An Unpleasant Restaurant Experience

On October 15th we went to a restaurant that advertised a $4 per person discount for all- you-can-eat prime rib. We had not been to that restaurant for many years because the first time we went it was very expensive. $29 for a steak in 2003 was a bit much.

The prime rib on October 15th was out of this world. Cooked to perfection. Seasoned just right. The carver was a man who clearly knew what he was doing with the meat and with the customer.

Before leaving we met the CEO of the vertically integrated company that owns the restaurant. I don't know how the subject came up but this man had learned from my daughter what I did professionally (presumably besides eating a lot of prime rib.) He indicated a need. She told him that I would consult with him at no cost. He and I met and exchanged cards. On the way home I had already established a mental list of things that were or could be a hindrance to that restaurant. A solution plan was already in place in my mind. I had a feeling though that there was something else and that the standard solutions would not make much difference. By October 29 when I had a hankering for some good prime rib I had not yet visited with him and he had not called me to expedite. I put on my customer hat and we headed out. My wife told me that if the man was there that I should not do any business talk. As it happened he was not there.

The meal was a big disappointment. The prime rib was overcooked. All of it was medium well. It was like roast beef that might have been served in a cheap public house in a Dickens or Horatio Alger novel. It had something about it that seemed old and not just a cook who did not use a meat thermometer. We had arrived early as my wife wanted to get an end slice. We were the first customers on that rib roast. In trying to figure out what went wrong I considered the possibility that it might have been a left over from the previous Saturday night and that an attempt had been made to reheat it.

Now you already know the damage that was done. My wife said it'll be another eight years before we go back.

So what went wrong? Lack of consistency. A hazard of prime rib is cooking it too long. I no longer trust them with prime rib or for that matter anything. My plan of improvement would be of no value to them. They do not need more customers or anything else if they cannot deliver on the promise. If they cannot deal with properly cooking a rib roast they deserve to fail.

David Sneed

My First and Hopefully Last Elder Fall

On August 27, a few weeks before turning 65, I suffered a fall. I was backing up my basement stairs moving a piece of furniture. One side of the stairway has no railing. I fell through the opening, over a book case, and landed on my back, about four feet below the top of the bookcase. I don't think I hit my head. I lay on the floor for a while and then got up. Nothing seemed to be broken and no bleeding or swelling.

The next morning I had various pains in my right side. Over the next two weeks the pains became more severe. I did some research. I already knew from my training and experience in Emergency Care that I should seek medical care. Quickly in my new research I learned that right side pain and left side pain usually are not of the same causes. I had some symptoms of internal organ trauma. The same symptoms also could have been something quite minor. In all cases the action needed was to seek medical care right away.

I am a believer in Jesus the Healer. At the same time if something is broken or bleeding I have no problem in getting patched up or sewed up. And certainly I believe in dealing with infections and prevention of infections. To confess sickness no. I have declined the Part B Medicare, the part that covers doctors. Part A, the part that covers hospital expense is automatic, has no costs, is not declinable except to not use the service.

I had a talk with the Lord about the matter. As a result I did not feel a burden to seek any other care. Most of the symptoms went away at that time with no further time elapsed. One pain stayed until yesterday. It was one that could have been several things. I had some doubts about my faith over the past six weeks. Worst case I could have become unconscious and not recovered. I updated my instruction list for my wife. I told my longest running client that in case anything happened to me that Cheri would know who to call as a back-up. In their case I have some special programming skills in an obsolete language. There is someone in their area that can take over should the need arise. Yes we need to rewrite the system and that will be done at some point in the near future.

We need to build our faith in all areas. Healing is most important. We need to grow in grace and knowledge. We need to experience healing in small ways so that we can have the faith for the major things that can happen. It is quite possible that I did not experience a serious physical event. Since I did not seek medical attention I do not know. I did experience a serious spiritual event because my faith was not as strong as it should be. I have grown in that arena in the last two months.

I thank God for a healing.

David Sneed

Three Stages of Truth

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second. it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

Arthur Schopenauer, German Philosopher (1788-1860)

Toyota Defensive Driving Formula

Last Saturday, October 22, I had a chance to tour the Toyota Driving Expectations display at Bass Pro in Denver. There were no teen driver classes going on while I was there though I did get the teen book and the parent's book. I wish I had read the books while I was there. I was intrigued by the Defensive Driving Formula. I could not figure out the meaning and it was not in the book. This week it took a while going through folks at Toyota and at Discovery Channel to find out.  

Toyota is using an experiential approach based on "what you see is not what you get." Describing the formula is tacit knowledge best handled verbally so they only printed the formula in the books. 

"P = R (ne) T"  (I don't know how to type the not equal sign)

"Perception equals Reality that is not equal to the Truth"

According to the verbal part of the program "To achieve this requires a healthy paranoia. "

I like it! I also like the DDC-4, DDC-8 and Alive at 25 programs that the National Safety Council publishes. Those are more analytical and compliance based.

There are many folks who want all their safety served the practical approach of the Toyota way. In the business world that is a market of 27,980,000 firms. It includes entrepreneurs in Minnesota and California in our test markets who are immigrants or are the children of these immigrants. They are looking for practical approaches to safety. Contrasted with the politicized and responsibility evading safety plans of the 20,000 companies in the primary safety market! 

One application of the practical approach in driving is one I've used. If you cannot avoid being in East St Louis or Miami or so many other places, the defensive thing you do especially at night might be to kind of ignore stop signs and red lights albeit with caution. The Toyota formula, with its subjective interpretation, makes a whole lot of sense. They do call their program "real-world."

David Sneed

Process vs Program - Part 2

On October 24, 2011, the Texas Rangers broke a 2-2 tie in the World Series by beating the St Louis Cardinals in Game 5.

Ron Washington, the manager of the Texas Rangers, acknowledged that Tony La Russa, his counterpart with the Cardinals, had been around for a long time was was very successful.

What happened on Monday night was that the Cardinals process did not work. La Russa's call to the bullpen was misunderstood. Twice the name of Jason Motte, a right handed pitcher, went unheard.

Napoli came up to bat. A right handed pitcher was needed but one was not ready. Napoli scored a double.

La Russa, the man of strategy, lost the game to Washington who is known as a manger that reacts to circumstances.

For a process to prevail, it must be fool-proof. La Russa chose to accept the results of a process error. He was not prepared to stall until the right pitcher was ready.

David Sneed

Process vs Program - Part 1

Last night while working working on a plan for a client I needed to get some idea of real estate prices and places available in a certain location.

I goggled "real estate" and the name of the area. I got a nice display of real estate agents. About 30 of them. Each had their logo displayed.

I selected the one in the upper left hand corner and then connected to that agent's website. I learned that this agent was the best for a variety of reasons.

For action I could email them or I could call them during office hours.

With some effort I found a small link that led me to some listings. I found what I was looking for!

These agents, through their association, emphasize process. A buyer wants a program.

I remember a cartoon with the wife on the phone. The husband is sitting in a chair, obviously in physical distress. "The doctor is on vacation for three weeks but we can visit his website."

Too often a process is used when a program is needed and a program is used when a process is needed.

Money can be saved when the correct solution is used. Non-owner management often chooses the wrong way to avoid responsibility. The result is poor customer service due to literal interpretations of policy or losses due to lack of an effective and efficient process.

David Sneed

How To Make Change

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

R. Buckminster Fuller

Drivers Had Safety Concerns Before the Race

According to numerous press sources, the drivers in the October 16, 2011 Las Vegas Indy 300 race at which Dan Wheldon was killed as part of a 15 car crash, spotted numerous hazards. "Everybody kind of elected that there was going to be at least one or two really bug crashes."

The crash occurred 11 laps into the 200 lap race.

The track is short and speeds are high. 225 mph means 3.75 miles per minute. The track is 1.5 miles. That means 2.5 laps per minutes or 24 seconds per lap.

There were 34 cars in the race. All were in a group together. When the collision started there was no time to react and no place to go.

These hazards are easy to understand. Yet race officials ignored them. And they are in the clear. OSHA is not likely to get involved.

In the application of Cowboy Safety we know that many hazards cannot be regulated. There is time and there is distance. Not just a hazard. Often a hazard is not a hazard until time and/or distance is considered.

David Sneed

Steve Jobs Deserves a Posthumous Safety Award

I ran across a story that Steve Job's 2007 silver Mercedes SL55 AMG (see photo below) had never been registered yet he had driven it since 2006 and had put 21,800 miles on it. 

"A search of traffic records confirms that he successfully avoided plate-related fines" said Paula Skier of automotive data and consulting firm R.L. Polk & Co in the LA Times. Polk runs Carfax. 

A defensive driver if there ever was one. (1) He drove a safe vehicle. (2) He limited his driving. (3) He had to be a low-key and observant driver to avoid being stopped. (4) A vehicle with no dents and scratches can get by more easily without a tag than otherwise.

I guess we might  give him a posthumous Cowboy Safety award! 

David Sneed

Design of Safety

A well used safety concept is root cause analysis. A series of questions are asked to determine the real cause so as to find a way to keep the event from happening again. A car crash is not just the result of sliding on the ice. It gets down to why the person was on the road during those conditions.

Root cause analysis, for lack of a better term, can also be used before any incidents occur. It baffles me why this is not done very often.

I just read an article about the restaurant designer Glen Coben. It tells of how he does what he does. One example I thought most interesting is that one of the first questions he asks is "How long will a diner be seated at the table?" He then supplies half-hour chairs (like stools and benches,) hour chairs (unupholstered and low-backed,) or pricier two to three hour chairs, which are well-cushioned and have armrests.

Design of safety is becoming more and more important.

David Sneed

How Fast Is Too Fast?

Netflix today announced they are abandoning plans to rename its DVD service "Qwikster."

I like the quote from Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. "There is a difference between moving quickly -- which Netflix has done very well for years -- and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."

So how fast is too fast?

Many firms never have to ask that question. Or maybe they do and the answer is to never move. Kodak, on the verge of bankruptcy today, was once a pioneer. As early as 1906 it ignored the Haloid Corporation that later became Xerox.

Cowboy Safety recognizes that moving fast is an essential of survival. By having adequate up to date relevant information and market knowledge a firm can move as fast as it has to move.

Sometimes it must move fast when there is a customer at the counter with a unique problem.

Netflix moved too fast because it moved without the knowledge it needed. It did not have the essential knowledge that customers value simplicity. They do not want to have two bills mean from the same company. The real problem Netflix faces is that there are other ways to get the same results. In the last few weeks Netflix has lost market share. More loss may be coming.

David Sneed

Strange Things Today

Something really "strange" (Luke 5:26) happened one day in Capernaum when Jesus was teaching. There was a big crowd. Some men brought in a man who was sick of the palsy. The only way they could get the man into the presence of Jesus was to lower him on his bed through the roof.

"And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." Luke 5:20.

The scribes and pharisees viewed that statement as blasphemy.

"But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?" Luke 5:22.

"Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?" Luke 5:23

"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he saith unto the sick  of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house." Luke 5:24

"And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that wheron he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God." Luke 5:25.

"And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, "We  have seen strange things today." Luke 5:26.

Mediate on those verses.

Have you ever been to church and seen pastors assuring people that they are saved when in fact they may not be? I don't know about you but I don't want to one day be standing in hell next to an unsaved pastor.

Jesus told his disciples that they would do greater works than  he did. I know I'm saved by faith but if my pastor is not healing the sick I want to know why. I don't want to be judgmental or do anything incorrect in my Christian walk. If I had been there in that house in Capernaum and Jesus had not healed the man I would might not have wanted to be a disciple of Jesus.

Jesus has the power.

Enough said?

David Sneed

A Simple Cowboy Safety Manifesto

I was just reading the February 1917 issue of The Fra being a monthly publication for philistines and roycrofters edited by Elbert Hubbard, a renaissance man if there ever was one.

Hubbard is waxing poetic about price increases of coal, dry glue, sheet copper and leather. He then presents a list of items that could well be a simple Cowboy Safety manifesto.

In one sense I don't want to list these items because some of them have become politicized and may be construed incorrectly. Please think of them in the classical sense. And please bear in mind that there are 21st century applications of these concepts that reflect the exciting new world that is here right now. If your definition of safety is limited to injuries and fatalities your solution is there.

Hubbard summarizes: "My remedy for present burdensome conditions only applies to the individual. But of each would do his share we all would arrive. Here it is:"

Cut out the extravagance.
Refuse to feed the loafer.
Pay cash as you go.
Eliminate waste.
Produce.
Demand reasonable profits.
Pay only reasonable prices.
Live up to your ideals.

David Sneed

Customer Service Terrorism

I received a promo video from a hotel chain that is the very best promo I have ever seen anywhere. It builds trust and it gives an experiential sample. My feeling at the end is that this is the hotel chain where I would do every meeting and conference I can. I would not even get quotes from their competitors. I would not even care what this hotel chain wants to charge. I can believe from the video that they are the answer to my meeting prayers.

So what could be wrong?

The video has download gaps that make it most difficult to watch. There is no option to change the DPI or to load and then replay. Each time it reloads. I have high speed internet yet cannot properly view this video.

I emailed the contact us email. They promptly sent me a form letter that I could call a course supplier to deal with course technical issues. Then they had a satisfaction survey. I completed that and again expressed the problem. I received another form response from a supervisor thanking me for doing the survey, telling me that the first person is not trained to deal with that type issue, that I should contact the course supplier, and inviting me to answer another survey.

These "customer service" folks are like terrorists. They may as well have bombed all of the hotels the video was promoting. I had told both of them of the value of the promo video. Neither one of them was willing to find out more and go deal with the problem. My feeling now is that I never want to do any business with that hotel chain.

David Sneed

Simple Word Pictures for Improved Safety

In 1984, Sam Kinison, comedian and ex Pentecostal preacher, got his breakthrough on Rodney Dangerfield's 9th Annual Young Comedians special on HBO. He did a skit on World Hunger. See link below.

He told of the problem in a quiet voice. He noted the cruelty of the hungry child on the TV commercial. He wondered why the film crew didn't give the kid a sandwich. He presented his idea of how to stop world hunger. It was to stop sending food. Instead send U haul trailers, suitcases, anything to get them to move out of the desert and go to where there was food. In his inimitable way he pretends to pick up sand. He says nothing will grow here. "A hundred years from now it'll still be sand." "Go to where the food is" he screams. We can learn from the style of Kinison and other comedians. To the point real open-minded thinking. Simple word pictures.

Much of safety is wasted money and wasted effort. How much time and money is spent on training workers to know all the different types of fire extinguishers when their worksite, if it has an extinguisher, has only a type C? And the video in the course does not tell the workers where their fire extinguisher is located.

Cowboy Safety is an attitude of looking at the real hazards and planning for a real incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN7ehccspao

David Sneed

When Do You Dream?

Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible.  - T.E. Lawrence


Faith is action. It is not talking about something. It is not symbolism over substance.


I had a debate this week with someone who took exception to my statement that his denomination is good on salvation and good on Bible reading yet in effect teaches a rolling salvation where God did things in the past, will do things in the future, and does nothing today. My statement was not mean to be judgmental. What his church needs is for someone to step out in faith. Instead of "I have now completed all of my treatments and the doctor says I am well Thank God for His healing" it should be that "I have these symptoms, it is probably X, yet I am confessing healing with my mouth." 


"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever. " Hebrews 13:8.


Whatever Jesus did yesterday he will do today. He healed yesterday. He heals today. Yesterday in Nazareth he could not heal when there was lack of faith. Today he cannot heal when there is lack of faith. 


David Sneed

"Steal Shamelessly and Share Endlessly"

"Steal shamelessly and share endlessly," said Cyndi Fisher, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters. Fisher was speaking at the Hampton Roads Child Obesity Summit in June of 2005. 

 "Look around you and see how you can implement all -- or even little parts -- of the strategies and programs you'll hear about today. Technology is allowing this attitude to take place internationally with all aspects of safety. 


I have heard that saying many times. Too often we can go to conferences and meetings and bring nothing back and do nothing with what we learned. We can even go through a normal day and learn nothing of any value. A normal day? How about a whole career?


To save money and save time, both Cowboy Safety principles, the saying is a good one. Don't forget it. Practice it daily. 


David Sneed