In the sixth chapter of my book Get Back Up, I have been released from the army with a service-connected disability. Thanks to the disabled veterans bill I’d be able to pay for college, but because it would be a few months until the next quarter began, I decided to get a job.

I ended up working in the fast food industry, where I learned to manage employees who were also friends, and I learned that some rules are made to be broken as long as customer service and the quality of the product do not suffer. I also learned that just because something had been done the same way for a long time it didn’t mean you had to continue to do it that way, and most of all I learned that people don’t care how fast they get cold fries.

In the fast food business, you sell a lot of fries and they take a while to cook, so you usually have some made in advance, sitting under a heat lamp ready to quickly serve to your customers. The problem is that fries can only sit there so long before they become limp and cold. So, what do you do if a customer comes in and wants fries but the fries have been sitting around too long? You could still serve the cold ones and be pleased with how fast you helped the customer, or you could explain that you would like to make them some fresh fries. I’ve never had a customer say no thanks, I’ll take the cold limp ones, but in spite of that fact plenty of fast food restaurants still serve cold fries.

Maybe this is because the counter person doesn’t want a backup of customers waiting for fries, or maybe the manager is more worried about his food costs going up if he throws away old fries and makes new ones. In either case, this is short-term thinking. Sure, your food costs will go up if you’re throwing away a lot of food, and sure, you may cause a backup at the counter if people have to wait, but as I said people don’t care how fast they get cold fries. They’ll be happy to wait and they’ll be happy to return and spend more money at your restaurant, which will certainly help your food costs and other controllables in the long run.

Over the years I leaned this practice of valuing speed over quality wasn’t just a problem in the restaurant business. Lots of businesses have a product to make and sell and most of them have a schedule to meet. What’s more important? The schedule or the quality of the product? The truth is, it’s a bit of a balancing act. Before going to work at Microsoft I worked at a software company that suffered at both ends of this dilemma. They had a product to get out and they told their customers it would be out on a certain date. They also had a competitor that was coming out with a similar product. As the due date approached it was clear that the product wasn’t ready, but the company shipped it anyway to make the date and beat the competitor to market.

The result was predictable. Customers weren’t happy with the product and the press coverage was brutal. The company had no choice but to immediately get to work on a new version that would fix the flaws. However, the company was also very worried about making the same mistake, so they took their time and tried to make sure that every little thing was perfect. In fact, they took so long that their competitor took market share, and by the time they shipped the product it was too late, and their competitor ended up buying them out.

The bottom line here is that quality matters but the schedule is just as important. Given the choice, I would choose quality over speed, as the title of this chapter says, but you have to find that balance. People don’t care how fast they get cold fries but they’re not going to wait forever for hot ones, either.

I worked in fast food for about five years and I learned a lot of things that would serve me well as I moved into management jobs at other companies. My fast food career didn’t end on a high note, however. I was in my early twenties during this time and while I worked hard to move up the fast food management chain, I liked to party just as hard.

This was during the late seventies and early eighties. Disco was the rage and going out after work dancing and drinking was something my friends and I did almost every night. There were several times I was so tired and drunk that I almost wrapped my car around a tree, and then there was the one time I did exactly that.

It was late, maybe three in the morning. I was at the disco drinking and dancing for hours. I knew when I got behind the wheel I might have a problem, but I was young and stupid. I thought if I rolled down the windows and blasted the radio I’d be fine. I wasn’t. I passed out behind the wheel and woke up just before my car slammed into a tree. Hours later I would find myself in the hospital surrounded by doctors and a priest. I was told I was lucky to be alive, but I didn’t feel lucky.

I was in the hospital for weeks and it would be months before I could return to work, but my fast food days were over as I could no longer be on my feet as much as the job required. I was young and thought I was invincible, but that arrogance almost cost me my life. Only a few short years after getting hurt in the army and facing my first opportunity to get back up after a physical injury, I was facing my second. This injury was much worse and it would take much longer, but I would get back up; at least for a while.

Lessons:

  1. Don’t just tell someone what to do, tell them why they’re doing it.
  2. Quality wins over speed; no one cares how fast they get served cold fries.
  3. When the rules make it impossible to achieve your goal, find the workaround.
  4. Don’t drink and drive… ever!

George A. Santino helps people who want to break down barriers, including self-imposed barriers, to success. Check out his Amazon bestselling book, Get Back Up: From the Streets to Microsoft Suites.