Sam Walton's Made in America and MY FIRST JOB

When i thought of adding a book review section to my blog the million dollar question was "which should be the first book'? . Being a management+literature person both genre books came into my mind.Finally I decided to write about Sam Walton's Made in America ,because of one special reason...My first job....

I read this book when i was doing my MBA in India,almost two years ago.....I was not a hard core reader at that time,rather a lazy one!!!! my true self!!!!! I was of the belief that its all boring !!!!!
but this book made me to read more business/management/entrepreneurial realted books; erasing my notion....

I would say it is a must read for all management students,professionals and all those who wish to be an entrepreneur...

A book with fantastic business principles.....
its all about his hardwork in becoming "the king of discounters".....
The main secret of his success formula is how you create a succesful relationship not only with the customer , but also with the people working inside the stores........he believed these two are directly proportional.....
Being an HR gal,i strongly agree with that,and that might be one reason i liked it so much!!!!!!!

Customer satisfaction can only come with Employee satisfaction.............

I had never even seen a Walmart while reading it,but even then I admired it

But it was not even in my wildest dreams that I would have my First HR/Management job with the "No.1" Retail "Giant" in India..........
Before Joining , the book poured me with inspiration ....I had lot of dreams....Booming Industry,the No.1 company,best pay in the industry for a fresher......blah..blah..blah...blah


But My experience.........
Ineffable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not cos of Love
but cos of Loving Hatred.....
I am sure there would be thousands who share my opinion.....

In his book Sam walton Says "I got into retailing because i was tired ; and I wanted a real job"

I would say " I got out of Management in retail because I was tired ; and I wanted to relax"!!!!!

By that time I was an Angry moron with Sam walton for providing "my Indian employer/CEO/Founder with ideas through his Variety stores business model....
Yes the very magical business model that changed the way American's shop.

But now that I m in United States ,I started visiting Walmart; and it gave me an all new impression.....
I got a chance to converse with one of the management guys with Walmart and i m very happy to understand how much he enjoys working there ,managing people...what i have read in book ,smiles at me with "new old" meanings....and the same admiration for Sam Waltons' came back.....

My first job taught me a lesson
"even if you are being paid the best in the industry,you wouldnt be happy....its all about how you are being managed...."

Happy Reading!!!!!!

Great View Hot Dog dressing and the Bear

It was on the second day of our vacation in the Del water gap ,that we took the drive through the "old mine road". The weather was an ideal one for sight seeing,roller coaster roads and wide turnings added to the road adventure.
We made Sporadic stopover in places from which you have a good view of the gap and sat and relax on some fallen branches of trees.Its only during 5th or 6th of such stop over i realised that unlike the last day ,I havent brought anything with me for the "snack hour". More over the very next moment after my realisation my sweetheart asked me the same thing."Did you pack some snacks for the day,I'm hungry"
"You ate all the egg sandwich yesterday" I turned down the question,though I was sure that i had some more left in the refrigerator in the room.We continued our journey through the quaint way for nearly 2 hours.And finally in the valley of another hill we saw an old fashioned three storeyed building with "general store" board. It appeared like a historical reminiscence of some old village here,we made up our mind to check ,if it is still running. getting out of the car I caught sight of "OPEN" blinking with it red and blue lights.
My hunger showed the excitement and the high spirit and at the same time trepidation of what would be the reality.We climbed the stairs ,passed the Veranda and the front door was wide opened.Navee kept on asking.."Hello anybody lives here......"
That was a big house painted in green and white,with plenty of rooms.Wire bags,figurines,old chinas...all were displayed in the rooms with price tags...My sweetheart confirmed its a living store.

"Yo Yo..Howdy" we heard a voice from behind.An old man in his late 70's came running.

We were a little puzzled whther to ask he got something to eat

Exchanging teh greetings Navee hesitantly asked about snacks.he led us to another rromand we saw an inhouse snack store.

Potato chips,beef and pork jerky,soda and poland spring and some medicines for snake bite and mosquitoes filled the tiny room in that big house.

The time was laready 2 0'clock .we were not in the mood for a simple snack but a real bite.My sweetheart roamed around the room,while i walked out to the patio to the backyard.It had two sets of old bistro sets and behind the back yard was deep dense forest

"Oh yeah" I ll make some hot dogs for you" I heard the old man telling this and the word hot dog pull me back to teh room

By the time i was inside he had gone from the room,Probably to kitchen and i could see the relief in Navee's face

"He is gonna make hot dogs for us ..yippie ki yay"

We had a quick survey around the house and we realised that he live sthere alone

The Verandha gives a splendid view of a distant hill.I am sure it is the only thing the old man has as a companion

I pictured him sitting in an arm chair in the verandha with a glass of wine; looking at the distant hill and thinking about his journey through the life, and wonderful moments ....

Even i prefer to live in a hill side,after retirement,close to teh nature ,away from all the sounds and fury,but of course not alone; i couldnt even think of it

"Your bite is ready"the voice called us from inside the house and we hurried back to the inside

of the GS room

Our hot dogs were there on the table and beside it was a jar of Hot dog dressins,sliced very thinly which made it difficult for me to identify the exact ingredients

We happily dressed it and the first bite i had,i had the feeling of being in heaven and Navee's expressions agreed to it.

the dressing was superb,the best that i ever had!!!!

the old man and the my sweetheart kept on talking and talking about India,Obama,T-mobile and on and on and on.....I still was trying to fugure out the exact ingredients with evry bite..I culdnt control my curiosity and i decided to interrupt them

"Uncle Sam"the bite is too good!!! How do you make this dressing?"

HOHOHO...Liitle girl..thats is great view special dressing ....u know thats a secret recipe pass on to me by my grandmother who lived here..thats why it is so tasty and let it be a secret.".he winked at me..

"Okie..cool" I said,thinking the same situtaions Anthony bourdain and Andrew zimmern had to face on their trips...[;)]

the guys kept on talking and i returned to the back yard...

"hey little girl be careful to stand there ,its at this time he usually comes"

Who? i asked thinking he might have some crazy son

"The bear"He broke my door yesterday!!!!

What ???I cried

He came near the patio door and showed me the broken piece.the door has lost almost half of its wood...and the bear could easily come inside the house...

OMG!!!!!!!! I cried again...and navee was bamboozled by this..

he pointed to the deep green forest behind the backyard and said"this is his usual route"

I ttok the remaining Hot dogs from the table and pulled out navee's vallet and asked him for the check...navee understood i was deeply horrified and nodded accepting it...

I paid him,thanked him and bade him good bye and ran back to the car pulling Navee beside me

All these happened within seconds.....

Even if the bear comes we were not safe inside the house!!!!!

Navee Teased me back in the car about how brave I am......

I said" I was not prepared!!! I thought only Applachian has bears and not Blue mountains""

I dint even know what i was talking!!!!!

Navee kept on laughing!!!

Happy reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!