Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 02/18/18 > did you miss it, Saturday was World Thinking Day.

Unless you have young girls who are involved in Girls Scouts or Girl Guides you may not have been aware that Saturday was dubbed “World Thinking Day”. Like usual I’m not going to Google it, but I’m pretty sure it is just a Girl Scout / Girl Guides thing and not some big multi nation UN type designated day.

The reason I’m aware of it is because Shortie and Blondie are in the Girl Scouts and Shortie’s troop participated in the event. So Friday night was an evening of chaos as the wife and little one prepared for their troop’s participation. Earlier in the week I was tasked with finding pictures on the internet that they could use in their display for the country that they had chosen as their “adopted” country. So I went online and found several pictures of Botswana, on the continent of Africa. Then I choose several and had the girls pick which ones that they would want to use for their display. After the decision process was complete I took an empty thumb drive and saved the pictures to the thumb drive.

The troops always try to “out do “each other on creating their country displays, a friendly sort of “cut throat” competition if you will. There is an award for the best display and that would be the winning troop doesn’t have to help clean up the facility at the end of the day where the event is being held. So, in the spirit of competition 8 x 11.5 color pictures that can be printed on the home computer and printer were just not going to cut it for this event.

So, the wife took to the thumb drive to the local print shop and had 11 x 17 prints made on Thursday. I don’t know about you, but when I take something to be printed I always make sure when I pick up the prints I always check to make sure everything is like it is suppose to be, making sure all the stuff is there and correct. If there is a problem it can be normally corrected on the spot or at least corrected even if you have to come back for it on a second trip.

Well, my wife is either a little more trusting than me or she just thinks she is busier than she really is, but for whatever her reasoning, she failed to check the order when she picked up the prints. So, two of what had been deemed “important” pictures to the display were not in the folder when they went to attached them to the display board on Friday night. Of course she had waited until well after the business had closed to start the project of constructing the display board. That put her and Shortie in a terrible mood for the rest of the evening, it didn’t help any that I pointed out to the wife the error of her ways either. The truth is though; you just can’t trust people to get things done like you expect them to be done, especially businesses that employ young millennial age people.

I don’t know that I could solve all the problems of the world, but I could solve a whole bunch of them if people would just listen to what I have to say. So business owners listen up; those young people you are employing are not used to being told what to do. Their parents have spent more time trying to be friends to their children than being a parent so it is up to you now to straighten these kids out.

Yes, I know you are paying these kids and you shouldn’t have to, but trust me, if you don’t get them under control they will ruin your business. It will cost you a whole bunch more in the long run if you don’t listen to what I am telling you. First thing you must do is put in place a rule that no personal cell phones are allowed in your place of business. Ah, stop right there, stop I’m telling you, YOU can do this.

It is your business, you call the shots you make the rules. These kids are spending way too much time on your dime texting friends or looking at social media. Their whole life these kids have spend using electronics, the parents gave them to the kids to serve as “babysitters” so the parents didn’t have to interact with them and the parents could be on the internet without disruption. These devices are like the blanket Linus carried around everywhere with him in the Charlie Brown comic strip. They can’t be without those phones just like Linus couldn’t be without his blanket, it is security to them. Your employees need to focus on the customer and the task at hand, not the damn I-Phone screen.

Secondly, you are going to have to teach them how to have a conversation using real words, no I am not joking; but thanks for asking, when these kids communicate they seldom talk to each other. Their thumbs and the key pad on their phones have replaced the use of their vocal cords. Just watch a group when they are sitting at a table in a restaurant, they will all have their face in their phone screen texting away to the person on the other side of table in some cases. And half the text is in code or acronyms so when they do ever speak it is,”sup man, that’s FUBAR” or some other crap like that. I sorry, but I don’t speak millennial, so teach them to ask,”How can I help you?” or “Can I assist you with something today?” or even as simple as, “May I take your order?” These are just a few little phrases that with some practice they will be able to learn and master and your business will benefit greatly from it.

The first thing these kids are going to say when you tell them no personal phones allowed is going to be,” but what if my parents need to get a hold of me?” You and I both know that isn’t what they are concerned with but it was a good try on their part. Just hand them a business card with the business phone number on it and tell them to program the business number in their parents phone like this, “Johnny’s work 555-555-1212 “ explain to them to use their name unless their name is Johnny and the correct phone number. They may not figure that out own their own, so don’t take the risk.

The next thing you need to do is create a “work check list” that includes their primary job function but don’t stop there. Make sure that you clearly have about at least five other things that they can do if for some reason they are caught up on the primary task. These kids do not have any initiative to speak of, so unless you give them direction they will just stand around wondering what they are missing on their phone. They sure as hell will not look for work to do, like emptying the trash or straightening product on the shelves. You could even go as far as to teach them to “Face The Product Labels”, it might really blow their minds though to see shelves that organized.

Make sure the list is about the size of their cell phone so that they can grasp it without any problem and it will fit in their pocket. Also be sure to laminate the paper, because it will more than likely go through the wash a time or two unless you make them store it at work. If you really want to ease their pain and help with their sense of security you could get some out of date cheap cell phones that don’t work and affix the list to the screen area of the phone, that way it would have the look and feel they are used to carrying in their hands, it might also help them with their balance.

I could go on and on with sensible recommendations that will help you save and grow your business but we are going to stop right here for now. These ideas are a big step for you, the business owner, and for the zombie like young adults that you have to employee as your workers since the work force has been depleted of actual workers who know how to work.

Once you have these suggestions implemented and working; feel free to contact me and I can supply with more comprehensive ways to convert these millennial folks into productive people that you need to have to be successful.

Right now we need to get back to World Thinking Day, so the display didn’t turn out as well as the girls had hoped. It was good but not the winner, so they ended up having to help with the chores of cleaning the building. Next year though I have an idea that will set them apart and should surely make them the clear winners of the day. The best part is that you may very well be able to help. The idea will be to set up a SKYPE session with someone who is living in the country that the troop has “adopted” that way the Girl Scouts here can ask any question they like and get it answered by you in real time. We might even have you do some short video of your area and email it ahead of time so we can have it playing on a loop at the display table while you are having conversations and answering questions. So next year I just need to remember this, in case I haven’t mentioned this in a Daily Dose next January somebody drop me a comment to remind me.

I guarantee no other troop will be thinking along those lines, I may be a few years older than most of those folks who are involved in the scouting as parents but I my mind is always looking for the advantage and I know that will be the one that puts the troop in the winner’s circle come next World Thinking Day. I will ask that you keep this a secret, otherwise all the dang troops will be doing it, and then I will have to think of something else to set them apart from the herd.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

https://sola.ai/sultnpapper