Never forget what made you successful

“I’m kind of a Big Deal”

That was one of my favorite lines from the character of Ron Burdandy in the movie Anchorman.

The character was played by SNL alummi Will Ferrell, who portrayed a 1970’s television anchorman, who thougth he was “all that”.

The line, and the movie, was quite funny, unfortunately most of us know people that will think that they are “kinda of a big deal”.

Last week, my wife and I were enjoying a relaxing Saturday morning, and decided to head out to our favorite breakfast restaurant.

The food, prices and service are great, and this little restaurant has now gained quite a following.  When we first went there a few years ago, it seemed that nobody knew about this little “gem” as it was almost always empty.

Oh, how things have changed.  Recently the word has got out, and often there is a line to get in.

Which brings me back to last Saturday.  Our usually friendly server, was not so friendly, the tables were not so clean, and when are food came, it was the not what we ordered.

Well, everyone has a bad day once in awhile.

What really got me, was that our waitress not only did not acknowledge, or apologize, but rather argued that we were wrong, and was a little “less than nice” with us.

Needless to say that we were not impressed, and will not be returning any time in the near future.

It reminded me of the advice that my good friend Jim Thomson (Jim played professional hockey with Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings).  In his rookie season, one of the veteran players told Jim:

“Never forget the people you pass on the way up, as you will see them again on the way down.”

Our “friends” at the restauarant could use the same advice, don’t ever forget what made you successful in the first place, or you could ever easily be serving a empty restaurant again.