The Lights Are Always On

by Travis Miller

Recently I was at the doctor having a busted finger examined. How did I bust my finger, you wonder? I was foolishly riding a mechanical bull in New Orleans several months ago. Then, kapowee! I got tossed off - and no, I did not stay on for 8 seconds. I ended up breaking my finger longways and now have limited movement. Sucks. So, I'm in the x-ray room, and the lady goes into the back to shoot the machine off, and she starts chit-chatting with another lady in the back. I can hear the entire conversation. "Ohh...I'm sooooo tired." "Must be that lunch we had today - it was sooooo heavy." "I feel like I need to take a nap." "Yeah...I think I'm going to start doing x-rays with the lights on." Meanwhile there's a customer (patient) in the next room. My message to the both of them - "The lights are always on." The stage lights, that is. These days we just cannot afford to  ignore the details of running our business. Everything is a fight for your customer's attention and confidence. And stuff like this can lose it all. Of course, I know all too well what it's like to have a heavy lunch and feel groggy afterwards. And I can empathize with them. But I just warn anyone reading this who has employees - people do stupid things like this that can cost you business. Remember - the lights are always on.

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