
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.
One response to “Mr Slojak”
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