Have you ever wondered why you ever eat out anywhere but Chick-fil-A (CFA)? Are you like me and wonder why the other restaurants don’t try and replicate the Chick-fil-A (CFA) model? It never fails for the Corder’s, we will be traveling and don’t have time to stop so we want something fast just off the interstate and we idealistically pull into the drive through of a Wendy’s and we get…..well lets just say what we don’t get.
1. We don’t get “It’s a great day or welcome or thank you for choosing nor may I take your order.”
2. We don’t get a repeat of the order to ensure accuracy. And as simple as the Corder’s are, April always has a special order for her chicken sandwich. We take bets on whether the order is correct as we pull around. After all, for most fast food places the intellectually challenged pin heads running the drive through only have to push the picture of whatever you are ordering. God forbid they have to use the far reaching parts of their brain that calls for reasoning and common courtesy.
A few weeks ago I had a late flight into Charlotte and had not eaten dinner so I cruise into a fast food joint. In order to make a “pit stop” I go inside. After my visit to the palatial and ultra clean lavatories, I find 4 or 5 teens working the counters, having a great time while talking and laughing. One thinks it is cute to toss a piece of chicken at another staff. Two of the girls are at least 11 months pregnant, both pushing the ripe old fertile age of 17. The guys looked like they were trying out for rock bands. You have to love the nose and ear piercing but the chin and tongue piercing seem to clash. It also took so much out of me not to scream for the individual to find some day light. On second thought maybe it was Paul from the Wonder Years on the backside of some Marilyn Manson dream. Of course I told them that I would take a pass but they should continue to enjoy themselves.
3. We don’t get a pleasant hello and a prompt repeat of the price. Our local CFA offers the local paper.
I have a friend who visited the local CFA but forgot her purse yet had three wild and hungry boys in the back. The 16 year old at the cash register told her not to worry “that dinner was on them tonight.” I asked our local CFA operator about this and he says 98% of the people bring the money back and that they also tell untold number of people about the generosity. I would doubt the pregnant and pierced ghostly geniuses at the other places could figure out how to void the purchase. Can’t you hear them ask, “What is the picture for void?”
4. We don’t get good food. It is usually luke warm, old and slathered with too much of something.
All I ask from CFA is a few extra pickles and some warm waffle fries.
5. We don’t get a thank you or come back and definitely no My Pleasure.
It ain’t rocket science people, it is fast food. Hire normal people. Teach them to be courteous and give the customer what they want. Over 40 billion served? How many of those orders have been screwed up?
Shoot me if I ever pull into any other fast food place other than CFA. Unless it has a Hot and Now neon sign!
January 27, 2008
January 21, 2008
Pavlov
It is amazing what elicits a response. Maybe it is a smell that creates some Pavlovian drool. My wife wears this lotion sometimes called warm vanilla sugar. Once I was on an air plane and the lady beside me had some on. She probably thought I was a nut because that created a funny look. I can be changing channels and see a movie and it reminds me of where, when and who I originally saw that movie. Maybe it’s a taste that brings back some haunting memory. You have to love that new car smell. Whatever the catalyst, certain things can jog the memory.
Let me take you back about 27 years. It was Sunday night and a “teen night at this bar” which meant it was for 18 and under. Large crowds of teenagers would converge on this place. Of course I would hang around about 7 or 8 other guys, sitting in the corner and daring each other to talk to a girl. And there was this girl. She was gorgeous. She was also a year older than me. And she was a cheer leader at the rival high school. I can’t remember how, but somehow we knew each other.
But she was the girl that everybody loved from afar. Remember the show The Wonder Years? Well some episodes were taken directly from my life. So if I was Kevin Arnold, this girl was definitely my Winnie Cooper. Her name was Sadie DePolo. What a name. Has some kind of magical syntax to it. Say it while you read it. Sadie DePolo. See what I mean.
Any way, one Sunday night the planets must have been aligned in the correct order or God was having some fun but somehow I ended up dancing with Sadie. Now it was a fast song because she never danced slow with anyone. I don’t know the song but it was probably Rick James or the Gap Band.
After the song ended I said thanks and I turned to walk off the dance floor. And then she said those magical seven words. “Where are you going? Dance with me.” I don’t think I spoke. I am not sure I was breathing, because it was a slow song. Sadie DePolo wanted to dance with me to a slow song. The entire world stopped spinning for 3:55 seconds. My friends stood in the corner with this wide eyed, mouth opened gawk. I know I didn’t touch the floor.
For Sadie it was probably just a moment of weakness. Maybe her friends dared her to do it. But for me, every time I hear that song I think of those 3:55 seconds where I was the coolest guy on the planet and was dancing with the most beautiful girl in the world. Can you guess the name of the song? Don’t laugh! Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross’ Endless Love!
Let me take you back about 27 years. It was Sunday night and a “teen night at this bar” which meant it was for 18 and under. Large crowds of teenagers would converge on this place. Of course I would hang around about 7 or 8 other guys, sitting in the corner and daring each other to talk to a girl. And there was this girl. She was gorgeous. She was also a year older than me. And she was a cheer leader at the rival high school. I can’t remember how, but somehow we knew each other.
But she was the girl that everybody loved from afar. Remember the show The Wonder Years? Well some episodes were taken directly from my life. So if I was Kevin Arnold, this girl was definitely my Winnie Cooper. Her name was Sadie DePolo. What a name. Has some kind of magical syntax to it. Say it while you read it. Sadie DePolo. See what I mean.
Any way, one Sunday night the planets must have been aligned in the correct order or God was having some fun but somehow I ended up dancing with Sadie. Now it was a fast song because she never danced slow with anyone. I don’t know the song but it was probably Rick James or the Gap Band.
After the song ended I said thanks and I turned to walk off the dance floor. And then she said those magical seven words. “Where are you going? Dance with me.” I don’t think I spoke. I am not sure I was breathing, because it was a slow song. Sadie DePolo wanted to dance with me to a slow song. The entire world stopped spinning for 3:55 seconds. My friends stood in the corner with this wide eyed, mouth opened gawk. I know I didn’t touch the floor.
For Sadie it was probably just a moment of weakness. Maybe her friends dared her to do it. But for me, every time I hear that song I think of those 3:55 seconds where I was the coolest guy on the planet and was dancing with the most beautiful girl in the world. Can you guess the name of the song? Don’t laugh! Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross’ Endless Love!
December 23, 2007
Be A Hero to a Teen
Work with Teens is one of the 4 key priorities for our YMCA. In our plan we want to do monumental and transformational work with our young people. So we need heroes to step forward. As I thought about heroes I came across a definition of hero from Andy Stanley, pastor at North Point Community Church in Atlanta. Stanley says, “a hero is someone who has clarity in a situation. They eliminate the fog. And then they have the irresistible urge to act on that clarity.”
I love the word irresistible. CLARITY – IRRESISTAVBLE URGE TO ACT!
A few summers back I pulled together a group of teens for lunch and we had a focus group on what teens need and want and also discussed the future of the Y. I needed this information as our Y develops a long-range plan. Toward the end of the meeting this young girl asked what my vision was.
I talked about teen only facilities where they could come and hang out with friends and be safe. Where we would have exercise equipment that would be high tech and would encourage them to exercise. I talked about mentors and programs that would teach teens life skills and develop positive assets and build self-esteem.
The teens asked when I thought this would happen. I told them it would be part of our long-range plan so probably in the next 3 or 4 years.
This young girl looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, Mr. Corder, “I don’t have 3 or 4 years.”
This girl was right; she doesn’t have 3 or 4 years. Many of our teens live in neighborhoods where it’s just common to drop out of high school and have babies at 16. Their lives become more like prisons rather than places where dreams take root. They live in poverty and their neighborhoods are dead or are dying – their hope is dying. Something is wrong with this picture, and these kids need heroes.
We need to have the ability to create first class programs and facilities to these kids. We don’t have three or four years. But we do have our hearts, our minds and our hands..and if we work together we can change the world.
Can you see the clarity? Can you feel this irresistible urge to act?
Go be a hero!
I love the word irresistible. CLARITY – IRRESISTAVBLE URGE TO ACT!
A few summers back I pulled together a group of teens for lunch and we had a focus group on what teens need and want and also discussed the future of the Y. I needed this information as our Y develops a long-range plan. Toward the end of the meeting this young girl asked what my vision was.
I talked about teen only facilities where they could come and hang out with friends and be safe. Where we would have exercise equipment that would be high tech and would encourage them to exercise. I talked about mentors and programs that would teach teens life skills and develop positive assets and build self-esteem.
The teens asked when I thought this would happen. I told them it would be part of our long-range plan so probably in the next 3 or 4 years.
This young girl looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said, Mr. Corder, “I don’t have 3 or 4 years.”
This girl was right; she doesn’t have 3 or 4 years. Many of our teens live in neighborhoods where it’s just common to drop out of high school and have babies at 16. Their lives become more like prisons rather than places where dreams take root. They live in poverty and their neighborhoods are dead or are dying – their hope is dying. Something is wrong with this picture, and these kids need heroes.
We need to have the ability to create first class programs and facilities to these kids. We don’t have three or four years. But we do have our hearts, our minds and our hands..and if we work together we can change the world.
Can you see the clarity? Can you feel this irresistible urge to act?
Go be a hero!
November 30, 2007
Office Food
Food around the Y is a major commodity. The other day I had a few sandwiches leftover from a meeting and I put them in the fridge. 20 minutes later when I went to get one, they were gone. I wish I had a camera to see who steals food.
At this time of year friends of the Y always bring food to us. When I take it the office to share, all of a sudden everyone has business near the copy machine. Some people I haven’t seen in 14 or 15 months, but as soon as we display some banana bread they visit the shredder.
Sometimes I will get something really good and I have to debate, “Do I take this to the office and share, or do I put this in my drawer and keep for myself.” Don’t laugh at me if you visit my office and you find Alan and me with white powdered sugar on our face!
My Christmas resolution this year is to share the cookies! In fact, I want just take them to the copy room, but I will walk them around the building and give to the staff who never get cookies. I’ll give them to the members so they’ll take a few more laps around the treadmill!
On second thought, I’ll share the popcorn, but Alan and I may just have to keep a special guard over the cookies.
Make sure if you bring me something, put my name on it and seal it up tight. If not, it will be gone by the time I see the crumbs in the bottom of the tin!
At this time of year friends of the Y always bring food to us. When I take it the office to share, all of a sudden everyone has business near the copy machine. Some people I haven’t seen in 14 or 15 months, but as soon as we display some banana bread they visit the shredder.
Sometimes I will get something really good and I have to debate, “Do I take this to the office and share, or do I put this in my drawer and keep for myself.” Don’t laugh at me if you visit my office and you find Alan and me with white powdered sugar on our face!
My Christmas resolution this year is to share the cookies! In fact, I want just take them to the copy room, but I will walk them around the building and give to the staff who never get cookies. I’ll give them to the members so they’ll take a few more laps around the treadmill!
On second thought, I’ll share the popcorn, but Alan and I may just have to keep a special guard over the cookies.
Make sure if you bring me something, put my name on it and seal it up tight. If not, it will be gone by the time I see the crumbs in the bottom of the tin!
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