Wednesday, February 18, 2004
The thing about owning a small biz is that it's all people management. You don't have enough money to implement some grandiose scheme but yet there's enough size for little problems to snowball into big ones. Making sure that everyone is doing their job and placating clients when that job isn't done properly is the days work. Take today for instance:
I believe that the business of being a courier is a fairly simple one. You have to balance speed with safety/courtesy/intelligence. It's an old story in the messenger industry. The guys who ride their bikes the fastest are rarely the ones that make the best messengers. They're the guys that ride by addresses they're supposed to stop at, forget to pick up packages, drop things in the street. But man they go like a house on fire!! I don't hire these guys. During my long and glorious messenger career I think I struck a fair balance between speed and not getting my ass creamed by a cab. My strong points were attention to detail, an unfailingly polite manner and a good awareness of what's going on around me (both in the sense of my personal space and what my co-workers were doing). Being a messenger is a social occupation. Your office is the city that you work in. Your co-workers are the people you get plowed with on Friday nights after work. It's easy to get distracted at work. But the most important attribute of a Jetset employee is simply to represent the company and out clients well. Treat the dickhead security guards with respect, smile and say "hello" to the rude receptionist, say "excuse me" to the guy on the phone who's expecting the package you're trying to deliver. It's easy.
Today I had to field a complaint from a disgruntled security guard who was none too pleased when a messenger "dissed" him by not signing his little log book when he entered the building. Now, I'm the first to say that the sign in proceedure for messengers into buildings is stupid. It provides no security to the building what so ever but seems to make everyone feel better, so we do it. If I put on my 3 piece suit (fortunately this is hypothetical because it doesn't fit me anymore), grabbed a brief case and strolled into most buildings in the financial district security wouldn't bat an eye. But put on a helmet and a messenger bag and it's like Osama Bin Laden tried to catch an elevator to the 20th floor. None the less as a messenger it's part of your job (as far as I as an employer am concerned) to play the games. Just smile and play the fucking game. It's so easy. It makes you more effective and more profitable.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah. So I've got to discipline this messenger for doing something stupid and I just don't understand what's so difficult about playing within the confines of the "game". The other annoying thing is that he's a chronic offender, a chronic doer of stupid deeds, his time here is limited.
I believe that the business of being a courier is a fairly simple one. You have to balance speed with safety/courtesy/intelligence. It's an old story in the messenger industry. The guys who ride their bikes the fastest are rarely the ones that make the best messengers. They're the guys that ride by addresses they're supposed to stop at, forget to pick up packages, drop things in the street. But man they go like a house on fire!! I don't hire these guys. During my long and glorious messenger career I think I struck a fair balance between speed and not getting my ass creamed by a cab. My strong points were attention to detail, an unfailingly polite manner and a good awareness of what's going on around me (both in the sense of my personal space and what my co-workers were doing). Being a messenger is a social occupation. Your office is the city that you work in. Your co-workers are the people you get plowed with on Friday nights after work. It's easy to get distracted at work. But the most important attribute of a Jetset employee is simply to represent the company and out clients well. Treat the dickhead security guards with respect, smile and say "hello" to the rude receptionist, say "excuse me" to the guy on the phone who's expecting the package you're trying to deliver. It's easy.
Today I had to field a complaint from a disgruntled security guard who was none too pleased when a messenger "dissed" him by not signing his little log book when he entered the building. Now, I'm the first to say that the sign in proceedure for messengers into buildings is stupid. It provides no security to the building what so ever but seems to make everyone feel better, so we do it. If I put on my 3 piece suit (fortunately this is hypothetical because it doesn't fit me anymore), grabbed a brief case and strolled into most buildings in the financial district security wouldn't bat an eye. But put on a helmet and a messenger bag and it's like Osama Bin Laden tried to catch an elevator to the 20th floor. None the less as a messenger it's part of your job (as far as I as an employer am concerned) to play the games. Just smile and play the fucking game. It's so easy. It makes you more effective and more profitable.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah. So I've got to discipline this messenger for doing something stupid and I just don't understand what's so difficult about playing within the confines of the "game". The other annoying thing is that he's a chronic offender, a chronic doer of stupid deeds, his time here is limited.
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