Mr Slojak

Boys love toys – especially loud ones that make a lot of noise for no particular reason.

There was lots of noise at the Harley Davidson dealership I visited in Houston, Texas – a real boy’s toy shop with some great signs around the store.

‘Loud pipes save lives’ was one of my favourites. ‘Go fast or go home’, I found a little more provocative.

But the most thoughtful sign of all was just outside the manager, Pat Slojak’s office.

‘I welcome your problems’ said the sign – which I later found was designed with his employees in mind.

‘But please,’ the sign went on, ‘don’t come with a problem concerning which you haven’t already started thinking of a solution.’

That – I reflected at the time – was smart advice.

For a start, the idea of coming up even with a partial solution would undoubtedly cause the complainer to spend a little time pondering their way through a thorny issue, and it’s a well-known fact that, given a little time, we often cool down a bit on gnarly problems.

There’s an ancient piece of wisdom says ‘Let’s be slow to speak, slow to get angry, and quick to listen.’

And there’s a powerful word of Greek origin which literally means, ‘slow to get to the boil.’

We translate that word ‘long-suffering’ – a quality that’s woefully rare these days.

Perhaps if we came up with more potential, peace-promoting answers, our world would be less full of rage and more inclined to solutions.

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One response to “Mr Slojak”

  1. Mark Beake says:

    Thanks Rob, this reads well, love some of the wisdom about taking time to respond and helping people become their own solution with a bit of loving support, this is my own interpretation

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