We're out of mayonnaise
I attended an event on a Saturday recently which promoted the trades for high school students. I spent all morning there exploring and voting on student projects. The lunch hour came and went and when I eventually decided to leave I was pretty hungry. In the parking lot outside the venue there were food trucks and a few other vendors cooking and selling food. I love food trucks for the unique and tasty food they produce. There you can get your meal straight from the grill or oven to your hand, cooked by a person or two who pays strict attention to detail, taking pride in the experience. Sign me up!
I picked the purple truck. It looked pretty cool and had a great menu. It was hard to order. I asked about the Pulled Pork and the lady working the window told me it was unavailable today. It didn't phase me much, I just shifted over to a Mushroom Swiss Burger. As she was writing it up, she informed me that they were out of mayonnaise. "Okay," I said, but this one, I confess, set me off.
I didn't express my anger or disappointment. I just took my food and ate quietly in my truck. "Out of mayonnaise?" I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm a soldier and a leader and my mind operates as if a missing item will cost a life. It also starts to analyze and assess the situation to determine what might have gone wrong. What I determined was an utter lack of care, preparation, and leadership. The questions and thoughts in my head started pouring in. It's a food truck for Pete's sake! It must have driven by numerous stores on its way to this location. Moreover, there was a convenience store a short walk from the venue. There were two people in the truck. Couldn't one of them have walked to that store and bought a few jars? What happened at the start of the day? Don't they inventory what they have the day before, or at least the morning of? Mayonnaise is not something I know to be in short supply. Do they consider themselves an exceptional food truck? Don't they want their customers to rave about them and hunt them down where ever they park? Was this a pure oversight or just plain laziness? What should be the punishment?
I'm not OCD. I'm definitely not a Karen. I didn't return to the truck and lecture them on preparation, service, and leadership, but the leader in me grew more perplexed and angry as I peeled back this onion. What red lines did that food truck establish, i.e. we "will never be without X, Y, or Z." The story here is really not about mayonnaise. It is all that the lack of mayonnaise represents - preparation, thoroughness, pride, excellence, adaptation, the list goes on. This is the duty of the leader. If we forgot the mayonnaise, what will be next? Gas in the fuel tank?
Don't run out of mayonnaise. Better yet, lead your people well, establish standards, react when things are not as they should be. Go the extra mile to make things right. Don't accept mediocrity. Operate in the band of excellence.
Maybe it's just me. Perhaps I should purchase a fanny pack and carry a packet or two of mayonnaise from now on.
What will your mayonnaise be?
Make it Personal!
Rob
Rob Campbell