Everything fun, is illegal!
Recently I was lamenting to Zach Maddux, one of the original Minutemen of my Revolution. My complaint? My inability to bet the Yankee games from my home state of Connecticut.
Zach’s response was to send me an invitation to join an off-shore gambling website!
With solutions to all my problems so close at hand, next time I speak to Zach I’ll have to mention that I‘m still driving to Massachusetts for weed!
It’s Pronounced Lull-Ville
On the first Saturday in May Churchill Downs, the horse racing complex which first opened in Louisville, Kentucky in 1875, hosts the “Most Exciting Two-Minutes in Sports.”
THE Kentucky Derby.
I've never been lucky enough to attend the first leg of horse racing's Triple Crown. But if you know a thing or two about picking bourbons, and remembered to grab a sprig of mint from the garden the last time you were at the in-lawsic’s, and you have a sketchy-friend to help you place a bet on the race (a felony!), then you’re lucky enough!
How to Pick a Horse
There’s a six-step process professional gamblers use to handicap a horse race. Making their wagers only after considering: track conditions, and the horse’s form, ability, class, connections and breeding.
Which is a lot to consider after two Mint Juleps and so Guy, Guy being code for my fianceeic Gaetana, went with a less analytical process.
Handing me $50, I was instructed to place it all a on a horse named Midnight Bourbon.
Because she likes bourbon!
It didn’t move the odds much. Midnight Bourbon, who went off at 20-1, proved the handicappers right when he finished in sixth place.
Knowing better than to use such a capricious method, I wagered a can of Regal, paint geek code for $50, on Medina Spirit.
Because I’ve been to Medina! The one in Ohio.
After two very exciting minutes I was $600 richer! Even more important than that of-course is bragging rights. At least until they run the Preakness.
When not conspiring to help me violate Connecticut’s archaic gambling laws, Zach has a paint store to run. Challenging enough for a young man to take over the reins of a family business! Add in the challenges presented by a pandemic and shortages of both labor and products, and Zach has got me on speed dial!
Grasshopper
Zach’s calls for knowledge are frequent enough that Guy gave him the nickname “Grasshopper.” A homage to the knowledge-seeking student on the 1972 television series, Kung Fu.
With a new employee starting behind the counter this week and Grasshopper looking for them to have a quick impact, we were talking employee training.
When it comes to employee training, paint dealers often feel the disadvantage of their size. Like Zach, few dealers are large enough to have an HR department to handle new-employee onboarding!
There are a few places dealers can find content to help them train new employees. The well-produced training modules on the Benjamin Moore dealer portal are one of a few (if not only) reason to even use that site.
The Paint and Decorating Retailers Association, now part of the National Hardware and Paint Association also provides training which can be accessed remotely.
Those options (if you are not a Benjamin Moore dealer, check with your supplier to see what they offer) should be made available anytime you add a new employee of course. But, nothing inspires a new employee to success more than a conversation with the owner.
New employees at Tremont Paint could expect me to be keeping a close eye and ear on them as they go through first days. As they come across new tasks, for example receiving in a paint order, I would take two-minutes and explain each step in the order-receiving process.
Like jockey John Velazquez riding Medina Spirit to victory in the Kentucky Derby, it’s your job to keep your new pony on the track! Short and to-the-point trainings from you, on the myriad of topics they'll encounter in your store, will help you do that.
And if that doesn’t work, give them the whip! It worked for Medina Spirit!
