The Daily Grill

Over On "I Hate People!"...

In the first video from Simmer Studios, my I Hate People! co-author Jonathan Littman and I talk about the Smiley Face, one of the "Ten Least Wanted" in your office whose job seems to be all about keeping you from doing your job effectively.

If you have a particularly lethal Smiley Face where you work and want a shot at winning  a free copy of I Hate People!, click on over to I Hate People...But It's Nothing Personal and drop your tale into the comments below the same video there. If we choose to republish your story on the front page of that blog, you win!

Welcome to the iMafia

I just realized that the company that I paid to get The Daily Grill URL from is running the 21st century version of a protection racket. Today I got an email from this modern day mob which opened with the dire warning that "in 2008 the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FBI received 275,000 complaints from Americans reporting they were the victim of an internet crime. Don't become one of them in 2009."

So now I'm scared. Which is right where the mob wants you.

First they give me the common sense reasoning as to why I should protect myself. Protect myself from identity theft. Reduce unwanted contacts from spammers and telemarketers. And the coup d'grace: Shield my family's home address from strangers.

Uh oh. My family's in danger now?

Fortunately, my friendly internet knuckle draggers have a solution. If I pay them "less than $1 a day", they'll be happy to take care of me. It seems like this is a service that should cost nothing to implement. To simply NOT publish my information. Very similar to the phone company charging you to NOT list your phone number.

I've decided not to pay these mooks for their protection. Instead, I'm firing off an email to Tony Soprano and, if his crew's not too busy, I'd rather trust them with keeping the scum of the web off my ass.

A Little Lead With Your Breakfast?

" I thought I was gonna get me an All-Star," said Crystal Samuel, referring to a menu item at the Waffle House in Manning, South Carolina. "Grits, sausage, toast, eggs and a waffle." According to the WSBTV.com story, she got more than she ordered when she also complained about slow service...oh, yeah, and tossed her waffle at the waitress. Yakeisha Ward jumped the counter, "got into it" with Samuel then left the restaurant -- to get a gun out of her van.

Others jumped in to restrain the overworked and underthinking Ward, but her gun when off as it was pointed at the ground. The bullet ricocheted and hit Samuel in the arm. Ward was arrested and charged with assault and battery with intent to kill.

Up until now, my main worry was that if I complained about service in a restaurant, my server might spit in my food. Next time I'll just go light on the tip.

The Start of the "Motivational Moment" Movement

Here’s a motivational technique that has yet to make a mark in the business world: Threatening with an intent to bite. Burney Hayes is a police sargent and junior varsity coach in Lake Wales, Florida, who was accused of biting a player’s nose during a football game last fall.

What’s interesting is that, in the face of the charge, Hayes denied biting the student but did say that he placed his teeth over the player’s nose in a “motivational moment” as part of his coaching. A Motivational Moment? What a great phrase!

 Imagine just before a presentation that your boss waves his fist in your face as a Motivational Moment. Maybe a client threatens to not pay you on time as a Motivational Moment. Or perhaps to urge one of your workgroup members along you swing your foot near his butt as a Motivational Moment.

What would the repercussions be like? In the case of Sargent Hayes, he got his own Motivational Moment. In the form of a pretrial intervention — he gets to keep his Lake Wale Police Department job, but has to make a hefty donation to a local youth organization of his choice.

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