the computer. Sibling One goes to bed after a long and tiring night of homework assignments, pretty sure Sibling Two kept his word this time. The following morning, the loud sound of the garbage truck is heard by all, nobody moves, why, because the parents know that Sibling One always takes the garbage out. Sibling One thinks Sibling Two has kept his word. Sibling Two is oblivious to it all, because, as he feels, that's not his job. Well, time for everyone to leave for the day, as all step outside, garbage cans filled to the brim, still in their original location, and the garbage man is long gone for the week. Who do you think gets the blame for this? Wouldn't you say that reliability was a key factor in all of this.

Friend to friend: What kind of friend are you, are you the one that your friends can count on to always be there, no matter what, or the one that everyone is afraid to call on, because they feel you will not "have their back?" What if, your friend was in dire need of a ride to the doctor, she had no money for public transportation, no other way to get there, and you promised the night before to take her. Which category would you fall into?

What about reliability in business: Your starting time for work is 9:00 am. You repeatedly come in to work at 9:15, 9:20 etc, never getting to work on time. Suppose one of your duties is to turn in timely, accurate reports weekly, that are germane to the continual operation of the company, one week you are on time, the next, not, two out of three times the report is inaccurate. You continue in this practice for about six months, suddenly the company is having serious financial problems, and it's caught far beyond the critical stage. If the weekly reports had been reported accurately and on time, serious ramifications could have been avoided. Reliability?

If you are that husband or wife, could you perhaps sit down together and have a serious heart to heart, and if one or both fit any of those scenarios, or anything remotely related to them, explain your frustrations. Admit you have the problem and accept whatever help and understanding that is offered. When these things are pointed out to you, accept and own them and honestly try to change. On the other hand, for the one without the problem, don't be judgemental, be kind, offer assistance, whatever it takes. After all there are so many external attacks on the marriage arrangement, that you don't need to add or hold on to any internal problems. Work at removing these vexing internal problems and produce a united front to the external ones.

Parents, what about your commitment to your children, perhaps you can work at being more reliable, so as to teach the same to your children. Make no promises you don't intend to keep. Children, what about you? When you make a promise to your parents, work at keeping it at all cost. After all you expect them to keep their word to you, in something that you feel is important, so why not give them a reason to reciprocate. Siblings, there's always give and take in any relationship, why not give a little more and not always be the taker. You see, the reliability you show in something seemingly minor, can, in time translate into larger issues in later life. Think of this as practice for living in the real world as an adults.

Friends, you've heard the saying, "if you want a friend, you must be a friend." In other words if you want to keep your friends, you must act the way you want them to act towards you. In this self-centered world, friends are precious commodities, so as far as it depends upon you, be the kind of friend that it can be said of us, you are a friend indeed.

What about work. Let me begin by saying I did lose a job once, (one that I did not like, anymore), due to tardiness, which was their only complaint. I wrote a hub about my tardiness, (Why am I always late) I digress. As you can see reliability in the workplace can mean the difference between having a job and not having one. During these hard economic times, we can ill afford to lose a job due to our own lack of reliability. So, my advice to you, whose ship has not sailed, (ingrained tardiness), work at changing this habit fast. Even if you feel you can't change, consider this, can you give up eating on a regular basis, or your place of residence. Those things are sometimes the alternative to changing a bad habit and retaining your employment. Not just tardiness, being reliable in other aspects of one's employment is crucial, perhaps you can name a few yourself. You see the ability to retain your employment could depend on several factors. Let it not be due to your not being reliable.

To conclude, are you reliable, how reliable are you, is reliability even important to you? These are questions that only you can answer. However, your answers can impact others, so before you answer, consider that thought. And may reliability be the cornerstone of your personality.