Early on after my move to Sioux Falls from the Twin Cities, I was constantly looking for decent restaurants on the North end of town. This was a tough task as most of the North end restaurants were fast food joints. Of course, what I didn’t realize right away was that the North end of town is home to every truck and Earth-moving equipment dealer known to mankind. It’s very industrial. And apparently, no one in the restaurant industry believes that these folks, demographically, are the sort of folks that are going to sit down for Italian, Mexican, Greek, Chinese or anything that isn’t breaded, ground up, or cheap.
Kiss My Grits
One day I decided to patronize Marlin’s. Marlin’s is exactly like Mel’s diner from the late seventies-early eighties TV series “Alice”. All of the employees at Marlin’s are nice and very hard working — this actually takes some getting used to. In particular, there are few if any teens and 20-somethings, which adds a layer of maturity on top of that nice hard working demeanor and good attitude. It’s quite a combination.
I ordered a Marlin burger combo, which is basically a double burger with fries and coleslaw. The waitress I had was a skinny, little old lady who got more work done in the time that I was there than I had accomplished all day. I refer to her as old, but she was probably less than 15 years older than myself (I keep forgetting that a large portion of the population thinks of me as “old” too). Anyway, her name was Cheryl, and she had my food in front of me very fast and I had everything I needed. She was calling me “sweetie” and “honey” and all this stuff that would make me uncomfortable if she weren’t such a gem of a person.
Let’s Get Personal
I was just finishing my meal when Cheryl appeared at my table once more. She had my tab in her hand, but instead of handing it to me, she leaned over, dropping one elbow on my table and asked if I would like some dessert to “seal the deal”. Her proximity to me was getting fairly personal. I’m a person that enjoys a lot of personal space. And before I could respond, she indicated that they had about anything I could imagine for dessert choices, and she especially went out of her way to ask if I had tried the French Silk pie.
I indicated that I had not. That’s when, with a twinkle in her eye, she leaned in real close to my cheek — I’m talking, whisper-close in a diner here folks. Whatever personal space I once had, was now hers. In her best, raspy, covert operation voice she whispered, “It’ll blow your shorts off”.
Now with my personal space completely compromised, and my sudden awareness that I was having a conversation about my shorts with a woman I had only known for 35 minutes, I was visibly squirming on my booth seat. And for the record, I was wearing pants. Sooooo, let’s just understand right now that she wasn’t referring to external clothing.
And how, exactly, was I going to say no to such a thing as this? She was as sweet as they get, but not unlike the Godfather, she was making me an offer that I couldn‘t refuse. The service had been perfect. I actually had room for some dessert. And apparently, this pie rose to such a level that this woman felt the need to forewarn me about the future location of my under clothing prior to consumption.
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| “I guess I’m having the French Silk pie”, I said. She smiled and went to get it. Her influential presentation had me considering a tightening of my belt a few notches just to be safe, but I wasn’t sure I wanted everyone in the restaurant eyeing me during that process either. I would have to take my chances.
I’m getting reacquainted with the work ethic and attitude of this part of the country. There were many advantages to moving my family here, but this was one I had forgotten to factor in. It’s a blessing to be sure.
Cheryl Has the Ingredients
To the teens and 20-somethings out there I would say this: I’ve worked in some very high tech jobs and I’m currently starting another here in Sioux Falls. There were times when education, experience, and this Ingall’s-family work ethic/attitude I have been describing have all been important. But I would add that the latter of these has most commonly been the key to most of my promotions and job wins.
In the “big city” job markets of today, there may well be dozens of people with your level of experience and education, all applying for the same job that you are. I find that this is the case nearly all the time. The tiebreaker is work ethic/attitude.
Within a giant company, all the managers and department heads talk. Word gets around. And external to your company, word can still get around via managers and coworkers and ex-coworkers. We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know”. Well, this isn’t quite accurate. It’s who you know, and what they have to say about you.
And here’s the real kicker: Many managers will hire a confirmed hard worker with a good attitude and a little less education and experience, because the latter two qualities can easily be augmented later through training and classes or just time. But no matter how hard a manager tries, and no matter what he provides a given employee, he cannot ever grow work ethic and attitude. Someone with a good education and experience and unknown work ethic/attitude can be little more than a dice-roll.
You cannot skip education and experience to be sure. But both of these are worthless to any employer without the work ethic and attitude to “seal the deal”.
Winner By Unanimous Decision
The French Silk pie was top notch. It really was. But that pie will never win the hearts of anyone in that restaurant as long as Cheryl is in the same room. She will steal the show every time.
For the record, my shorts held. (Shorts 1, Pie 0)
That’s my report from the “Big City”.
Brian in the Big City
Employee #0000109
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