Word to the Whys
"Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us down or polishes us up, depends on us."
~ L. Thomas Holdcroft
"Girls should play sports so you can see what your body can do rather than just what it looks like."
~ Estella Warren - Supermodel, Actress and former International Swimming Champion
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When Lucy was pregnant with Desi Arnez Jr. on her hit show “I Love Lucy,” the network would not permit her to utter the word pregnant on television. It was simply considered too racy of a word for prime time. Those days are long gone.
Anyone who doesn’t believe that Gen Why is being fed an endless stream of garbage was not tuned into the recent American Music Awards. The show, broadcast on ABC, was hosted by the frequently foul-mouthed Ozzy Osbourne and his family - wife Sharon, and children Kelly and Jack - who gave network censors a workout.
The family's four-letter words were bleeped throughout the show, so much so that during their opening introduction it was hard for television viewers to follow what they were saying. Sharon Osbourne, in particular, kept up a running banter of outrageous comments. When she let the F-word slip out at one point, her husband laughed and shouted, "You can't take the (bleeping) lady anywhere anymore!"
At one point, Sharon's dog, Minnie, even made an appearance while she presented alongside Timberlake. Earlier reports said rarely seen Osbourne daughter Aimee would be presenting with the *NSYNC star.
"Justin, would you kiss my Minnie?" Sharon asked.
"Uh, you're referring to the dog, yes?" sputtered Timberlake before laying a kiss on the tiny dog.
Sharon only topped that comment when introducing performer Mariah Carey by saying, "She's got the best booby job I've ever seen!"
The year was 1986. I was teaching Principles of Marketing to juniors during third hour at Wheatridge High School, when a teary-eyed student rushed into my classroom and told me to bring my entire class down the hall to the library to see the television coverage of the Challenger explosion. The students were as dumbfounded as the teachers who tried to explain it.
There isn’t a boomer teacher who will ever forget the name of Christa McAuliffe. And there isn’t a Gen Xer alive who doesn’t remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news of this tragedy. The fate of those aboard the Challenger became permanently etched in the minds of every kid in the eighties.
Will the recent Columbia explosion be as significant of a historical marker for today’s students as the Challenger was for young Gen Xers? It’s doubtful. As sad as the Columbia disaster is, Gen Whys have simply seen too many news stories featuring death and destruction to have this one particular news item impact them in a profound way.
During a presentation to students at a high school in Michigan on Monday, I made reference to the Columbia explosion. After the program, several kids approached me and asked me if another shuttle had actually exploded, or if I was just making that up.
When it comes to training, I never stop learning cool things from my wonderful clients.
Round Table Pizza managers are able to give their front line workers an employee manual that they can keep with them while on the job. This graphically appealing, easy-to-navigate guide is a condensed version of the complete manual, and it highlights important policies and procedures for handling most jobs around the restaurant.
“It looks like a Game Boy,” says Susan Tonkin, Director for Round Table Pizza Corp. “They can grab it, quickly find the information they need to complete a task, and move on!”
Mike David, Training Manager for Mazzios, revamped his company’s training manual to get away from the standard issue black and white three-ring binder. “We wanted it to look more colorful and user-friendly, similar to a USA Today format,” says David. The new manual is full of cartoons, pull- outs, and fun exercises to keep the recruits fully engaged.
And when it comes to video training, no one tops Nancy Dulany’s crew at New World Restaurants (Einstein and Noah Bagels). Their training videos are shot at store locations using actual employees. The (in-house) video crew uses scripts depicting actual situations Gen Whys will encounter as employees and, using a heavy dose of comedy and set to popular music, they show the wrong and then the right way to handle a variety of issues.
WHAT GARBAGE: Michael Wong-Sasso chose the place for his 7th birthday party: a landfill near his home in Granada Hills, Calif. "I want to be a garbage collector when I grow up," he says. "I like making the world cleaner." “That's fine,” said his mother, "Whatever his interest is, I support it." Parents who accompanied their kids to the dumpsite party agree. "We really need kids that think that way," said a mom, "Not everyone can grow up to be a nuclear scientist." (Los Angeles Times)
Bradley Steven Bailey, 21, allegedly stole a day's receipts from the Cedar Falls, Iowa, restaurant where he worked --about $2,000 that he was supposed to take to the bank. He was found a month later in Maryland, arrested, and returned to Iowa to face trial. Prosecutors say Bailey wrote the restaurant from jail to apologize -- and ask the manager to mail him his final paycheck. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
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