The Right Place

Last week-end  I made my annual trip to Montreal to have some fun with a group of guys. Several of these guys I only see once a year on this trip. As everyone knows, when you see someone once a year, you take a few minutes to catch up. I was chatting with one of the guys and he asked how things were going with the new job. I know it's been over a year but I had just started before last year year's trip. I told him how happy I was and he mentioned I look happier and better.

That was the validation that I am currently in the right place.

I have done a few different things in my life. When I see people doing those jobs I am so happy I'm not them.

Anytime I see a manager in a grocery store they always look tired, frustrated, and ready to quit. They don't seem to be excited to get up and go to work. If I stayed in that world too long I would have ended up like that. Every job has some aspect of being a grind but that one is really bad. The balance between enough inventory and food not spoiling is razor tight. The margins are tiny and overall, I'm happy I'm not there.

If I see a car salesman I just laugh. I was always curious what it would be like. The job could be quite good but the typical person in that business is not a team player and will stab you in the back. Some people thrive at it but I'm glad I tried it, learned from it, and moved on.

There is another office I used to work in that could be great. There were a lot of good people who want to do great things but the environment is draining. Everyone catches flack for things not getting done but nobody is given the authority to just make the decision. It has to go to a unreasonably high level for a relatively low level decision. I needed approval from my boss, who was making a six figure salary, to get the office to order file folders. Yes you read that right and yes, it is very silly.

Where I am now, I have responsibility, autonomy, and authority. I can decide where I should put my efforts, and use the necessary resources to get there. If I need something, I get it.

It's a great place to be.

Different people are suited to excel in different roles and right now I'm in a very good spot. I am fortunate and will do what it takes to be successful and stay there.

Where is Spring?

This winter in Ottawa has been less than pleasant. It started out pretty good then it decided to turn into a Winnipeg winter. It has been cold, windy, and the snow keeps coming. It's breaking my spirit.

I always get mopey after Christmas. It's hard to get excited when you are always cold and the sun never shows up. This year seems to be a bit worse. I have have been skipping a lot of workouts, which makes you want to skip more workouts. It's so cold in the morning, I don't want to take the six minute walk to the gym, even through I know that going will make me feel better.

You may be thinking that it's all in my head and this winter is no worse than normal. For that I call shenanigans. Today, the Rideau Canal Skateway has been open for the most consecutive days ever. Usually it warms up a couple of times and they have to close the canal for a day or two. Not this winter. It's been open for 47 consecutive days. It won't warm up. 

There is usually a warm day when it rains and washes a bunch of snow away. Not this winter. the snow is piling up. It looks like Winnipeg with all the accumulated snow.

Today, it felt a bit like spring. It was sunny and warmer than it's been for a while. It cheered me up quite a bit. I felt like living a bit more instead of just existing day to day. I think spring is coming but it can't get here soon enough. 

When spring arrives life gets better. Everyone wakes up out of the drudgery of winter. Food starts to taste better. Colour returns to the landscape. You can smell more than diesel fuel when you are outside. People don't feel the need to watch the sidewalk when they walk, and you aren't dressed in fourteen layers.

I like spring. I like spring a lot. It is the start of the three livable seasons and everyone seems to be a bit happier. Who doesn't want their life to be a bit happier?

Pass It On

Like most weeks I was on the road last week. From time to time I use it as a good time to text a friend or two and catch up. When you travel a lot it is easy to let things slip by. So, a week ago I texted a friend who had her first child about a month before Christmas. I was curious about how it was going so I asked sherif she had this parenting thing all figured out.

Let's be honest, babies don't come with a manual so along with her husband, they are figuring it out on the fly. She told me there were good days and bad days, just like anything else.

I responded as anyone else would have and told her that both parents were wonderful people. I then went on to say that if their child picks up the self-worth of the parents, not to worry, she would thrive.

As a new mother, she really appreciated the encouragement and said so. However, for me, I think I have simplified what we should be doing with childrearing.

At this point I should mention that I don't have children and have never attempted to raise any so I may be way off base. However, when I look back at growing up and I look at people who do a better job at transitioning into adulthood there is one thing that really stands out.

The most important thing to do for your children is to give them a sense of self-worth.

People with strong self-worth approach the world from a better frame. They think about how they will do things when they are in the position not if they are in the position. People with self-worth believe they will succeed and make a difference.

People with self-worth are more resistant to bullying. They see it for what it is. They see it is actions by insecure people and it is a temporary situation. They don't give bullies the power they seek. They don't seek the approval of bullies because they don't need it.

People with self-worth have courage to make change. If you believe in yourself, you can do it differently.

People with self-worth don't want to join gangs or become radicalized. If you believe in your self, you see these choices for what they are, foolish.

I don't care how you raise your children but I strongly suggest your raise your kids to have self-worth, because with it, everything else will fall in line.

How To Get Good Customer Service

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to complain about the customer they get. It seems to be the same people who do not get good service. After nearly a year of hanging out in the retail environment, I think the people who get poor customer service don't help themselves out.

You have to remember that people who work in customer service are spending the majority of their time interacting with people. You can make it much easier for them to serve you by doing some simple things.

The first thing is to make sure the person who is going to serve you is ready to listen to you. This may sound simple but nearly everyday I see a potential customer start talking to either myself or a customer service associate while they are completing another task. Much of what retail associates do is not a difficult task however it does require some attention.

Before you start asking questions make sure you warm up the associate who is going to be serving you. A quick question about their day is all you need. It gives them a chance to situate themselves to serving you. 

If you have a good associate serving you, they will ask you some questions. Make sure you answer the questions. They are trying to understand what you want and make the appropriate recommendation. If the associate isn't understanding what you are describing, try a different approach. We all use language slightly differently.

Most of all, be pleasant. It sounds obvious but a lot of people seem to forget to be nice to people around you. We all prefer to deal with nice people and you will get better service if you are nice to the people trying to help you.

There you go. It's not hard to have a good shopping experience if you go about it properly.

Muslims

I see a lot of hatred towards Muslims all over the internet these days. I don't like it and everyone needs to work towards ending this. Muslims are people. Muslims have thoughts and hopes. Muslims have a right to be heard.

I understand why a lot of people aren't too happy with Muslims these days. There are some who have gotten out of hand. They have taken up radical fundamentalism and because of that, have caused harm to a lot of people. They don't want to accept the differences in others and don't see strength in diversity. They are using religious doctrine to be intolerant and spread hate.

This is not acceptable.

The thing is, they are not the first group to do this. the Ku Klux Klan drew its presumed authority from the Holy Bible. They used words intended to guide people to live a better life to justify hateful and malicious acts. I don't think all Christians were painted with the brush of the this evil group. All Muslims shouldn't be either.

I can understand that if you don't know a Muslim how you could be fearful or angry. It's easy to have those feelings towards the unknown but the vast majority are regular people who go about their day just like a Christian or a Jew. They are concerned about providing for their family. They complain about the weather. They have hopes and dreams.

This hatred needs to disappear.

The only way is to understand each other, to talk to each other, to learn from each other. I'm not talking about sitting down and breaking out the grade school compare and contrast model. I'm talking about getting to know them on a human level. It's about finding out why they cheer for their team is or how they like to spend their leisure time. If you do it, they will also start to understand you. They will see how you tick. They will see what drives you crazy and what doesn't really matter.

All this will help the majority of Muslims bring about positive change within their community. If everyone can see that everyone else has the same types of hopes, dreams, and fears then the barrier will come down.

It will take time but we have to start the journey soon and we can't give up when it doesn't go our way.

Demand

On my last day in Winnipeg, as my friends were drifting back to work, I went to eat some Taco Time. If you are from Western Canada you have probably had this once or twice. However, if you are from Eastern Canada you probably have never heard of this amazing Mexican fast food establishment. One trip to Taco Time and you will never even consider Taco Bell as an option. That being said, the quality of the the quick service Mexican food has little to do with what I’m writing about.

If you have been reading this blog for a while (first off I want to say thank-you) you know I gave up drinking Coca-Cola a year and a half ago. A byproduct of not drinking that evil concoction is I don’t eat a lot of fast food. When I was faced with selecting a beverage to go with my delicious Super Beef Burrito Combo I chose water. Other than a bit of fruit juice in the breakfast timeframe or beer, I almost always get water.

Here’s the thing. It cost me an additional forty cents to get a bottle of water over a Pepsi from the machine. 

My initial thoughts were how could you justify charging me more for water than for pop? Let’s be honest, pop is water with several ingredients added. Pop is water with a whole bunch of labour added to it. Pop uses water as the base and builds on it so there is no way that water should cost more.

Then the businessman in me kicked in. If you are good at pricing then you price based on demand and not on input cost. This means that there is a greater demand for water than fountain pop, otherwise the retailer, in this case Taco Time, would not feel they could charge more for unmodified water than the upgraded and modified model (pop).

All this makes me very happy.

If you can demand more for pure water than for the most useless beverage on the planet then that must mean a lot of people are choosing to not drink pop. It means a lot of people are choosing a healthier option. More people are being a bit more conscious about what they are putting in their bodies.

I’m going to be very honest here. If you are eating lunch at Taco Time then your health in not the first item on your mind but if you are not drinking pop then your health is not the last thought on your mind either.

I have read a couple of time in the last six months that beverage companies have been slashing the price of carbonated, sugar laden beverages because demand is weakening. I see this as a good thing. Finally more people, including the author of this piece, are cutting a few of the worst things out of their life.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want to have a can of Coke as a treat once in a long while and can keep it to that, go for it. As for myself, I like it way too much and have come to realize that the only way I can keep my consumption to a healthy level is do not drink any at all.

The demand for pop is going down, this can only mean more people are going to live a healthier life and a healthier life is always a better life.

The CBC Needs a Budget Cut

What I am about to do will work much better if you are a fan of a genera of music where the performers write their own material. If you mainly listen to country or pop, this may not have the same impact.

Think about some of your favourite bands. The one you will go see in an arena. The one that has been making albums for a long time. As you are sitting with your friends having a pre-concert beverage of choice, inevitably someone will say, "I hope they play lots of old stuff." 

Now don't get me wrong, we like the new album, there is probably one song that we are really into but we don't know it word for word, note for note like the old stuff. The new stuff may actually be a better made song but the old stuff is just better.

Why?

The band wasn't comfortable when they made the old stuff. They didn't have vast resources.  They had just enough so they were not starving and it drove creativity. They had to be good and they had to do it quickly. Studio time was at a premium. They probably had to play some gigs while they made the album to pay the bills. There was an edge to life, a feeling of us against the world and it made them be better. Once they were well established and had steady revenue from the back catalogue they still cared about making good music but they were not driven the same way.

What does a band starting out have to do with the CBC budget?

In a short answer, everything. The CBC is subsidized and if they do not produce compelling content, they can fall back on the government to pay the bills. They are not driven to create new, original, memorable, or groundbreaking content. 

The good stuff comes from anyone when they feel like they are up against the wall. Apple almost went bankrupt and rethought who they were and what they do. They were desperate but found a way. The CBC needs to be desperate. They need that feeling that we have nothing left to lose so we may as well do something crazy. Because when the crazy starts, that's when the amazing happens.

The CBC used to do a lot of things very well. They are still pretty good at news gathering but CBC Sports is a shell of it's former self and their entertainment programming doesn't make you want to watch.

If the CBC feels the public has turned on them and they have to do better they will. Big budgets don't make great content, great thought and execution does and a little stress in their future will do a lot to bring that out.