Street Smarts Is Just A Euphamism For Smelling A Lie A Mile Away
Monday, January 16th, 2012 by admin | Posted in Unconventional Thinking | Comments
When I was a high schooler I worked as a short order cook at a pool club in the middle class environs where I grew up in Queens, NY. I say “pool club” advisedly as it was really a concrete hole filled with hyper chlorinated water situated on a blacktop slab near a mall. No trees, no grass, no golf– really a bathtub in the street but we thought it was Nirvana so if perception is a major component of reality, I guess it was Shangrila.
Anyway, the snack bar owner, my boss– I think his name was Al–put up about 100 signs touting how much he aimed to please and that the customer was a god at this summer establishment situated in working class heaven. I made a mental note of the customer relations campaign and filed it away in my mind determined to imitate it when I started my own company someday.
And then I had the Wonder Years epiphany courtesy of customer centric Al. One searing August day I opened a commercial size carton to french fries that I would regularly toss into a hot oil machine, get them crisp and sell them with the burgers and fries that were the staples at our culinary cul de sac.
This time the uncooked fries were completely covered in a thicket of blue moss that looked like hair. As we never rotated stock at Al’s poolside enterprise, the fries must have been sitting in the delapidated cooler since Memorial Day. When I showed Al the Petrie dish the carton of fries had become, and motioned that I had to toss out the goods post haste, the customer advocate grabbed my arm in a vice lock and spewed forth with the wisdom of the street:
“Are you crazy? Has the sun gotten to you kid?”
With that he showed me how business was done in the real world, confidently tossing the blue goo into the fryer and watching it all turn to crispy brown.
“Serve em up kid. They’re fine.”
Even earlier in my life I was watching a hot shot government figure (I think it was The Secretary Of State) giving an address to the. American people on a special TV report that preempted regular programming. It appeared to be all big-deal type of stuff and though I wasn’t sure what it was all about, I was impressed by the national leader and the pomp and circumstance of the speech to the citizens.
When I told by dad that he should come in and watch the great man from Washington, my father took one look and wrote it all off the way Al would brush me aside when I wanted to toss the fries.
“They’re all a bunch of hot air,” dad said. “Don’t listen to a thing these guys say. Everything is always the opposite of what they’re selling. Lies. Lies. Lies.”
That I shouldn’t automatically believe the Secretary Of State regardless of what he was saying struck me as disrespectful at first but within hours I gleaned the deeper meaning inherent in my dad’s assessment:
- Never believe anyone just because they have a lofty title.
- Always keep in mind the Shakespearian principle of “thou protest too much.” Al’s customer pledge was just so much hot air.
- When you are faced with a “fact” demand that it be proven to yourself.
- Always remember that the most important word in business, in life, is Why?
The fact is, people who make things happen, who innovate, who are changemakers, don’t go through life seeking the truth, they create it.
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January 16th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
I really enjoyed your post. The story you told of Al’s french fries was quite interesting. I also like how you’re dad reconciled how politicians are liars and not to be trusted. The point you make about how you should ask questions and not accept anything as truth until it’s been personally tested by you directly is quite inspiring. Too often in life people accept things because there is no reason not to. As always I really enjoy your posts.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:55 pm
“As always I really enjoy your posts.”
I’m inspired too; but I think that this time, if I was too much in agreement, it would be the antithesis of the post itself
The spirit of the post anyway, speaking of which, can sometimes be different than the letter of what you write. For instance, the recent article about the woman who’s husband left. I took your words to mean stop nail biting over stuff that everybody does, and get on with what’s in front of you. But one could have said whoa, “those who forget history are bound to repeat it.”
Here, if one looks at the letter of what you wrote, there could be a -bit- of a contradiction between
“Always remember that the most important word in business, in life, is Why?”
and
“The fact is, people who make things happen, who innovate, who are changemakers, don’t go through life seeking the truth, they create it.”
Knowing some of what you’ve previously written, I take this to mean don’t wonder about the claims of others, be the one that DELIVERS the product or service that people want.
In regards to this line here:
“When you are faced with a “fact” demand that it be proven to yourself.”
I was just thinking about something relevant to this today while driving. I deal with small business owners all the time; most don’t have bad marketing plans, they have none. I want to hand every one of them your book “Your marketing sucks”. I totally recommend it.
But whoa, if my knowledge of marketing is limited (I do signs and graphic art) then how can I say with confidence that this book is so cool? Well, some things are easier to “prove to yourself”. I guess like that term self evident or irresistible logic. The book is continually bringing one back to the bottom line, the real success of each marketing move. I put a link at my blog to your blog’s store, telling people about the book; I also found it used at Amazon for like $1.99 each. I’m thinking of buying a stack of them, and handing them out to business owners, they need this stuff.
The bottom line here is:
Thanks for the inspiring posts.
February 15th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
I am a little dismayed that you say “the people that get things done create the truth”.
If they create the truth for a situation, then they must wrest another persons truth away from them. In fact, there is only one truth, the problem is that each of us has a different perception of it.
the only thing a “mover and a shaker” can do is dress the truth in a universally acceptable shroud.
the shroud may be a good or a bad shroud.
a minister may show the benefits of certain choices in life, while the hostage taker shows a severely ugly set of consequences, both are designed to be manipulative, but are not necessarily the truth.
Those who get things done do manipulate (often with joyful permission), but sometimes not. still, it is not the truth that they create, it is a universally accepted set of consequences that are specific to one situation, and one set of group dynamics.
The truth would be undeniably correct with no alternative.