When I was 13, while walking down
the hall of our school, I bumped into the High School football coach,
literally. I must have made some kind of
sarcastic remark to him, because his response to me is something I’ve never
forgotten. “Laws, you’re not going to
like playing football for me with that kind of attitude.” I’m sure I snorted at him and said something
like, “whatever” as I walked away.
Two years later, during tryouts,
I still hadn’t forgotten our little conversation. Neither had he. In the following 30 seconds I learned two life lessons
that I have never forgotten. The coach
walked up to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Young man, my name
is Coach or Sir! And if you’re not five
minutes early, you’re LATE. YOU GOT
THAT?” “YES SIR!” was my response then, and always has been from that moment forward. Each time I heard him yell “Laws”, it usually meant
more running, pushups, or other forms of training that a coach can devise to
get their players into shape. But that voice, his inflection,
his tone have been forever burned into my head.
I am now 48 years old and I have strived to live by the following two points my whole life, though I have admittedly failed at it more often than I can count. Nevertheless, I have indeed tried.
- Give respect where it is due, and
- Never be late.
I may not have any quotes from current
leaders to illustrate my point. And I
can’t tell you what books to read on the subject for further research. I can’t quote any applicable songs or poems
either. But what I do have is numerous experiences
that reinforce these principles. Allow me to share just one:
I am a superintendent for a
commercial builder and part of my job is to ensure that the subcontractors
build to the specs provided by the architect, and do it per the schedule. Knowing a bit about each of the building
disciplines helps greatly. It’s not always
necessary, but being able to “speak” the language of builders is nice.
Years ago, I was asked to run a job in southern Utah. I was to oversee the construction of 16 buildings on 8 acres ... consisting of duplexes, 4-plexes, 12-plexes, 24-plexes, and one club house with a pool. One of the more critical jobs that I had was scheduling inspections. Usually 3 or 4 inspections were necessary each day. The city procedure was to have all inspections called into the office by 2 pm each day in order to have it scheduled for the following work day.
I had made it a point to get to
know the woman in charge of inspections at the city offices. My goal was to get her to smile at me. It took several weeks but eventually she and
I became friends. I would take her a diet
coke with a twist of lime every time I would visit the office, and I always responded
to her with either a “Yes Ma’am” or “No Ma’am”.
One day at the closing of the work day, I realized that I’d forgotten to
call in the next days' inspection for a big underground compaction test. I would NOT be able to pour concrete the next
day without this inspection. So I made
the call. “I know I’m late with this
call but is there any way you could help me out? “ She responded “let me see what I can
do.” I heard her rustling some papers
and then she said to me, “Roger, an opening just became available”. As much relieved as I was surprised, I politely
thanked her for her efforts before ending the call.
I didn’t find out until much
later how that opening had just appeared.
I was delivering the diet coke when a different office employee pulled
me aside to tell me the rest of the story.
“Roger, she must really like you.
The other day when you called in your late inspection request, I watched
her walk over to the pile of requests, rifle through them, grab one of the
pieces of paper and say under her breath, ‘I really don’t like this guy’, and
then put your request in at the head of the line.”
I stood there stunned. I can tell you, I certainly never missed a delivery
of diet coke from that day forward. I’m not
convinced that it was the drinks that got me my last-minute inspection, although that
helped I’m sure. It was the continued
respect that I gave her. I believe that
this kind of courtesy is so foreign these days that people just soak it up when
it is given. I really believe that.
Several years ago my wife and I
were shopping in one of those super stores filling up our cart when we passed
an elderly gentleman and his wife. I
didn’t think anything of it until I heard from around the corner, “LAWS!?” My body tensed up and a small bead of sweat
instantly ran down my back as I said, “YES SIR!” It was great to see the man that
had taught me the meaning of respect and punctuality.
___________________________________________________
Roger D. Laws is a Commercial Construction
Superintendent. He has been a builder
for the past 30 years. His completed
projects include many homes and basements, a Walgreens, a dentist office,
a rehabilitation center, a community living center and many others. He is an avid motorcyclist; touring most of
the western half of the United States.
Father of 6 children and one son-in-law.
Roger has a B.S. in Technology Management from Utah Valley University.
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