Jack Haskell's Blog

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted evelopment of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.
Sadly,

The End.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO SAD IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

They really have no idea where they are," said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information who has studied small-arms trade and received Pentagon briefings on the issue. "It likely means that the United States is unintentionally providing weapons to bad actors."

One senior Pentagon official acknowledged that some of the weapons probably are being used against U.S. forces. He cited the Iraqi brigade created at Fallujah that quickly dissolved in September 2004 and turned its weapons against the Americans.

How come the people working at Home Depot don't seem to know as much as they used to? In the past, the employees at Home Depot were pretty much experts in their department. Now you might as well be shopping at K-Mart.

Yeah, there are still some that have a good knowledge of their department, but nothing like when they first opened the doors.

And customer service. Just like about everywhere else. Very poor. Why do we put up with it?

I'm not the best person to go shopping with. Especially if it's shopping for something I don't personally need. That's just the way it is and I don't think I'm that much different than anyone else. But my wife and I just purchased a great new coffeemaker, and she wanted to get a small pitcher to put cream or half 'n half in. Me, it's just two steps to the fridge, get the carton of cream or half 'n half, pour it in the coffee cup, and I am okay with that.

We looked everywhere and couldn't find what she wanted.

One day while out driving around I suggested we go to this new mall that opened up. I think we were actually shopping for something else that day. As we were walking around inside the mall - that's what most people do in a mall, just walk around like it's a Sunday stroll in the park. Hey people, go outside, get some sun, go to the beach, go to the mountains, just get out of my way! I'm here to shop!

Anyway, we were walking around and I saw a sign that said 'Kitchen Gourmet'. Now believe me, the first thing that popped into my head was coffee creamer pitcher. I don't even know why, but I said it out loud too. I figured that if any place had the creamer pitcher my wife wanted, this was it. Inside the store, rather than walking around looking for it, we asked if they had one. And they did!

There it was. A small glass pitcher with a spout on it. No handle or anything, just glass, not crystal. Just a cheap little glass pitcher. And my wife was thrilled. It was exactly what she wanted.

I'm thinking they probably want six or seven bucks for this little thing, but it's what she wanted and the hunt was over. "We'll take it".

At the register my wife gives the saleslady her debit card and we start jabbering about how nice it is that we finally found this thing. I didn't even notice the amount until after my wife had entered her pin, the pitcher was wrapped up, and we were just starting to leave. I looked at the receipt. $39.95. For a little glass pitcher that couldn't hold more than six ounces.

As my wife was heading for the door, I turned around and said, "How do you sleep at night, bitch?"

Needless to say, we don't go shopping at that store any more.

And we haven't been back to that mall either. We can't. They won't let me in.