Staff members’ personal baggage can be a help, not a hindrance
In 1976, I worked at a local pizza joint after school. One of the managers was an older gentleman and a “jack-of-all-trades.” In addition to the daily register count, he painted, repaired, fixed, and stocked all day long. On the weekends, he painted apartments and, from time to time, asked some of us pizza boys to assist him for a couple of extra bucks.
He was known to be a moody guy, so we had learned how to appease him, or at least stay out of his way. One afternoon, I painted a ceiling with a roller on a pole, applied a little too much pressure, and snapped the rod. Paint spilled on the floor, and within seconds, he crossed over to me, grabbed the broken pole, and swung it at my head, missing me by an inch.
