Traders of an older age may remember that any reasonable
size business had a tea lady (there could have been tea-men as well but
industry was not so enlightened back then).
The Tea Lady would push a trolley around each work area at a
set time each morning and afternoon and dispense cups of tea from an urn. The arrival
of the Tea Lady was a great excuse to down pens or tools and head over to the
urn for a cuppa and a chat. And of course this seemingly innocent get together
was in fact an incredibly important part of the information technology of that age.
Not only did the tea lady get to hear, and join in, the
discussions at that work area but she had been privy to the discussions at the
previous work areas as well. Her knowledge of daily news became a key
ingredient in informing employees of what was happening in their neighbourhood.
Businesses soon found that Tea Ladies could be dispensed
with and replaced with tea and coffee machines that provided no information at
all. Financially that was probably a smart move. Workers got back to work
quicker and a wage was saved. At the risk of being called old fashioned I
contend that industry lost a whole lot more than it gained.
But back to Guru Pete. Our Pete performs an essential task
around QVM as one of our cleaning staff and, as productive as he is (I don’t
want his bosses to think he ever deviates from his assigned tasks), Pete is
able to provide his own brand of information technology. How often do you hear
traders say “What is happening Pete?” Pete knows what is happening around the
place as he works from one end of the market to the other and his contribution is
certainly more than just the sum of his cleaning tasks. We could call him an
extremely important cog in the machinery that keeps our market operating (and
informed).
If he could just make a cup of tea I would be really happy.
Have Your Say – click here.
COMMENTS:
27/10/2014 13:59:44 Pete "I could imagine him In a little Apron, maybe we could get his trolley modified to carry a tea urn" Leah
COMMENTS:
27/10/2014 13:59:44 Pete "I could imagine him In a little Apron, maybe we could get his trolley modified to carry a tea urn" Leah
