Lessons From Pigs, Truckers And Overtime

Pigs:  One of the first lessons I learned was the importance of work.  My dad believed having animals and chores would be good for us kids, and those chores were what we did because we lived under his roof.  We were also given the opportunity to buy and raise animals.  I bought 4 pigs, took care of them (fed, cleaned the stalls, watered…) and sold them after about 12 months.  After totaling the costs and paying my dad back for the feed, I barely broke even. 

After some bitter complaining about all that work for nothing, my dad simply said “If you had fed the pigs every morning and night, cleaned their stalls out more often, and always made sure they had water, you probably could have sold them at 8 months for the same price.  By not doing those things properly, it took longer for them to gain weight and increased your costs.  Do it right next time and you will make money.”  Hard lesson for a 14 year old to learn.  I bought more pigs, did a better job at caring for them and made some money off them.


Truckers: I worked for a company where the boss was considered a good guy by some of his employees and competition, but not aggressive enough to really beat competitors in his industry (trucking).  He always tried to give his employees and customers the best he could.  As a result he had some employees that were very loyal to him, and some customers who would bend over backwards for him if he needed a favor.

However, he had some employees who worked there for a while, took advantage of his generous nature and then moved on for the benefit of a few more dollars.  He had some customers who did the same, willing to come to him if he offered a deal, but very willing to leave if they could a deal elsewhere.  I, myself, thought he wasn’t competitive or edgy enough with employees or customers and was afraid that he would become a nice guy that got run out of business.  He opened my eyes to something beyond just profits.

While some employees left him for a few dollars elsewhere, many of them came back when they realized they were selling themselves for very little.  My boss tried very hard to give his employees as many weekends home as he could, and tried to coordinate holidays or family events so his drivers would be home.  When some drivers left for other companies because of greater pay, they also found out that the higher pay meant they were completely at the beck and call of the company who cared very little for the drivers’ personal life or family.  Quite a few of these drivers came back to him because they realized he treated them like people rather than property.  In fact, my boss pointed out that it was usually the best drivers that came back to stay, and by keeping the best drivers he had better safety records and fewer problems than many other companies.
The same thing happened with his customers.  The deal jumpers kept on jumping, never being loyal to any trucking company, but the ones who liked his service came back to him are loyal to him because he treats their company like it is a part of his own.  From his point of view, the customers who only want price will never stay with any one company long, whereas the companies who want the best of service are willing to stay with someone even during some tough times, and he would do the same for them.  They help each other and do better because of that rather than all the benefit only going one way.

Overtime: There was a point in my life when I was working two jobs to get us by.  The money didn’t pay for trips or new vehicles; it just covered rent, food and student loans.  I would leave home at 7:30 am and get home about 10:00 pm most nights of the week.  It put a lot of pressure on my family, but it was a part of what we had to do.  One day after about 3 years of this I came home at about 5:30on a Thursday, which was rare.  My then 3 year old daughter run up to me with a big smile and hug, shouted “Hi Dad!” and then turned around and waved as she walked away and said “Bye dad.”

That hit me hard.  My daughter was so used to me leaving or being gone that she automatically thought I was leaving right away, even though I had just arrived home.  That may not have been what she was thinking, but it certainly impacted my view about work.  I was working to pay for our rent, food and debts, and it was necessary, but what was the price?  Over the next few months a adjusted my schedule so that I was home a bit more, and started looking for a different, although more challenging job that would not require me to be away form my family so much.  Thankfully, I was able to find something that, while difficult, did allow me to spend more time with my family, which is the whole reason I’m working anyway.

So, my lessons I learned the hard way:
1.    Do a job properly the first time to get the best return on investment.
2.    Treat people well and they will usually end up treating you well. 
3.    Money is important, but it isn’t the most important thing, not even close
Hopefully you can learn from advice better than I did.  Jerry