The Trash Man Cometh
I’m a weird bird, I’ll admit it.
If I’m home when my mail carrier arrives, I’ll meet him at the door and tell him thank you. I figure they don’t see a lot of people on their day route, and I should be grateful to them for saving me time by delivering my mail every day (and picking up all the packages I send out on a daily basis).
Also, My aunt (who’s retiring soon) works as a supervisor in his office, so every now and again I get “Stories” from him. Fun stuff.
But I also say thanks to my sanitation engineers.
Most of the time, I just shout out a “THANK YOU!” as they’re scooping up the bins and driving away.
But not today.
On our sanitation trucks (and I think this is common in most areas, but just for clarity) there is a driver and a rig man. He’s the guy that rides on the back end of the truck to grab the bins and dump them into the back end.
Seems pretty dangerous and labor intensive to me. Which is one of the reasons I make sure to say thanks.
But today’s rig man was a jerk.
So he got no thanks of any kind.
In retrospect, he may have been having a bad day, and I think that’s true in any business. We have days that aren’t so great. We shove and slam and bang things out of frustration, thinking that taking it out on the inanimate object will make us feel better.
But he cracked the wheel on my trash can when he hucked it half way across the road.
Needless to say, I felt a little disgruntled and saying “thank you” would probably have sounded a bit sarcastic.
So I just sighed as he drove away, collected my impaired trash bin, and hobbled it up to the garage for next week’s adventure.
And I started thinking about all the times I’ve been the trash man to others.
When I yelled at my kids when they didn’t deserve it.
When I ignored a request from a friend because I didn’t feel like it.
When I had a bad day and didn’t give 100% to my customers.
When I (God Forgive me!) lied to my boss about being sick, so I didn’t have to work on an important project that bored me to tears.
When I get frustrated with myself and start calling ME names.
I could go on for hours with this list – as I’m sure you could, too.
The point is, we can either accept these “character flaws” as a part of who we are, or we can strive to improve with each passing moment. We can make a point of doing the work it takes to do the right thing, or we can keep hucking the neighbor’s trash cans across the street, breaking the wheel, and along with it their trust and our credibility.
So I’m sorry for being a jerk. To You. To My Kids, family, friends and former bosses.
I’m also sorry for being a jerk to myself. Getting frustrated when I truly had no control over a situation, knocking myself around when I didn’t deserve it.
And I’m sorry I couldn’t tell today’s trash man what I always want to say:
“THANK YOU!”
Read MoreCackling Babies Tell it like it is
When you get a chance, do a search on YouTube for “why buy expensive toys” The little boy in the video is delirious about ripping out pages in a magazine.
This video is hilarious, but please don’t patronize the links in the video. I learned the hard way that it’s connected to a very UN-family-friendly website, if you understand what I mean.
I seriously thought about not posting this video referral at all, but then I got it in an email last week, and I knew God was telling me to share some details.
It’s real life, after all!
In essence, the kid gets so slap happy from helping his father tear up the magazine pages that he starts busting out into raucous laughter – even before he tears the sheet.
And here’s the marketing lesson: Sometimes simple is best.
Seriously. Sometimes we fret about how to make things so “perfect” for our end user, that we forget about the simplicity of things that already work.
Dan Kennedy says that sometimes “‘good’ is good enough” I take it one step further and say that sometimes “easy is hard enough”
Sure, there are people in the world that want a Porsche for the price of a moped. But that’s not realistic.
Of course there are people that will pay $100 for a plastic toilet seat from Home Depot. But that’s exploitative.
When you look at your customer, your product base, and your message – are you making it too hard for people to digest?
Keep it simple. Keep it real. Keep it on the level.
Chris Haddad wrote a post a while back about writing at the 4th or 5th grade level. That’s the God’s Honest Truth, folks. Even in a technical industry, the more simplified the marketing, the easier it is for people to grasp it.
Sure, your average Chemical Engineer should be able to read at a 12th grade level – but why would he want to? Higher-level thinking takes a lot out of you – especially when the same thing can be said in 150 words (or less) with one and two syllable words.
Take it from someone that loves to use big words:
Not everyone loves big words.
So if a cackling baby can find pleasure and delight in the daily tabloid rag, why can’t we, as marketers, take a cue “from the mouths of babes” as it were?
Sometimes the easiest, and simplest messages are the best.
Here’s one of my favorites:
“Dear Mom,
I love you.
Can I have a Nintendo DS?”
It doesn’t get much clearer than that. I know right away who’s being addressed, the message is loud and clear and there’s no subterfuge.
Ya gotta love kids!
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About Me
Edutainer. Results-getter. Performer. I'm expressive, results-oriented, and a connoisseur of ideas. When creative people are ready to stop making excuses and make something happen, they call me. Sometimes I talk to God. Sometimes God talks back. Sometimes I talk back. I'm building an ark here. Wanna ride? Be sure to say hi, leave a comment and get involved. That's how I roll. Lisa’s Music
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