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Who Do You Trust More, BP or the Government?

by Glenn Shepard

June 15, 2010

 

 
Davenport, IA June 22
Marshfield, WI June 23
Appleton, WI June 24
Montgomery, AL June 30

Call Rebecca at 1-800-538-4595 for any location.

 

“You are responsible for you. ”
 

Ask Glenn column

 

Dear Glenn,   

What do you do with an employee that has been counseled for abusing their paid time off and often comes in late, takes longer lunches and skips out early (nearly 20 minutes increments) and now because they know they are on their last trip before being let go, they eat lunch at their desk & make personal calls right before lunch time and then takes her full hour for lunch?

Frustrated in New Hampshire

 

 

Dear New Hampshire,

     This is called "Lame Duck Syndrome". It's why many companies will decline a two week notice even from an employee who's leaving on good terms.

      As Dave Ramsey says, "I don't want your body here and still on payroll when your heart is somewhere else".

     When I left my last job in 1988, it was on good terms. But I was still told to leave immediately, because that's just the way it was.

      Do one of two things with your employee who's going to be leaving on not-so-good terms:

 

1. Get her out the door NOW, or

 

2. Ride her like a Missouri Mule as long as she stays.

 

Thanks for your question.

Glenn in Nashville, TN

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Glenn's Personal  Blog

Click on the gold pen to see what Glenn's on a rant about now

Last week when I was on the Gulf Coast, I watched local reports of the oil spill hitting beaches.

 

One frustrated woman said, “BP promised they’d take care of this, and the federal government said they’d take care of it. I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

 

When I got back home, I read that because Opryland Hotel’s flood damage has exceeded their $50 million flood insurance coverage, they want to sue the federal government for not having properly advised them of the risk of building the hotel on the river.

 

This all reminded me of the time I was awakened at 2:00 in the morning by a fire alarm in an Orlando hotel. The guests all ran out of the hotel in our pajamas, but the front desk clerk said it was a false alarm.

 

An Army Staff Sergeant whose room was on the sixth floor asked the clerk what he was doing to ensure the safety of the guests. The clerk called the fire department. They came to check it out, and agreed it was a false alarm.

 

Even though we trusted the fire fighters more than the clerk, both the Sergeant and I had the clerk move us to ground floor rooms - just in case they were wrong. He summed up his reasoning in four words: “Never take unnecessary risks”.

 

Mine was more cynical. I read that after the planes struck the World Trade Centers on 9/11/01, people stampeded over each other in the stairwell as they tried to evacuate.

 

Announcements were apparently made telling people to walk calmly and that the buildings were safe. The last thing that some of the nearly 3,000 people who died when the buildings collapsed was that announcement.

 

Years ago, the American government told us to get as much sun as possible, because it was good for us.

 

Tobacco companies told us that smoking helped improve digestion.

 

I have an 1897 Sears catalog which marketed opium as a safe cure for menstrual cramps.

 

My friend and motivational speaker Alvin Law in Canada was born without arms because his mother used thalidomide while she was pregnant. Both her doctor and the Canadian government assured her it was safe.

 

Here’s my point.

 

Regardless of whether you think BP is better equipped to stop the oil spill, or the federal government is, there’s a huge lesson in this.

 

Both are made up of people, and all people are fallible.

 

This is why it’s a good idea to get a second opinion before surgery, no matter how much you trust your doctor.

 

It’s why financial guru Dave Ramsey says to never invest in something because someone advised you to, unless you completely understand the investment, and why you’re doing it.

 

And it’s why Glenn Shepard says, “No matter whether it’s your health, your finances, your career, your personal relationships, or your spiritual life, you are ultimately responsible for yourself”.

 

This is why in my employee-training program, I teach people not to look to their company, labor union, or the government for job security.

 

The only way for someone to create true job security is to make themselves so indispensable that they’d be the last one a company would ever lay off.

 

 

To Your Success,

Glenn Shepard

 

 

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