Under the Wire

“Old Jim didn’t have any enemies, just a lot of friends who didn’t like him.”

I caught that line from an old movie on TV the other night. You know, the kind of movie that’s on at two in the morning when you can’t sleep so you go out and flip on the old boob tube. “Old Jim” was a gangster being laid to rest after a chance meeting with 30 or 40 machine gun bullets. In an effort to say something good about the departed that was the best they could come up with.

I watch a lot of TV in the winter when the days get shorter and things kind of slow down around the “old rancho.” There’s a lot of junk on the airways, but there’s some good things too, like the line about “Old Jim.”

One of the best things I’ve seen on TV lately, though, wasn’t an old movie or a new show. The best thing I’ve seen on TV for a long time was a commercial. A commercial for an airline.

In this commercial a boss is surrounded by his workers and he announces that the company’s oldest customer fired them this morning.

“He told me he didn’t know us anymore. Business now gets done with a phone call, a fax transmission, e-mail and another phone call,” the boss points out, “there’s no personal contact anymore.” He then hands out airline tickets to his workers and tells them to get out and “meet” their customers in every city they do business.

Today “Under The Wire” isn’t going to poke fun at this commercial. I think that little commercial makes a big statement about life today. We’re losing that personal touch with people around us.

Business all too often is done by phone with someone you haven’t even seen before. As a result everybody becomes a number, a contract or some other impersonal mark on the wall to a supplier.

Many of you find yourselves, as I do, on both ends of the stick from time to time. I’m a customer in some cases. I get tired as a buyer of products, of being treated like I don’t matter. My money is as hard to come by as anyone else’s and when I spend it I expect at least a “thank you.” It bugs me when bills come in the mail from people I’ve never met demanding payment or they’ll add on a “late fee.” I’d like to write back that I’m deducting a little from my payment because their bill offends me and I don’t think they really care about my business anyway.

Part of my time, however, is spent as one of these “suppliers to others.” Here at Hodgson Media, which entails Livestock News Radio Network and “Under The Wire,” we depend on customers. I suppose I am as guilty as anyone for not knowing everyone I do business with including my readers. Life gets hectic and I guess we forget to stop and say “Howdy” sometimes.

TV has taught me some valuable lessons. Advertising does work or I wouldn’t remember the commercial. The reminder that people want to do business with friends is always good to remember.

I’ve decided to start my personal campaign to get to know everyone I do business with. I’ve decided to stop by for supper at everyone who reads this house over the next few months. If there’s a day you won’t be home, just drop me a card so I can reschedule. It’s going to involve a little driving but what the heck. Think of all the free meals I’m going to get. By the way, no chicken, please.

I’ll be seeing you and will be more than happy to help with chores or changing irrigation water. “There is no such thing as a free meal!” is a truth I learned years ago.