A Short List
This week I’m on the schedule at Nifong for 37.5 hours. That’s a turn on the cream, fruit, nut, and whip tables, plus the front counter each day until 2. And then there’s all the rest of the things - the email, the social media, the scheduling, the food ordering, and all the rest. And I’m not sharing this lackluster schedule for sympathy, but just to remind all the people who read here with entrepreneurial goals that it’s mainly just an obscene amount of work. Plus, I have a raging case of decision fatigue because it’s Thursday and I’ve been asked a lot of questions by this point in the week. In short, I’m super charming today. As such, here is a short list of things currently annoying me:
All salespersons stopping by to see if we are interested in supplemental insurance for ourselves and our staff. We aren’t. I don’t know if they all operate off a national clearinghouse of data about small business or what, but I need my file updated with: NOT INTERESTED IN DISCUSSING DISMEMBERMENT PLANS.
All companies that call and promise lower credit card processing fees. I would love to know how many people they convince to change their point of sale systems for a .1% reduction in fees, but $5,000 in new cash registers…just until the next company calls and promises .2% less in fees. I hope their conversion rate on those calls is exceptionally low.
Sports team advertising packages. It’s $2800 for an eighth of a page ad in a book that I’m certain 100 or less people read on an SEC Saturday afternoon. But when you politely say “no thanks”, the salesperson in a call center eight states away still insists they will call back in a few days to see if we’ve changed our mind.
Food suppliers who leave five gallon buckets of dishwasher sanitizers of the delivery truck and send you two boxes of shredded chicken instead of blackberries. And also deliver crates of leaking milk.
Oh, and finally, the gossip is that the Sonic on Buttonwood and Nifong will be torn down and replaced with a FIVE MINUTE OIL CHANGE PLACE. Sigh. That sounds really lackluster. I guess they didn’t have room for a mattress store in that space?
Now that I think about it, I didn’t even know someone could change oil in a car in under five minutes while the driver stays in the car. I feel like you could totally sell those people some supplemental dismemberment insurance…