10 second miracles can get you in trouble

I have never worked anywhere where I didn’t immediately see a better way to do things. At Best Buy a few years back, as a merchandiser, (approx, 2000, 2001), after having been asked by the Manager to write a letter every time I had an idea to improve things, I wrote to explain that attempting to sell cell phones off an end cap in the main isle was not working. Customers couldn’t get to them for the traffic and they couldn’t find help because they couldn’t make eye contact with sales personel behind a desk next to a distant wall and behind tall displays. I described a u shaped area with dedicated sales people with short displays so customers and sales staff could see each other. I explained at the time that these devices were destined to go “viral”…and they did! Soon after they did precisely as I recommended. I never heard a word. The PC dept. had similar problems. Rows of isolated isles and no eye contact, no way to scan the dept. from one vantage point to go to the area you needed to see. I designed a surround with unfettered visibility and access to sales staff. I also recommended signage to give succinct descriptions and applications of each product group in the area. Once again, they did precicly as I recommended. Not a word! As price coordinator, I explained that I was printing hundreds of signs every day for no reason. The system failed to check to see if the price had changed since the last time it was printed or if the product was even in the store’s inventory! Moreover, I was not allowed to put up the signs that were needed. I was to hand them over to the dept. heads who laughed and dropped them in the trash. Post inspection, the store was a mess and failed. I explained to the manager why the system couldn’t work as it was. He allowed me to “farm” the store and update the sinage myself. Two weeks later, (not a lot of time to re sign a 100,000 sq/ft store) and for the first time ever, the store got a perfect score! Zero pricing errors in the entire store!! For all that I had done for them, I was immediately demoted to selling CDs and was pressured at every turn to quit, which I did. I mow grass on a Golf Course. The owner has demonstrated to me that he is not well suited to be making executive decisions. I could speak at length about this, but not tonight. What you asked of us tonight seems second nature to me…improvements that bring more, better players, avoiding costly mistakes, misdirected advertising and failing to recognize the value of his exceptional staff are all ideas that I have developed from day one, just as I did at Best Buy and numerous other places and endeavors including teaching golf, (which requires understanding essence as much as anywhere) or coaching soccer. But the superintendent painfully reminds me as we discuss these things that my 50 years of expertise and experience mean nothing and my input doesn’t count! As has always been the case, doing well has always brought punishment, or worse. I have never worked for someone like your boss at the restaurant. I will begin to integrate the golf course, as you requested, and that will be the end of it, i’m afraid..