REPLAY LM, Episode 219, 6/22/20, Management Monday, www.kentraderspeaks.com

My wife, Twyla’s, telling me about a coworker, saying, “Her intentions are good, but sometimes she’s impatient and terse.”

I go, “Well that has to be a nice change of pace for you.” I love sarcasm even when it’s directed at me. I am the personification of impatience and terseness and our daughter, the Kent clone known as Maggie, is cursed with it. Maggie and I went to a coffee shop with her husband, Justin. We get our coffee and Maggie and I walk out to the sidewalk, but no Justin. Not wanting to be a jerk, I wait what seems to be an eternity, probably 10 seconds, before asking, “Is Justin coming.”

Maggie snaps, “If he is, he’s taking his sweet time about it.” I can’t wait to tell him this. He says, “Hey, you two, we’re on vacation.”

“And that’s justification for wasting our time?”

But I have the patience of Jobe compared to my Granddad Rader. If the car in front of him didn’t start moving immediately when the light turned green, he’d yell, “It’s not going to get any greener, sister or brother,” depending on the gender of the driver.

Consequently, he was not easy to work for when he was the manager of the Penny store in Richmond, MO. He was not shy about directing employees to do whatever needed to be done, but he was the first person to jump in to do whatever needed doing. No task was beneath him, washing the store’s windows, straightening the stock, dusting, he was on it.

Years after he retired, on the day after Thanksgiving, he’d take me to the Penny store to order my Christmas gift from the catalog. The women who’d worked for him were always happy to see him. I was proud of the respect they gave him.

On today’s Management Monday, having high expectations of your employees is acceptable, but you must hold yourself to the same exacting standards by being willing to do whatever needs to be done.

Have a great week and always remember laughter matters.