Trust Each Other, Unless You Live in D.C.

I have worked for many, sometimes it feels like too many, years in management.  My first management job was in a small bookstore.  It was basically me and one part time associate.  Obviously there was not much delegating.  If something needed to get done, I did it.  My next management position was with Stride Rite shoes.  With Stride Rite, I had several part time associates and an assistant.  While with Stride Rite, I learned a lesson that our government needs to learn.

Part of my job as manager was to train my assistant to be a future manager.  Tisha was one of my first assistants who was serious about getting her own store.  After some basic training, we split the daily tasks and paperwork.  Once on Tisha's day off, I had finished all my usual activities and had probably listened to the Dino Dave recordings a couple of times too many for the day.  I went back to the office and noticed that Tisha had a couple of days' paperwork still unfinished.  So I decided to do her a favor and finish it for her.

I was off the next day, but got a phone call from the store.  It was Tisha, and she was irate.  She asked if she should start looking for a new job, or maybe a transfer to another store.  I had no idea what could possibly be the problem.  I thought everything was going well.  Finally she calmed down enough to ask me if I thought she was incapable of doing her job.  I told her, no. I thought she was doing well and would be able to take her own store soon.  She then asked why I would do her job if that was the way I really felt.  She was insulted at my doing her job for her.  From my point of view, I was doing her a favor.  It seemed a case of "no good deed will go unpunished."  From her point of view, her manager did not trust her or did not think she was capable of doing her job.

Tisha went on to get her own store with Stride Rite and did very well.  She eventually moved on to another management position with another company with even more responsibility.  She taught me a lesson that I think about each time I "help" a trainee.  I always tell them this story and let them know the reason I'm "helping" them.  The story is used as a motivator for those who may not be as self-motivated or as capable as Tisha, in addition to teaching them a management lesson that I learned the hard way.

Unfortunately, I have had trainees that did not have the drive or capability of Tisha.  In their case, I "helped" them a great deal. Until they either caught on or moved on.  As a rule, the more "help" they required, the more likely they were to move on.  

I don't know if the good folks in D.C. think we are capable of taking care of ourselves.  The majority of Americans will gladly take care of themselves and do the right thing.  All we ask is that the government get out of our way.  We are more than willing to help each other and contribute to causes in which we believe.  As long as the government leaves us the resources to do so. I believe most of our representatives think they are doing the right thing.  They feel a little like I did during the phone call from Tisha, "no good deed will go unpunished!"

More and more, I have come to believe that our government doesn't want to trust us.  They take our tax dollars and spend them for us on causes the majority of us do not believe in or support, in order to further their own agenda or strengthen their positions.  No non-profit should receive federal funds.  That's no, none, not any, for any reason.  Nowhere in the constitution does it give the federal government the authority to collect money from the general population to give to any non-profit organization.  Leave that money in the hands of the individual who earned it.  Let that person decide where his/her contribution will go.  Let the non-profit organizations compete for our dollars.  Then let's see if ACORN gives tax advice to pimps for Salvadoran teens, or registers the lineup of the Dallas Cowboys to vote in Las Vegas(you knew I had to work the Cowboys in here somewhere).  Or if Planned Parenthood takes 15 year old girls from their school in Washington and gets them a free abortion without notifying their parents.  If they do, and you choose to support them with your hard-earned dollars, that's your choice.  In that case, I am pro-choice, as are most Americans.  But do not force us to contribute.  We will gladly contribute to causes we believe in.

We need to learn which representatives want to control us, and which just need a phone call from Tisha.  Soon, while we still have any choices left.   

It's all about the Benjamins (money for the less with it crowd)

The first rule in management is "Don't mess with your people's money."  A mistake on a paycheck will be remembered forever, no matter how quickly it might be corrected.  For all the debate about the Constitution, states' rights, federal funding of abortion, government takeover of health care, and death panels, the thing that will kill the bill quicker than anything is the cost.

And maybe that's the way it should be.  In a capitalist system, the market decides.  That's one of the basic principles of our country.  Why did cars become more fuel-efficient in the mid-70's?  Because gas prices went up.  Cars with better gas mileage sold, so car companies made an effort to improve all models' fuel-efficiency.  When gas prices moderated, or the public got accustomed to the higher costs, size became more important.  Chrysler's comeback under Lee Iacocca was led by the minivan.  When gas threatened to climb $4 a gallon or higher, there was a waiting list for hybrids.  

We all complain about American jobs going overseas.  When I worked for Stride Rite in the late 1980's and 1990's, almost all their shoes were made in factories in Massachusetts and Missouri.  Nike set the standard for the industry by going overseas to China and reducing their costs and increasing profits for their shareholders, which is their number one responsibility.  Stride Rite followed their lead, sending hundreds, if not more than a thousand jobs overseas.  By doing so, they were able to avoid the cost increases associated with doing business in the U.S.  Costs consisted mainly of environmental requirements (we all want clean air, right?), employee wages and benefits (we all want high wages and great benefits, right?).  Those production cost increases, to use Obama's phrase, necessarily led to skyrocketing retail prices.

At my store in Arizona, I saw the perfect example of Americans voting with their pocketbook.  We sold the Sperry Topsider boat shoe for $49.  A customer looked at it, tried it on, liked it, then saw that it was now made in China.  He told me that he refused to buy shoes made in China and these used to be made in the U.S.  He REFUSED to support any business that sent jobs to China.  I told him that the Dexter store was only a couple of doors down from my store and they had similar shoes, still made in the U.S.  He was back within fifteen minutes, buying the made in China Sperry Topsiders.  The Dexters, Proudly Made in America, cost an extra $20.  

In the early 1980's, WalMart was Hometown Proud.  They advertised carrying made in America merchandise.  They were also going under.  By 1988, you no longer heard the made in America claim.  Their new catchphrase was Always the Lowest Prices.  Google for stories about the Lowest Prices and their affect on American jobs particularly Zenith televisions and Rubbermaid.  It is impossible to pay the highest labor and environment related costs and sell for the lowest prices.  And it speaks volumes about those costs when you realize that it is cheaper for businesses to ship raw materials overseas, mainly to China, pay to have the products manufactured, and then ship the finished product to the United States than it is to have it manufactured in America.  Unions put the blame on the businesses when American jobs become Chinese jobs.  Blame Americans.  We are the ones that put more value on low retail prices than on American jobs.  When unions or the government start setting wage and benefit requirements, you only have to look to General Motors to see the results.  When over $1000 of the cost of every car goes to benefits for retired workers, a company can't compete.  That leads to higher retail prices and/or lower quality standards, fewer sales, and in this case a government run company.  And when the government gets involved in business, the results are predictably disastrous for the taxpayer, the shareholder, and the customer.  Unions seem to come out of the mess all right though.  They expect a payback for their campaign contributions.

Get the government involved through minimum wage standards.  At my company, we employed an average of 23 year-round full time employees.  Our starting wage was just under $1 over minimum wage.  The government felt that the minimum wage needed to be raised.  Within two years, our starting wage was now below the minimum, which forced the company to give all employees with under a year of service a raise to minimum,about 6%.  Well, the company has a responsibility to its shareholders to make a profit.  At my store, we were budgeted to use 14% of our gross sales on hourly payroll.  That did not change.  The company's options were to raise prices to increase gross sales, or reduce the number of employees.  Customers put a higher premium on price than service, so instead of 23 year-round employees, we now had to get by with 21.  Another interesting side-effect was that longtime employees were now dissatisfied with their pay.  While starting wage went up over 6%, annual salary increases stayed at the standard 3%, so new and short-term associates were making close to the pay of 3 to 5 year associates.  And customer service scores went down because the lower number of employees not only could not do the job as well, but they were not as happy with their job.  As usual when the government gets involved, everyone loses.

So now health care is the focus of the government takeover.  Like anything else, we want the best product at the lowest price.  We don't want to pay the cost of the world's best medical care, we only want to receive the world's best medical care.  In this case, we can't send the jobs to China for lower costs.  So, as in the case of General Motors, the government is stepping in.  And as usual, only the unions (unions, not to be confused with dues paying union members) will be happy with the results.