“ Yesterday ’ s the past , tomorrow ’ s the future , but today is a gift . That ’ s why it ’ s called the present .” — Bil Keane
our opinions : CURMUDGEON MUSINGS
Last The WordBY MARK BROWN
On Time ’ s Flight and Ice Deportation
“ Yesterday ’ s the past , tomorrow ’ s the future , but today is a gift . That ’ s why it ’ s called the present .” — Bil Keane
Each time we mark another year ’ s passing I find myself reminiscing of other times , things that have happened in our lives that sometimes seem so close by , and then I realize that it was years and years ago .
Don ’ t you find yourself wanting to save all the time you can ? It seems so precious .
I will always remember John Lennon ’ s line in the song Beautiful Boy : “ Life is what happens while you ’ re busy making other plans .” It ’ s so true !
One thing I have learned about time is how elusive it can be . Remember , any time that you waste is time that can never be recovered .
In a business-type context , if you lose an hour you will never get it back ; but if you use that hour effectively , it will pay you forever . That can be monetarily or in any other way you deem important . It could be time with friends or family , exercising , gardening , or taking a nap . It doesn ’ t matter , just remember to use your time wisely . Sometimes that thing that you see as worthwhile at the time , looking in retrospect , you see that it was in reality just an enormous waste of time .
So , whatever you do , think it through .
Under the heading of “ There ’ s no reason for it , it ’ s just our policy ,” I visited Sonic recently because we all , as a family , loved Sonic ’ s ice .
We loved it so much that I went so far as to buy a Sonic-type ice-making machine . Well , I was visiting in another area recently and one of our friends wasn ’ t feeling well and I said I ’ d run over to Sonic and get a bag of their ice . ( They have always sold their ice in bags to take home .) Sonic ice is great to munch on when you need to hydrate and can ’ t take much on your stomach . So , I drive all the way to the next town to get a bag of Sonic ’ s ice for my friend and , guess what ? The roller-skating rocket scientist / customer service specialist that I encountered told me that they were “ too busy ” to sell ice to me .
So I said , “ In all of my years of patronage of Sonic , I have never been told that . I ’ ve never been denied ice .” I might add that they were very commanding about this serious executive decision . I said , “ I didn ’ t see a sign .” She said , “ Did you call first ?” I said , “ No . I have never had to call before .” To which she said , “ Well it ’ s our manager ’ s decision , and she decides when to sell ice and when not to sell ice .”
In the time this conversation ate up she could have easily skated her way over to the ice-maker , gotten my ice , and been well on her way to denying another customer ’ s request .
So , somewhere in corporate America or regional corporate America , or at the local Sonic manager ’ s meeting , some night school grad decided , “ to heck with the customers . Let ’ s take a key reason why we have loyal customers — which is the ICE — and say forget that . Let ’ s randomly decide , and don ’ t tell the customers . Let ’ s throw a dart to decide when we will sell ice again .
Now , I ’ m sure there is some nightschool MBA reason not to sell their ice all the time , but someday , folks , this company needs to realize they do have customers . You would think that maybe on their obnoxiously , goofy commercials , those two guys in the car could say something like , “ Hey , let ’ s get ice !” Then the second goofy guy could say , “ No ! They don ’ t like to sell ice ! So , whatever you do , don ’ t go to Sonic for ice .”
Kind of the way you would think McDonald ’ s would find a way inside their billion-dollar company to make their ice cream machines work at least half of the time .
Or maybe KFC could figure out how to make Costco Visa cards work at their restaurants . Or maybe some business could actually let you know when their hours change , or at least change their signs to indicate what their business hours actually are .
But nooooo . That ’ s just what customers will be expecting them to do !
And back to the time thing — If you ’ re too busy to go fishing , you ’ re toooo busy !