From the minds of kids

Over the weekend I was taking down my Holiday decorations and putting them in the basement for another year. This is not a project I particularly enjoy, so as I painstakingly packed up each box and carried it down the stairs I would get distracted by something more interesting. What I stumbled upon was a trip down memory lane. I opened a box that contained different items I had saved from the kids over the years and went through the old report cards, sports photos, father’s day poems and then I struck gold….I opened a spiral bound report that my daughter created when she was in 5th grade. At the age of 10, students were given an assignment of following their parents to work one day and writing a report on what their parents do.


Before I divulge the magic of the report let me give you an assessment of that day. We both got up, I put my tie on and Kristen got dressed up in a cute little dress. Away we went, arriving at the office around 7:30. I went through the normal routine of coffee (she had hot chocolate), checking e-mails, going through my mail, approving quotes and reading a couple articles from a trade publication I particularly like. The field sales group doesn’t generally stroll in until 8:30 so I had an hour of quiet time to get the day rolling. After completing the first tasks, I needed to make a few calls to clients and respond to questions, follow up on jobs…nothing special just stay in touch. The day proceeded and I had a brief meeting with one of the reps regarding his day and a strategy for an upcoming call, answered numerous calls and had a client come in for a facility tour. There are more details, but obviously none were important enough to make her report.

Now let me get to her report and her assessment of my day.

Job shadowing assignment, a day in the life of my Dad.

Overview – my Dad works at Velocity Print Solutions. His title on his business card is Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. His job is very boring. He drinks lots of coffee. He dresses very nice.


 The Morning – in the morning my Dad drinks coffee and talks on the phone. His job is selling printing and he has lots of friends. He also reads a lot at work and sits at his desk. He likes to send e-mails.


Lunch – lunch is my favorite time. We went to Subway and ate. Dad was still talking on his phone. I don’t think he sold anything.


The Afternoon – We went to a meeting in the meeting room. He was talking to people and then showed them the big machinery. They looked very bored. After they left we went back to his office and he had more coffee.


I think my Dad’s job is very boring and I would not like his job. I want to play music when I get older. It would be a lot more exciting.


Overall this was a typical day with a couple meetings, some good customer calls, interaction with the sales team, a facility tour, but I failed to impress any sense of accomplishment on my little angel other than I like coffee. I thought she would come away impressed and her perception was completely different. We have all probably encountered situations where we thought something went much better than in reality it did and our perceptions were off. The important thing to always remember is that the mirror never lies and as long as you feel good about the person staring back at you generally you are doing the right things.