Diamonds & Stones
When I was a recruiter, I used to quiz candidates about the best and worst days of their various jobs.
This elicited far better answers than the old: ‘Tell us a bit about yourself’.
As our community grows, I thought this’d be a fascinating exercise for us to do. See if you agree.
Diamond
When I drove taxis, my diamond was a sunny Sunday. I began my shift at a CBD hotel. A man immediately asked to be taken to the airport. A wonderful fare, but usually only one way (unless you waited in the long cab queue).
Just as my passenger exited, two girls ran up and asked to be taken back to the city. When they got out, I instantly picked up another airport passenger.
As Sundays were usually deathly quiet (and I invariably had the oldest cab with the crappest radio) these three big fares made my day.
Another diamond was when a man who’d just bought his dream telescope tipped me the equivalent of three hours earnings. Another was when I found $14 in coins under the back seat.
I guess you could say some diamonds are relative!
Stone
My worst stone was after a big football game. I was wary of the four drunken youths leering in front of me, but the leader promised a big tip if I took them.
As the drunkest sat behind me and started muttering that all cabbies were dogs, I knew I’d made a mistake. When I didn’t respond to his taunts, he questioned my masculinity. When that didn’t work, he grabbed my thigh. When I reacted angrily, he spat on me.
I wrenched the cab to the kerb and screamed at them to get out. The leader apologised and promised to compensate me. I drove on against my better judgement, to renewed mutters from the back.
When I reached the destination, my aggressor wrapped his arm tightly round my throat. The others restrained him with difficulty and bundled him out. The leader gave me a banknote that was too big to break. I was so traumatised, that instead of taking it all and fleeing, I gave it back and left with nothing.
I drove to a service station for a drink. There I saw that my seat had been slashed and the stuffing ripped out. I rang the cab owner, who was angry at the damage and the lost fare. Not a happy night.
Do not try this at home!
That’s me done. Would you like to share the best and worst moments of your past or present career? Your contribution would be priceless.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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The day I told the boss that I thought slaves were sold not sacked, after being informed that my position was no longer available.
Perhaps, I wasn’t looking for a good reference, but it didn’t affect anything anyway, as I had work within 24 hours and haven’t looked back since
Wow, BE; that’s telling ‘em!
I love the phrase ‘people are our greatest resource’. I think it means we can dig them up; process them till they meet our requirements; burn them, then dump them on the scrap heap!
Thank you for visiting.
Great stories Paul! I’ve had lots of diamond days since starting my own business. The best are when I get feedback from a client(as I did today) to say that learning meditation has literally changed their lives. That’s a great feeling.
Thank you, Kate, and welcome back from your dream holiday. Those piccies of yours were something to see.
It’s hard to imagine someone of your disposition and profession having bad days, but I suppose it happens to everyone.
I’m glad (but not surprised) that you have the power to change lives. Lucky for us you’re not flogging brick cladding!
PS: Can you get that feedback in writing? I want to see it on your site!
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Good Afternoon Paul,
Great question,it immediately evoked memories for me.
A wonderful diamond is your visit last week.
I smile as I think of you rolling in the grass trying to get the ultimate foal photo as they nuzzled you and tried to examine your camera.
Your obvious joy and confidence in the herd coupled with the relaxed trust from Nimrod (Morgan stallion)and his mares is a diamond memory indeed.
Thank you for asking evocative questions.I enjoy your Blog.
Judy O. Samaria Creek Morgan Farm
Thank you, Judy. You honour me. By now, everyone should be painfully aware of how much I enjoyed my visit to your amazing farm.
It’s wonderful to hear that you got something from it too. Best regards indeed.
Hey, Megan; thanks for sorting out Judy’s avatar. Looks heaps better than my old mug!
Great question…so many possible answers…
I’ll choose an incident that took please one day several years ago, that encompasses both a ‘diamond’ and a ’stone’.
I had not long been working for a small B2B IT firm, and had been to-ing and fro-ing with a client who needed a new server, but had a small budget.
I screwed up the quote – without going into the technical details, I promised a capability that wasn’t possible on the equipment being sold.
Ack! To make matters worse, the mistake was discovered after the client had accepted the quote, by one of the two owners of the business (he was the technical partner).
This was bad! I had made a mistake that was easily going to cost about $2000 to fix. To be honest, it was a really dumb mistake too, a beginners blunder. My only defence was that somewhere in all the back and forth a mistake was bound to happen. Not really much of a defence at all.
So here I was, getting the hard word from the technical partner, and it seemed my options were:
1. Try to cover this up with the customer so the business wasn’t out of pocket – basically LIE, LIE, LIE (this was the first option presented to me!)
2. Deliver what was quoted, and pay for it out of my own pocket.
Did I mention this was bad?
So far a bad day.
Then in walked the other co-owner (he was the sales partner).
He quickly summed up the situation, and announced the client was going to get what they were quoted, and secondly that if the business expected to retain good staff, the business had to absorb mistakes made by the staff.
This led to a clash between the owners, but the sales partner prevailed.
The client got what they deserved, and I didn’t have to pony up $2000.
A good day!
To be honest, I didn’t get off scot-free, but I didn’t have to deal with anything I didn’t deserve, and most importantly, the client didn’t either.
I was so hoping this story would have a happy ending, Stephen.
You make a really good point, that newbies need to be able to fail if they’re to learn anything. What an enlightened sales partner that was!
Thanks very much for sharing your tale. We love this sort of thing. Best regards, P.
Thanks Paul. I’ll also add that his willingness to do the right thing gained my gratitude and loyalty. He was, probably, the best boss I ever had.
And so it continues to this day:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/cabbie-bashed-for-refusing-to-run-red-lights-20091206-kcbq.html
And this one:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/cabbie-may-have-been-stabbed-in-roadrage-attack-20091209-ki0o.html