Ringtones tell the story

The employees of Cardinal Construction are the secret to my success. I’m fully aware that without their hard work and loyalty I’d be nowhere. Working with people I like (both clients and employees) is a priority to me. Making a lot of money comes in about third place, behind making sure clients are delighted with their project when we finish.

One of my most loyal employees, Dale came to me for a job by way of his friend Raging Roy, who worked with us briefly. (See Gary’s Rule) Dale works long and hard, never complains, he finds creative solutions to problems we encounter, clients adore him and have on occasion tried to “adopt” him.

He never schedules time off and it’s his pattern is to work himself into a state of frustration once or twice a a year, then have a little breakdown involving a few unscheduled days off. As time goes on, I seek the signs of this pattern and try to alleviate his frustrations before the breaking point. Maybe some day he’ll get to the point where he plans a vacation. But for now, I keep my eyes and ears open for the signs.

When calling his cell phone, the message always said, "please enjoy the music while your party is reached", then would play a downloaded song of his choice. I’d gotten used to singing along with the same old song while waiting to go to voicemail when one day it suddenly changed. “Take this job and shove it” sang from the other end of the phone. Apparently things were coming to a boil again. I called him into the office and chatted about his message. He found it funny, I was offended. The next day his message sang “I Saw the Light” and the next week it was back to “Hard Working Man”.

One of our more recent employees Bryan has the most obnoxious head banger music, I cannot even understand the lyrics. His evil plan is working because I call only when absolutely necessary. I’ve even offered to pay him to change his downloaded musical choice. The rate fluctuates; early in the morning I'd pay much more than I would at the end of the day.

The guys also have special ringtones to differentiate who is calling. Today I was on the site and Dale's phone rang with some foot-tapping country song. "Well, we know it's not you calling", he said. I asked him if my special ringtone is Elton John's song "The Bitch is Back"? He just stood there for a minute deciding if it was ok to laugh (it was).