. . . and when you have a blog, everything looks like a writing topic. Maybe this is just because I teach writing. Do artists see the world as color or shapes, biologists as a collection of living organisms, chemists as chains of reactions, mathematicians as numbers or geometric shapes or trigonometric functions? Or is it just me?
I've been trying for years to get students to see the world as a rich source of things to describe, reflect upon, analyze, or just mention. Sigh. They just don't get it. It isn't because I read a ridiculous number of daily newspapers and weekly magazines, listen to NPR, watch the evening news, and follow a number of web sites. The most interesting topics come from just watching what happens around me.
For example, I went to Starbucks this morning, and as I was getting a refill on my Venti Black Sweetened Iced Tea, the man in front of me bought the last chocolate donut. I'm sure it's part of Star Training (a term I learned about when our son, Andrew, worked for a short time as a barista), but there was a chorus of "no more chocolate donuts" among the workers . . . first the guy who served up the LAST chocolate donut, then echoed by the girl at the cash register, then repeated in unison by the two folks working the drive-up window, and then capped off by the last barista. It was cheerful and funny, especially because the customer turned away from the counter, leaving the LAST chocolate donut (now his) on the counter, only coming back for it when I commented that now everyone in the store knew he was the guy who had bought the LAST chocolate donut. I suppose it seemed more musical to me because everyone had previously been singing along with "Mr. Sandman" which had been playing over the sound system a few minutes earlier -- perhaps from a CD that was for sale?
Now I suspect that these are both conscious Star strategies, and I suppose if I asked the right people, I could confirm that. Do other businesses pay this much attention to store climate and culture? Does it make a [big] difference in sales? Is a happier, more cheerful sales force a more productive one?
Gosh, it's great to have a blog where I can explore these ideas!
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2 comments:
I don't drink coffee, so I haven't spent much time in a Starbucks, but I've had similar observations in Jamba Juice. They always have trendy music playing and the workers sing along. When someone orders, the person making the sales yells, "Jamba" and the others loudly respond, "Juice." It's all quite festive. I truly enjoy watching the kids enjoying doing their jobs. That doesn't usually happen.
Aha! So confirming data from another company means it is a strategy -- probably part of the training -- be cheerful, dammit! I wonder if something like this "forced camaraderie" would work in a classroom. I provide students with a lot of help in my class, especially when it comes to citations, and when I do, I always explain that I've been a very nice person and formated the citation properly for them, so all they have to do is copy it, and that they should say "Thank You." After the second time or so, they respond with a chorus of "Thank you's" It gets much more enthusiastic towards the end of the semester :-) By then, I think they really mean it!
But it's kind of disappointing to think that this is a marketing and management strategy, rather than a natural outpouring of enthusiasm from happy workers.
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