Friday, February 06, 2004
The end of the week is always a good thing. Not that I hate work, hate would involve too much emotion. The weekend is a nice change of pace. One of the great challenges with Jetset is scheduling. We pay couriers on commission so they have an interest in working hard enough to cover all the work. If we can't cover work for a long enough time we have to hire and that's another rider to compete with. I like to keep the staffing as lean as possible while still providing great service. This means that the guys and girls on the board are making real good money. The problem with lean staffing is that if someone calls in sick or wants to take two weeks off to go hunter grizzlies or fish for koi it can be a challenge. On the driver side of our business (versus bicycles) we seem to hire an inordinate number of musicians. As it stands right now we have:
1) 2 drummers
2) a bassist
3) a guy who does something for a Balinese orchestra. Don't ask I couldn't pronounce the name of the instrument he plays.
A creative group. But what happens when they want to go "tour". For these guys that can involve 3 dates around california or, in the case of one of the drummers, a month and a half away part of which is spent in Japan with this band John Vanderslice. Do I hire someone while they're gone and be overstaffed when they return? Do they lose their job making them choose between being a driver and a musician? One of the reasons we started Jetset was to create a place where the courier (by nature a creative type in the same way that actors always seem to be waiters) can make good money and pursue their true love at the same time. We've successfully created an employee friendly business that's a pain in the arse for management (that's me). Oh, well.
I can tell you right now that one of the hardest things in the world to do is be a Warriors fan. Yes, I root very hard for a perenial loser. God, why do they suck so bad? There's talent on this team. They play tonight against the Denver Nuggets. I'm not hopeful.
Here's my literary link for the day: Verse Daily Trust me that all poetry is not fluffy or confusing or unapplicable to your everyday life. Here's your days research project: find poems by Stephen Dunn, Philip Levine and Jeffrey McDaniel. Good stuff.
1) 2 drummers
2) a bassist
3) a guy who does something for a Balinese orchestra. Don't ask I couldn't pronounce the name of the instrument he plays.
A creative group. But what happens when they want to go "tour". For these guys that can involve 3 dates around california or, in the case of one of the drummers, a month and a half away part of which is spent in Japan with this band John Vanderslice. Do I hire someone while they're gone and be overstaffed when they return? Do they lose their job making them choose between being a driver and a musician? One of the reasons we started Jetset was to create a place where the courier (by nature a creative type in the same way that actors always seem to be waiters) can make good money and pursue their true love at the same time. We've successfully created an employee friendly business that's a pain in the arse for management (that's me). Oh, well.
I can tell you right now that one of the hardest things in the world to do is be a Warriors fan. Yes, I root very hard for a perenial loser. God, why do they suck so bad? There's talent on this team. They play tonight against the Denver Nuggets. I'm not hopeful.
Here's my literary link for the day: Verse Daily Trust me that all poetry is not fluffy or confusing or unapplicable to your everyday life. Here's your days research project: find poems by Stephen Dunn, Philip Levine and Jeffrey McDaniel. Good stuff.
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