End of May...Start of June

B.B. King
Far in the past, probably the late 1970's it was my fortune to attend a B. B. King concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.  My favorite music podcast site The Best Radio You Have Never Heard pays due tribute in the June 1st, Volume 259 issue.

The House Project

• My carpet guy has been married twice, the second time happily for twelve years.  He and his brother have been working together for 35 years and they still have their knees.
• The flooring salesman has been our carpet and vinyl guy for over twenty years.  His wife has MS and one of his kids has epilepsy.
• My carpenter has a degree from the Carlson School of Management.  Curt Carlson, the founder of the infamous "Green Stamps" which evolved into the Carlson Companies a broad player in the hospitality market was an unpleasant guy.  My carpenter is great.
• The guy who repairs windows won't call me back.
• The Euro style fridge is lost somewhere because of the west coast longshoreman's strike.
• The stove and microwave were delivered today by a tattoo-ridden guy who was working very hard for a tip.  I never get tips.
• Two people at Menard's commented to me the other day "you've been here a lot.
• My new truck is now as full of tools, samples, leftovers and extra "things" as the old truck (which has not sold).
• The neighbors still have not talked to me even though I no longer have the old appliances sitting outside on the patio.
• About two weeks to "listing time."
• Thirty-six inch cabinets in a 35 13/16" space requires craftsmanship.  Who wants "simple?"
  
  

Outplacement

• The LHH consultant has taken a leave of absence to start his own business.  I had taken a bit of a leave of absence from their services to finish a couple of projects with the intention of using a few components of their online resources in the project management skills area.  I think I'm now in limbo and off their plate.  My former employer paid quite a bit for this service.  It's difficult to put a value on their service, much is valuable.  It does however provide a gentle let down for the employer.  They pay a little bit more in service to their employee.  I guess that makes it all feel better to someone.
• I find myself a bit in the wrong direction:
  

Small Business

One of our vendors founders died.  She was not the typical executive and would never been hired as such or an innovator and incubator of business.  Growing the product from the ground up meant that she knew it all, sourcing raw materials, regulations, H/R, production, marketing, distribution, sales, customer relationships, etc.  Now that she's gone a real "executive" has been hired.  It's like Wall Street.  He's offloading many of the tasks, shutting done production that is not mainstream and changing out people.  Not everyone can grow a business, but even fewer can come in off the street and be an effective Chief Operating Officer.  New executives often want to look only to the future.  Unfortunately they often stumble from  not knowing the past.  We were a major customer under the founder's leadership.  As they narrow their product list we're a smaller customer.  That's unfortunate.  We're part of who they are today but we don't matter now.  It's the same with employees.  "Legacy" is important.