Good morning and happy Friday to all!!
I subscribe to a service that sends a scripture to your inbox everyday. Some days (even though I hate to admit it) it doesn’t do a lot for me. Today’s however made me feel somewhat safer than normal on a day I am stepping into a situation I am unfamiliar with and skeptical about my ability to handle well. Here’s the scripture……
The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
Psalm 37:23 (New Living Translation)
EVERY detail?
I’m glad SOMEONE has their eye on every detail today. Today I am the only guy here at work that is handling aircraft engine sales. I don’t normally handle engine sales, I’m the repair guy. I’ve never been much of a salesman. I sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door-to-door for a week or so in college (mistake). I only sold one, and then that particular person (I found out later) ended up defaulting on their financing and the company had to “repossess” the $2000 vacuum. I also used to sell car stereos at Best Buy, but that was easy because everyone loves cool new electronic toys. I don’t think it counts when you are good at selling something that sells itself like that. There are a LOT of details involved in doing what I’m doing today. Details I’m not used to paying attention to. Details that if handled correctly mean getting an $18, 000 order that will solve a problem for an airline that is on a deadline and needs a part to get an aircraft back in the air. Or, if handled incorrectly, make me and my company look like idiots and cause an airline to go elsewhere with their needs next time. Whoa…….
Tick, tock, tick, tock……..
Wow, this day has gone by faster than I could have ever expected. Triumphantly I can say I haven’t endangered the future of my company, and I processed in the neighborhood of $55, 000 worth of sales today. Anyway, you aren’t here to read about my corporate exploits. Or, maybe you are, I’m not sure.
I really believe that you learn something new every day. I don’t care if you don’t leave the house on a given day, you will learn something new.
I’ll tell you what I learned yesterday. I learned that you shouldn’t eat lunch in the same room as 75 high school kids who are out to lunch with their teachers as a “reward” for something done in class. First of all, these kids have only been in school for what, a month and a half?! What could they have possibly done so well in that short of an amount of time to warrant being taken out to lunch on a school day by their teachers at a local restaurant? Most of the time these days, high school teachers at this time of year are still trying to keep their kids in their seats and not running around the room with hormones and Red Bull shooting out of every pore in their bodies. Much less doing something that deserves a “reward”. Secondly, do you remember what your high school cafeteria sounded like around noon every weekday? That jumbled roar of adolescent voices, jabbering endlessly about the boy that doesn’t know they exist, or the teacher that treated them unfairly, or how their boyfriend is a tool, or what they are going to wear to homecoming. Yack, yack, yack, yack, yack. Well, take that enormous blast of teen angst, condense it into the dining room of a family owned, somewhat hole-in-the-wall tex-mex restaurant and you’ve got the soundtrack to my lunch break on Thursday.
All Emo, All the time……..yikes.
I don’t want to sound like an old person, but Jiminy Christmas!! (OK, that wasn’t the best way to keep from sounding old) I was borderline suicidal. I felt I could not mentally wade through the crowd of “rad” vintage t-shirts and sideways-cocked, mesh-backed trucker hats that filled the room to find a reason to live one more second. (Which by the way, “rad” was MY generations word darn it, you little punks stole it in a “throwback” 80’s culture resurgence. Believe it Colton, or Braden, or whatever your hip little name is!) Then I was rescued for a brief moment by the hilarity that ensued when the waiters tried to take the groups’ order. I mentioned I was in a “family owned” restaurant. This particular family doesn’t really see the value in hiring wait staff that has a whole lot of experience conversing in English. Also, the 2 individuals doing the waiting that day seemed particularly soft spoken.
Not good.
What followed was my meal time entertainment. Half naturalized South American immigrants trying to decipher the teenagers’ orders through poorly veiled insults about their accents or their lack of command of the English language. Not to mention, mouths FULL of half chewed tortilla chips. Again, I hate to sound old, but were these kids raised in a flippin’ barn!? The mess left over after they were done must have been horrific.
I really hope their teachers tipped well…………maybe that’s what THEY learned yesterday.
Well, another Friday in the books. Hope yours’ went well. Check back soon………..
Until then…………..
I subscribe to a service that sends a scripture to your inbox everyday. Some days (even though I hate to admit it) it doesn’t do a lot for me. Today’s however made me feel somewhat safer than normal on a day I am stepping into a situation I am unfamiliar with and skeptical about my ability to handle well. Here’s the scripture……
The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
Psalm 37:23 (New Living Translation)
EVERY detail?
I’m glad SOMEONE has their eye on every detail today. Today I am the only guy here at work that is handling aircraft engine sales. I don’t normally handle engine sales, I’m the repair guy. I’ve never been much of a salesman. I sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door-to-door for a week or so in college (mistake). I only sold one, and then that particular person (I found out later) ended up defaulting on their financing and the company had to “repossess” the $2000 vacuum. I also used to sell car stereos at Best Buy, but that was easy because everyone loves cool new electronic toys. I don’t think it counts when you are good at selling something that sells itself like that. There are a LOT of details involved in doing what I’m doing today. Details I’m not used to paying attention to. Details that if handled correctly mean getting an $18, 000 order that will solve a problem for an airline that is on a deadline and needs a part to get an aircraft back in the air. Or, if handled incorrectly, make me and my company look like idiots and cause an airline to go elsewhere with their needs next time. Whoa…….
Tick, tock, tick, tock……..
Wow, this day has gone by faster than I could have ever expected. Triumphantly I can say I haven’t endangered the future of my company, and I processed in the neighborhood of $55, 000 worth of sales today. Anyway, you aren’t here to read about my corporate exploits. Or, maybe you are, I’m not sure.
I really believe that you learn something new every day. I don’t care if you don’t leave the house on a given day, you will learn something new.
I’ll tell you what I learned yesterday. I learned that you shouldn’t eat lunch in the same room as 75 high school kids who are out to lunch with their teachers as a “reward” for something done in class. First of all, these kids have only been in school for what, a month and a half?! What could they have possibly done so well in that short of an amount of time to warrant being taken out to lunch on a school day by their teachers at a local restaurant? Most of the time these days, high school teachers at this time of year are still trying to keep their kids in their seats and not running around the room with hormones and Red Bull shooting out of every pore in their bodies. Much less doing something that deserves a “reward”. Secondly, do you remember what your high school cafeteria sounded like around noon every weekday? That jumbled roar of adolescent voices, jabbering endlessly about the boy that doesn’t know they exist, or the teacher that treated them unfairly, or how their boyfriend is a tool, or what they are going to wear to homecoming. Yack, yack, yack, yack, yack. Well, take that enormous blast of teen angst, condense it into the dining room of a family owned, somewhat hole-in-the-wall tex-mex restaurant and you’ve got the soundtrack to my lunch break on Thursday.
All Emo, All the time……..yikes.
I don’t want to sound like an old person, but Jiminy Christmas!! (OK, that wasn’t the best way to keep from sounding old) I was borderline suicidal. I felt I could not mentally wade through the crowd of “rad” vintage t-shirts and sideways-cocked, mesh-backed trucker hats that filled the room to find a reason to live one more second. (Which by the way, “rad” was MY generations word darn it, you little punks stole it in a “throwback” 80’s culture resurgence. Believe it Colton, or Braden, or whatever your hip little name is!) Then I was rescued for a brief moment by the hilarity that ensued when the waiters tried to take the groups’ order. I mentioned I was in a “family owned” restaurant. This particular family doesn’t really see the value in hiring wait staff that has a whole lot of experience conversing in English. Also, the 2 individuals doing the waiting that day seemed particularly soft spoken.
Not good.
What followed was my meal time entertainment. Half naturalized South American immigrants trying to decipher the teenagers’ orders through poorly veiled insults about their accents or their lack of command of the English language. Not to mention, mouths FULL of half chewed tortilla chips. Again, I hate to sound old, but were these kids raised in a flippin’ barn!? The mess left over after they were done must have been horrific.
I really hope their teachers tipped well…………maybe that’s what THEY learned yesterday.
Well, another Friday in the books. Hope yours’ went well. Check back soon………..
Until then…………..
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