Thursday, May 07, 2009

Thursday PM

Afternoon sessions. Glad I have the computer.

The speaker in this hour is a LA attorney who has carved out quite a niche f0r himself in the Employee Benefits marketplace as "the outside expert". I've been at conferences as far as 15 years ago where he has been on the program. The sponsor of this seminar is probably the 5th or 6th different organization who has used this guy to bulk-up the faculty list.

Not to say that he isn't competent. To the contrary, he definitely knows his stuff. But the shtick hasn't varied regardless of the audience (and regardless of the specific topic) and he basically tells the attendees, 1) If you don't adhere to this particular procedure or regulation, you're screwed; 2) If your client doesn't follow the rules, you're screwed; 3) In almost all cases, whether it be a case of commission or omission, you're screwed.

I always come away from his presentations wanting to become a Wal Mart greeter.

Will add more later.

BCOT

2 comments:

camperkev said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
camperkev said...

That presentation must be really bad to even ponder the idea of being a wal-mart greeter. I think you would last maybe half a day as a greeter. At first you would get a kick out of talking with random strangers, but then logic would kick in and you would realize that your presence as a wal-mart greeter does not enhance the wal-mart bottom line and that most shoppers could probably figure out where the carts and returns line were located. Close to the lunch break you would realize it cost you more to get in your car and drive to work than you were being paid. Then you would think about reducing your cost by not driving to work and riding your bike. However, once you calculate the actual bike ownership costs (isn't your bike made from nasa designed materials?) you realize it was a better deal to drive. All of a sudden you realize the spiffy new blue vest with your name tag (your name is misspelled) is not that comfortable. The last straw would be your 17 year old manager pulling you aside and asking you to be a team player by mopping up the vomit on isle 2.

I can hardly stand setting foot in wal-mart (cramped isles, long lines, etc.). If I do need to venture to wal-mart (they do have great prices), and Erica isn't willing to go for me, I go right when they open. This way I avoid what makes wal-mart so special.

I would make a small wager that if a study were to be commissioned that a correlation would be determined between people who wear their pajamas in public and people who shop at wal-mart.