A customer was bothering the waiter in a restaurant. First, he asked that the air conditioning be turned up because he was too hot, then he asked it be turned down cause he was too cold, and so on for about half an hour.
Surprisingly, the waiter was very patient, he walked back and forth and never once got angry. So finally, a second customer asked him why he didn’t throw out the pest.
“Oh, I really don’t care or mind,” said the waiter with a smile.
“We don’t even have an air conditioner.”
I heard this today … it captured my imagination. The story of Jack Daniels and how they marketed it with “Scent of a Woman” where Al Pacino asks for a shot of “John Daniels.”
It has been said to have changed the fortunes of the company altogether. It was written into the film script without making it too obvious that they were doing a sales job.
Inspired !
Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Clear them little bottles off. And when I get off the phone here, call up Hyman and tell him I want it wall to wall with John Daniels.
Charlie Simms: Don’t you mean Jack Daniels?
Lt. Col. Frank Slade: He may be Jack to you son, but when you’ve known him as long as I have… that’s a joke, son.
One day in Heaven, a minister dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates.
Ahead of him is a guy who’s dressed in sunglasses, a colourful shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.
Saint Peter addresses this guy: “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?”
The guy replies: “I’m Mugabo Khumalo, taxi-driver, from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.”
Saint Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the taxi-driver: “Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
The taxi-driver goes into Heaven with his robe and staff, and it’s the minister’s turn.
He stands erect and booms out: “I am Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Paul’s for the last forty-three years.”
Saint Peter consults his list. He says to the minister: “Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“Just a minute,” says the minister, “That man was a taxi-driver and he gets a silken robe and golden staff. How can this be?”
“Up here, we work by results,” says Saint Peter, “While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed.”
A man walked into a bar, sat down, and ordered a beer.
As he sipped the beer, he heard a soothing voice say, “Nice tie.”
Looking around, he noticed that the bar was empty, except for himself and the bartender at the end of the bar. A few sips later, the voice said, “Beautiful shirt.”
At this, the man called the bartender over. “Hey, I must be losing my mind,” he told the bartender. “I keep hearing these voices saying nice things, and there’s not a soul in here but us.”
“It’s the peanuts,” answered the bartender.
“Say what?” replied the man in disbelief.
“You heard me,” said the bartender. “It’s the peanuts… they’re complimentary.”
Eddie Murphy at his best !
The first few hires at a company are the most important decisions a founder will ever make. These hires will shape company culture and vision for years to come and can’t easily be undone. At PayPal, Levchin was religious about not making the wrong hire and believed strongly in a unanimous hiring process. If one person on the team didn’t like a candidate, they wouldn’t make the hire. Levchin shared, “There are some legendary-ish tales of me not hiring people because they used the wrong word in an interview…I’m sure we had lots of false negatives, but we have very few false positives.” It’s better to err on the side of losing a superstar here or there than make a hire that’ll disrupt or ruin a company. A quote from the movie Ronin puts it perfectly, “whenever this is any doubt, there is no doubt.”
http://firstround.com/article/the-trick-max-levchin-used-to-hire-the-best-engineers-at-PayPal
Wife : “Where the hell have you been? You said you’d be done with golf by noon!”
Husband : “I’m so sorry Honey … but you probably don’t want to hear the reason.”
Wife : “I want the truth, and I want it NOW!”
Husband : “Fine. We finished in under 4 hours, quick beer in the clubhouse, I hopped in the car, and would have been here at 12 on the button.
On the way home, I spotted a girl half our age struggling with a flat tire. I changed it in a jiffy, and next she’s offering me money. Of course I refuse it. Then she tells me she was headed to the bar at the Sheraton and begs me to stop so she can buy me a beer. She’s such a sweetie, I said yes. Before you know it, one beer turned to three or four, and I guess we were looking pretty good to each other.
Then she tells me she has a room at the Sheraton less than 50 steps from our table. She suggested we get some privacy while pulling me by the hand. Now I’m in her room … clothes are flying … the talking stopped … and we proceeded to have sex in every way imaginable. It must have gone on for hours, because before I know it the clock says 5:30. I jumped up, threw my clothes on, ran to the car, and here I am.
There. You wanted the truth … you got it.”
Wife : “Bullshit. You played 36 holes, didn’t you!”
