I’ve been digging through some of the photos and mementos I have collected in over a half a century in the safety field and I started to realize that I have played a number of roles during my career. I started out playing a real loser named Joe No No and I violated every safety rule in the book and always paid the consequences being carted off to an ambulance in on a liter. For children I became The Wizard of Pos teaching positive living concepts. About that same time I became Mr. Lucky to promote my sales talks and my book titled Selling Lucky. Just recently I have taken on the role of Almost Andy, an Andy Griffith look alike. Just the other day I asked myself, “Who is Almost Andy and what does he stand for?” Well I found a bit of an answer for that question the other day while visiting a local super store. This is a huge store that I am talking about and it will wear a person out just shopping. Well they had these nice metal benches up front not far from the main door and a person could use the benches to rest up after a long walk. I generally sit there after I have made the rounds and wait for my wife to finish her shopping. Well, I was quite upset when I discovered that the benches had been removed by order of those on high at headquarters in Arkansas. I said I didn’t want to sit down in Arkansas but right there by the door where I promised to meet my wife. They could not provide a solution so I sat down on the floor with the wall as a backstop. As customers passed by I explained that I was conducting a sit down strike in protest to their removing the benches. Many of them encouraged me and wished me success. I wasn’t there ten minutes when some fellow started a hollering out in protest about their not having a riding cart for him. He was disabled and they explained that the carts were out for servicing. When he saw me sitting there on the floor he really let her rip with his complaints. He demanded that they bring the manager to him. Well a couple of ladies arrived to quell the near riot. After they quieted him down they came over to me. I explained my problem and I said that I was Almost Andy, a defender of the crippled, the ill and those who needed a rest on the benches. I asked that they replace them immediately. In time they brought me a chair. I saw that I had their attention I gave them my business card and said that if they did not have a place to sit down by the next day I would have twenty people sitting on the floor with me and that I would call the TV stations and have them bring in a crew for photos. Then next day I checked and they had replaced the bench. I don’t know what really possessed me to sit down like that. Outside of the U.S. Army, I have never really protested or marched for a cause. Generally I am pretty sociable, still I just cannot describe how good it felt to have a cause to fight for and a mission. Perhaps Almost Andy has found a purpose; that of defending the rights of the old and the tired and the disabled be they veterans or otherwise. Remember, be cool or I might see you in jail.
Well, maybe the management of the superstore based out of Arkansas should have THEIR upper management go on “UnderCover Boss”, the show on Sunday evenings on a “Certain” Broadcasting System… Orders so often come from above at companies and those making the orders seldom think about the ramifications or the effect it may have on employees let alone customers. Too bad the minions at the store level can’t fire the people at the top. That would be just a delicious show to watch!!!
Way to go Art, I often use the benches and would really mis them if they were gone. I think if they had more strategically placeed they could improve their sales. When I’ve had enough, I just tell my wife the bus is leaving.
It’s these little protest that probably make the biggest changes in our world. Thanks Art!