IN THE TRENCHES: Back in the dunk tank
IN THE TRENCHES: Back in the dunk tank
While walking through a carnival with my wife last summer, I noticed a great number of game booths set up for fun and entertainment. The game that caught my interest the most was the dunk tank.
It had the biggest crowd gathered in front of it yelling and screaming for some guy to throw a ball at a little red metal bulls-eye target.
You?ve seen this game before. Some goofy looking clown in full regalia sits over a tank of water and makes funny faces at the person who is throwing the balls. If that person hits the bulls-eye with enough force, the seat will fall out from under the clown and dump him or her into the water.
In one scenario, the clown was antagonizing a particular fellow as the surrounding crowd cheered him on to hit the target. So he huffed and puffed and tossed a strike, sending the clown into the drink.
The amazing part is that the clown always climbed out of the water and up onto the seat again, all ready for another dunking. The clown continued to return for more punishment over and over again.
Just watching this humorous scene made me think of the produce business. Like the clown, we just got out of the dunk tank in 2004 and are now repeating the process in 2005. We are climbing up onto the tiny-hinged seat alongside our own personal job-responsibility target.
The crowds of people, especially those who are tossing the balls, are made up of many different individuals. They are our bosses, stock investors, company directors, customers, co-workers, business associates and many others, whose arms are in pretty good shape to throw a ball hard enough to trigger the target latch. If their aim is right on the money, it's crack, click and splash all over again.
It doesn?t matter which job we have. We still have to face the mightiest throwers at the popular dunk tank.
Here we go again. The holidays are over and we?re back to the same routine as last year. We start each day with our usual cup of coffee, a quick look at the newspaper headlines and a short gab with a fellow worker. After that, it's show time.
It doesn?t matter who we are, where we work or what we do there. We?re all in the same saddle when it comes to a typical day at the ranch.
Sometimes people make poor decisions, use bad judgment, calculate incorrectly or simply make foolish remarks. We all take part in it each and every day regardless of which level of the operation we work in or the position we hold.
Simply put, we all eventually face problems. Many of us (myself included) have to climb out of the dunk tank occasionally. That?s just simply the way life happens to be.
In the real world, we?re constantly running into problems and having to find ways to solve them. With produce, it's either late trucks, out of stocks, labor cuts or a myriad of problems that set us up on the hinged seat.
Take a moment and visualize all the different workplaces in the produce industry. How many do you think experience problems and chase down solutions to solve them? The answer is simple: all of them. If you could describe a typical workday, what would it look like? Are there minor events that suddenly turn into major disasters? Do the problems take up valuable hours or days to resolve?
Here are four common scenarios in our business. Do any sound familiar to you?
Scenario A: You arrive at your office feeling great. Suddenly, you get a call from the warehouse informing you that the truck of asparagus for the front-page ad broke down and won?t make it on time.
Scenario B: Your boss insists that you run a hot feature at below cost on the front of the weekly flyer. A week later, he wants to know what happened to the gross? How do you explain it?
Scenario C: You are in a very intense meeting. The boss is steamed and ready to blow up. The other staff members are providing excuse after excuse for their sad sales and profit results. The tension mounts. Your numbers are in the tank as well. You are the last to be called on by the boss and you suddenly get tongue-tied.
Scenario D: Your best customer orders 15 truckloads of strawberries from you for an ad. Even though strawberries are getting tight, you commit knowing for sure that you can provide 10 but only need to round up five more. Guess what?
People in general really want to do a good job. They go to work with the intention of making good decisions for their company. Sometimes disappointment results when a negative experience occurs.
Whether a truck is late or your gross blows out, it?s all part of a typical business day. You may either may agree or scoff at this realistic view. The fact is, nobody ever escapes the dunk tank all of the time.
Well, I guess it's time for me to climb back up on that little seat next to the target again.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
It had the biggest crowd gathered in front of it yelling and screaming for some guy to throw a ball at a little red metal bulls-eye target.
You?ve seen this game before. Some goofy looking clown in full regalia sits over a tank of water and makes funny faces at the person who is throwing the balls. If that person hits the bulls-eye with enough force, the seat will fall out from under the clown and dump him or her into the water.
In one scenario, the clown was antagonizing a particular fellow as the surrounding crowd cheered him on to hit the target. So he huffed and puffed and tossed a strike, sending the clown into the drink.
The amazing part is that the clown always climbed out of the water and up onto the seat again, all ready for another dunking. The clown continued to return for more punishment over and over again.
Just watching this humorous scene made me think of the produce business. Like the clown, we just got out of the dunk tank in 2004 and are now repeating the process in 2005. We are climbing up onto the tiny-hinged seat alongside our own personal job-responsibility target.
The crowds of people, especially those who are tossing the balls, are made up of many different individuals. They are our bosses, stock investors, company directors, customers, co-workers, business associates and many others, whose arms are in pretty good shape to throw a ball hard enough to trigger the target latch. If their aim is right on the money, it's crack, click and splash all over again.
It doesn?t matter which job we have. We still have to face the mightiest throwers at the popular dunk tank.
Here we go again. The holidays are over and we?re back to the same routine as last year. We start each day with our usual cup of coffee, a quick look at the newspaper headlines and a short gab with a fellow worker. After that, it's show time.
It doesn?t matter who we are, where we work or what we do there. We?re all in the same saddle when it comes to a typical day at the ranch.
Sometimes people make poor decisions, use bad judgment, calculate incorrectly or simply make foolish remarks. We all take part in it each and every day regardless of which level of the operation we work in or the position we hold.
Simply put, we all eventually face problems. Many of us (myself included) have to climb out of the dunk tank occasionally. That?s just simply the way life happens to be.
In the real world, we?re constantly running into problems and having to find ways to solve them. With produce, it's either late trucks, out of stocks, labor cuts or a myriad of problems that set us up on the hinged seat.
Take a moment and visualize all the different workplaces in the produce industry. How many do you think experience problems and chase down solutions to solve them? The answer is simple: all of them. If you could describe a typical workday, what would it look like? Are there minor events that suddenly turn into major disasters? Do the problems take up valuable hours or days to resolve?
Here are four common scenarios in our business. Do any sound familiar to you?
Scenario A: You arrive at your office feeling great. Suddenly, you get a call from the warehouse informing you that the truck of asparagus for the front-page ad broke down and won?t make it on time.
Scenario B: Your boss insists that you run a hot feature at below cost on the front of the weekly flyer. A week later, he wants to know what happened to the gross? How do you explain it?
Scenario C: You are in a very intense meeting. The boss is steamed and ready to blow up. The other staff members are providing excuse after excuse for their sad sales and profit results. The tension mounts. Your numbers are in the tank as well. You are the last to be called on by the boss and you suddenly get tongue-tied.
Scenario D: Your best customer orders 15 truckloads of strawberries from you for an ad. Even though strawberries are getting tight, you commit knowing for sure that you can provide 10 but only need to round up five more. Guess what?
People in general really want to do a good job. They go to work with the intention of making good decisions for their company. Sometimes disappointment results when a negative experience occurs.
Whether a truck is late or your gross blows out, it?s all part of a typical business day. You may either may agree or scoff at this realistic view. The fact is, nobody ever escapes the dunk tank all of the time.
Well, I guess it's time for me to climb back up on that little seat next to the target again.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
