Transcript: Episode 138: Boxed Bellman Excreta

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[00:00:00] Susan Barry: This is Top floor, episode 138. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/138. 

[00:00:14] Narrator: Welcome to Top Floor with Susan Berry. This weekly podcast ride up to the top floor features tangible tips and excellent stories from the experts and characters who elevate hospitality. And now your host and elevator operator, Susan Barry.

[00:00:32] Susan Barry: Welcome to the show. Scott Greenberg has been a motivational speaker for 30 years with clients like McDonald's, Great Clips, the U S Air Force and Salesforce. For 10 years he was also a multi unit franchise owner with Edible Arrangements. Scott's new book, Stop the Shift Show: Turn Your Struggling Hourly Workers Into A Top Performing Team is designed to help leaders learn how to more effectively recruit, retain, and motivate their hourly teams. Scott encourages management to explore their biases, habits, and leadership styles so they can meet the needs of the hourly labor force. Today, we are going to talk about pizza parties and soft needs, but before we jump in, we need to answer the call button.

(Phone dialing sound plays)

[00:01:30] The emergency call button is our hotline for hospitality professionals with burning questions. If you would like to submit a question, you can call or text me at 850-404-9630. Today's question was submitted by Langley. Here is Langley's question: “What is the appropriate cadence or timing for giving raises to hourly employees? I want to make sure that we give them before people are frustrated or feel compelled to ask.” I love this question and I'm dying to hear what you think. Scott, what is your answer for Langley? 

[00:02:12] Scott Greenberg: I also love the question and it's based on a premise that I want to challenge, which is that it's about time. That it's about a rhythm or cadence or, well, after you have lasted for six months, well, then you qualify. Well, what's happened during that six months? Has that person thrived? Have they struggled? And so I think that raises, promotion, these sort of things shouldn't be based on time. They should be based off of hitting specific benchmarks.

[00:02:40] Not “Do you like them?” “Are they reliable?” And these sort of, um, ambiguous things that are hard to measure, but let's give people clear benchmarks that when they've mastered X, Y, and Z, and they've achieved one, two, three, whatever these things are, then they automatically qualify. That way there's no questions for anyone. 

[00:02:55] Susan Barry: I think that makes a lot of sense. I think that's a harder way to approach it than to say, every three months, you need to evaluate your pay bands and see if somebody is ready for a raise, but you're absolutely right. Would you give an hourly associate or an hourly team member those benchmarks in advance during that first 90 day sort of probationary period, or would you have them sort of be an internal measure?

[00:03:23] Scott Greenberg: I would tell them in advance. I think people need to know what the steps are to succeed. And they see that path right before them. So they know exactly what's expected and they understand why they're getting feedback. Uh, I think that's important. I don't know why anybody would want to keep that a secret.

[00:03:38] Susan Barry: Oh, I know a lot of people that would want to keep that a secret because they want to change the rules as they go. 

[00:03:44] Scott Greenberg: Well, yes. That's a different problem. 

[00:03:46] Susan Barry: Exactly. You worked at hotels in high school and sort of your early career, but you left the business to pursue other interests. Because I know that hotels and the hospitality industry as a whole has a hard time finding new people, like the labor market is really tight, I'm going to use you as a focus group of one. So was there something that the hotel industry could have done to keep you, or was it more just a matter of circumstance that led you to move on to something else? 

[00:04:21] Scott Greenberg: I believe the industry did what it could to keep me. That's not for me. I, for, since my early 20s, have worked for myself. But if I ever were just to want to go back and work for an organization and sort of that sort of traditional path, I would absolutely consider the hospitality industry. And I had basically really great experiences. It just, it wasn't for me. It was never the intention. I was making some money in my senior year in high school and freshman year in college. Uh, but it did all it could. I think it's a fantastic industry and I was proud to be a part of it. 

[00:04:52] Susan Barry: That's a great segue into the fact that you are a professional motivational speaker. So an entrepreneur and truly self employed, I think that's so interesting. And I'm curious about how speaking for 30 years, you keep your material fresh. How do you keep that subject matter up to date or at least not boring to yourself? You know what I mean? 

[00:05:23] Scott Greenberg: Yeah, well, the marketplace demands it. Right? I can't just keep playing the greatest hits or I go crazy, you know, that sort of thing. Of course, you know, when you go see The Rolling Stones and they play something off the new album, that's when you want to go to the, you know, get refreshments. But I'm not The Rolling Stones and people hear a speaker that probably haven't heard them before, but you can tell when it's stale, when they're not into it. Um, I think my audiences deserve more, business-wise it's important. I want to keep it fun. I want to keep it interesting. I want to keep it hard. 

[00:05:51] And quite frankly, uh, professional speaking or public speaking is terrifying. Even for me. And so I'm terrified of not connecting with the audience. And so I have no choice. So yes, I want to succeed, but I also really don't want to fail. So keeping it fresh, constantly innovating, uh, it keeps it fun and it keeps me employed. 

[00:06:12] Susan Barry: You were an Edible Arrangements franchisee for 10 years. That business is so compelling to me because it's like one foot in the restaurant business one foot in retail. I know that's not completely accurate, but that's sort of what it seems like from the outside looking in. 

[00:06:27] Scott Greenberg: It's completely accurate. That is how it felt. I mean, we had, you know, we'd have our surprise visits from, uh, the health department, right? All those things were there having to, you know, first in first out all the things that people know about the restaurant industry. But we also had packaged goods that people would order. We'd give them we deliver them. It was absolutely retail as well. So your description is totally accurate. 

[00:06:48] Susan Barry: Oh, that's good. I'm glad, I just guessed. So what was the hardest thing about that business? 

[00:06:54] Scott Greenberg: It depends when you ask me, but certainly for the first few years, I would have told you my people, managing employees. And I had already been doing professional motivational speaking for 13 years, um, talking about leadership and culture. And I thought I had all these motivational Jedi mind tricks. And so I would be a lot better than the other Edible Arrangements, franchisees. And I come in, I'm talking about values and culture and, and they're like, “What time is our break?”

[00:07:20] It didn't translate at all. I read all these books. about leadership, but they hadn't read those books. So they didn't know how they were supposed to be responding to my brilliance. Not only did I struggle as an employer, but it made me question myself as a professional speaker. Like I was a hack saying all this stuff that, you know, was theoretical, but it didn't work in the field. So that was really troubling for me. And so I really had a difficult time those first few years. 

[00:07:45] Susan Barry: Well, what then was your favorite thing about that business? 

[00:07:49] Scott Greenberg: Same thing. 

[00:07:49] Susan Barry: Oh yeah? 

[00:07:50] Scott Greenberg: It was the people. It was the challenge of taking people who maybe hadn't had a good job or had a good experience or understood and doing whatever I could to convert them into a really great team.

[00:08:01] Obviously for me, it was, you know, double desperation, number one, to save the business, number two, to save myself as a professional speaker. But I also, I mean, I got into speaking cause I liked the idea of doing what I can to elevate others. And here are people that weren't just audience members. These are my team members who I was going to see every day.

[00:08:19] And you know, I, you know, my baby, my business was in their hands. So I loved the challenge of figuring it out. Like I have these problems, which I hated, but finding the solutions and then getting them. That's my jam that I've just, I've always found delicious. So, it was hard, but maybe that's what made it so compelling.

[00:08:38] Susan Barry: Your book, Stop the Shift Show, is about managing hourly employees, which obviously you have a lot of experience doing from your Edible Arrangements businesses. How do you think that hourly employees are different from salaried employees? 

[00:08:54] Scott Greenberg: First of all, just the question itself is so important and most people don't ask. And that includes a lot of the leadership gurus who are out there. When I first struggled with my team, I went back to all these books that I had and realized that none of these really smart people, consultants, academics, speakers, you know, accomplished business people were making the distinction between engineers and cashiers.

[00:09:16] Right? They, it was sort of all one approach to leadership and to building culture. And there was no one who was really talking about this group, even though it makes up the majority of the workers in the United States are hourly employees. And so there are a lot of ways that they are different. Um, first of all, they don't have reliable income.

[00:09:35] Right. Their salary is not guaranteed and they don't have a consistent hours and slow times or hours might be reduced and good times or hours might be changed. Well, these are people who also might be going to class other jobs, revolving other people. So they're constantly juggling as their hours change.

[00:09:49] They have less access to credit because their income is always fluctuating. They never know what it's going to be. Um, so they have a lot of going on. Um, and, uh, they don't do as well with abstraction. So we have, you know, so many organizations that have these really big mission statements, “We exist to change the world.”

[00:10:08] And here's an employee who's scooping ice cream. Like they're not going to buy into that, right. Or you have all these big values, right. But do they really know what integrity even means or what it looks like, what your expectation is, right? So we have to change the way we talk about culture and take it off the mountaintop and bring it down to the earth.

[00:10:23] They tend to have fewer growth opportunities in their jobs and therefore they have less of a connection to those jobs. So you know, and that gets before we can get into like demographics and you know, all those kinds of things, but there's so many ways in which they're different. So managers need to change the way they lead them.

[00:10:40] And I come from the franchising world where there's a lot of people who they were in the corporate world who might've led hundreds or thousands of white collar people. They come into a setting like Edible Arrangements where it's hourly workers making minimum wage a little bit more and suddenly really struggle because this group is so different than those they led before. So we have to be much more deliberate about understanding this group and adapting to them just as we would, uh, the consumers we're trying to sell to. 

[00:11:05] Susan Barry: I think that gap in understanding between the sort of executive management, white collar level and an hourly associate, it contributes to this thing that I've noticed, which is companies hear like when people do studies about the fact that, oh, it's not just about the money. It's also about the benefits and the other things they hear. It's not just about the money and think that that means it's never about the money. Which is, of course, nonsense, right? It's just also about the other things. I don't know if I articulated that very well, but it's sort of like your point about the people who wrote all these leadership books.

[00:11:46] Like, were they writing the correct answer or were they writing the answer that the audience who would be buying the book wanted to hear? So I guess this preamble is leading to a question I promise, which is how do you address soft needs of hourly employees like the other stuff besides the money without being infantilizing or insulting? Like not just throwing a pizza party at the problem and calling it done. Do you know what I mean? 

[00:12:20] Scott Greenberg: Yeah. I'm so overhearing about pizza parties. Right? Like no one has ever like, I hate their job. They're about to quit. And the boss says, Hey, on Tuesday I'm buying you all pizza. It's like, Oh, in that case I'll stay. I'll get it. Right. 

[00:12:30] Susan Barry: Right. 

[00:12:31] Scott Greenberg: Like, it's absurd. Pizza doesn't bring people closer together. It's like, it's a lazy way to make yourself feel better as a manager. It's not that they don't appreciate the pizza, but it's not going to make them work harder, bond with each other, or care more about their job. And you're really right about how a lot of these people come in and say, no, it's about our mission.

[00:12:48] It's about, they, they have this very grand language, that sort of thing. But if we get back to, you know, the basic Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, at the top is self actualization, which people want, but not until their other needs are met. And need number one is like basic survival. So if these people can't pay their bills, right, to say to them, I'm going to buy you pizza or, uh, you know, we're going to help you develop into a better person. That's not, that's not meeting them where they're at. 

[00:13:16] Susan Barry: Or here's a branded water bottle. Like give me the money that you spent on this water bottle. I don't want a branded water bottle or, you know? 

[00:13:26] Scott Greenberg: so I don't think that hourly employers necessarily need to pay the most because it is true that money isn't the only thing that motivates them, but it's the main motivator until they have their basic needs are met. Once their basic needs are met. Well, then it's going to take other things to attract, retain, and motivate them. Throwing more money at the problem, which is what a lot of bosses do in out of the work environments, right, isn't going to do the trick. Now, all things being equal, yeah, they'll go if they can get paid a dollar more per hour somewhere else.

[00:13:58] So I say, well, then don't let things be equal. Create a better work environment that not only meets their hard needs, which is money, but their soft needs, which is that psychological, emotional payoff. And that is where most employers in the hourly world fall short. They, they don't understand the value system of the employees they want, the employees they have.

[00:14:17] They take their own values and impose it on them. Right. But you would never do that with consumers. You would never say, well, I know what my consumer, you get to do the research and then you adapt. Well, we need to do the same thing with labor market research, right? Today, these workers. What are their soft needs and what could you do to meet them? That's how you become an employer of choice. 

[00:14:39] Susan Barry: Gotcha. So I was going to ask you to give an example of soft needs, but it sounds like it could be almost anything and that the way to answer that question is to ask your particular group of hourly employees.

[00:14:51] Scott Greenberg: Yeah, well, there are certain things that again, I think we have to be careful anytime we generalize any group, but we can start by looking at a whole generation and generation Z increasingly is entering the workplace. They're taking up a larger and larger percentage of the hourly labor force. And there are certain, and again, I, we always need to look at the individuals, but there are certain things that a generational cohort that mattered to them more than the than previous generations. For example, life balance is huge. Us older people take huge pride in how much we suffered in earlier jobs.

[00:15:28] Susan Barry: Speak for yourself, older person! 

[00:15:31] Scott Greenberg: Apologies.

[00:15:33] Susan Barry: I'm just kidding.

[00:15:34] Scott Greenberg: All right. Yeah, I like to look at you and say, oh, kids these days. Uh, you with your avocado toast. No, but like, like certainly, you know, Gen X and definitely boomers. It's like, there's certain pride in the thick skin and we suffered through, we remain loyal and younger generations have looked at that. And they'd like, why are falling out in our heart attacks? And they don't see anything about our lifestyle that they want to replicate. And they don't want to make that sacrifice.

[00:15:59] And so they're standing up for life balance. And if by doing that, it's forcing employers to take that into consideration more, that's a good thing. And I say that as a father of two Gen Zers who I want to have life balance. So that's a priority for them. And along with that is flexibility, you know, because there's other things they want to have in their life.

[00:16:18] The idea of a boss telling you when you're going to work, that you have to ask permission to go to your sister's wedding, they're like, uh, I'm not going to play that right? We older people can be very judgmental about that, but that judgment isn't going to help us understand them and motivate them.

[00:16:35] So we need to take time to understand. Now, here's how we can use this to our advantage though, is one thing about Generation Z, they're really entrepreneurial. They want to run their own businesses. So I advise my clients that when they hire Gen Z workers, if that's the case for them, treat the job as a paid internship, meaning you're going to train them in their work, and you're going to coach them and have them get stuff done.

[00:16:57] But you're also going to have conversations with them where they feel like they're getting the broader training. Well, they're being prepped for the ambitions they have later in life. If you have those conversations and they see you as that kind of mentor there's going to be a deeper connection, much more so than a slice of pepperoni pizza.

[00:17:14] So, um, there's by just having a greater sense of putting your judgments aside. Like I, yes, I think generation Z is worse. I really do. The idea of ghosting on an employer, not showing up for a job interview, mental health breaks. Through my generation X lenses, all that stuff seems absurd, but that judgment doesn't help me lead them. So I need to put my judgment aside and instead seek to understand them. Then I can identify their soft needs and come up with management practices that help me meet those soft needs. That's how we're going to get through to them. 

[00:17:45] Susan Barry: That's really interesting. It's a good point. You know, this continual refrain of people just don't want to work. People just don't want to work. I don't think that's true. What do you think? 

[00:17:57] Scott Greenberg: I agree. I think that people have, you know, different work ethics and values, but you know, people say kids these days, you know what kids all days, right? Right. Let's not. Here's the thing. The thing about kids these days is they're kids, right?

[00:18:10] Their brains are still developing till age 25. They're still learning. They're still maturing. And so if you have employees who are younger than 25, the issue might not even be their specific generation, but youth itself. And when I wrote my book, I came across one study where they were interviewing older people about younger generations.

[00:18:28] And they identified a few mechanisms, one of which is we, number one, we look at the skill set and maturity we have today, and we compare that to younger people. Okay and, and obviously creates a gap, but also we have a false memory about how we were when we were young. I'll go play to my mom about my son.

[00:18:47] And instead of validating my feelings, she starts telling me stories about what an idiot I was when I was his age, things that I, things that I forgot. And so a lot of it is just youth itself. But listen, how long have people bagged on millennials? And now millennials govern countries and run companies and perform surgery and they pay the bills. They're just fine. 

[00:19:08] Susan Barry: Yes, it's absolutely true. 

[00:19:10] Scott Greenberg: Um, it's going to happen again with his next generation. 

[00:19:13] Susan Barry: We like to make sure that our listeners come away from every episode of Top Floor with some really specific practical ideas and tips to try in their businesses or in their lives. So aside from reading your book, what are a couple of things hotels can do right now to create a better work experience for hourly employees?

[00:19:39] Scott Greenberg: Great. So when we say a better work experience, what we really want is we want to be better than all the other hotels. You want those workers to come and you want those workers to stay. And obviously you want them to provide the best experience for guests as possible. So, a few ways to do that, we discussed one of those earlier, which is to identify their soft needs.

[00:20:00] Not your soft needs or previous workers, but the ones today. What are the things that really matter to them? And they might be different than what you assume. So, figure out what those, the psychological needs are, the emotional needs, just like you do with your guests. Right? What guests want today are different what they wanted 20 years ago.

[00:20:17] Same thing with team members. So what is it that they want emotionally that's going to give them a better work experience? Um, and then give them that experience. I think it's a good idea to look at reviews of other hotels, of your competitors. Um, and especially, you know, employee satisfaction reviews.

[00:20:34] What are employees saying they like or don't like? about your competitors that gives you insight into their value system, into their soft needs. So whatever they like, do more of that, whatever they dislike, do less of that. 

[00:20:47] Susan Barry: Ooh, that's a great idea. And that's a good idea for my consultants that are listening, who need another service to offer, offer that, that competitive comparison of like Glass Door reviews. That would be an awesome product to offer. 

[00:21:01] Scott Greenberg: Yeah, well, look, if we want to have influence in other people, we do this by understanding their emotional needs and then being the ones who meets that emotional need. If I can get you to feel something, I can get you to do something, whether I'm trying to please my guests at the hotel or attract and retain employees.

[00:21:16] It's the same thing. And so wherever we can get that data and people are now telling, they're posting their thoughts and feelings about the experiences are being given. They're basically telling us their value system. They're telling us what makes them unhappy and what they need to be happy. So do that, right? Like it's not complicated when you stop and think about it. So there's that. I also think that we need to be deliberate about building culture and that we monitor and measure it. Constantly through one on ones formally and informal by conducting surveys and come up with metrics to build culture that look at engagement that look at connection to the team.

[00:21:57] Um, what are the, how likely are you to still be working here in six months? Ask those kinds of questions. And along with it, if you have the guts, ask people about management. How do they feel about you? Right? Because a lot of people management positions, they're not necessarily getting the feedback that they need. And so I think if we ask those questions and then act accordingly, we're going to become much better managers. We're going to become much better employers and ultimately end up with much better teams. 

[00:22:24] Susan Barry: Okay, this is one of my favorite subjects. It comes up on the show all the time because I still don't think anyone has figured this out yet. Why do you think dining out has still not recovered from the pandemic? What is going on? 

[00:22:40] Scott Greenberg: Because in most instances, dining out sucks. The experience of going to a restaurant just no longer meets our needs. And I think there's a few reasons behind that. First of all, in a lot of places, the bar was not set that high to begin with. Um, but we all have our favorite restaurants that know how to treat us and that's why we're loyal. But what happened during the pandemic is, you know, all these restaurants really struggled financially. A lot of them closed, um, sent their employees away. Then they reopened and tried to get their employees back and then were, and some continue to be short-staffed.

[00:23:15] And so there's all this desperation there. And the first thing to go that when we're desperate and we're busy is the guest experience, is the emotional side. We're trying to get the pizzas baked and sliced and boxed and out the door. So there's less attention that's being paid to that. But also the pandemic caused a lot of restaurants to focus more on the online experience and on delivery, the out of store dining experience. So it's become less of a priority. So those people who still want to go, you know, I've shown up at restaurants and I can tell their priority are all those orders that are coming in on the printer. And all the delivery people, they're not so focused on me, which is an opportunity. Those restaurants who are committed to an in store experience are going to get loyalty.

[00:24:00] I'll certainly pay a lot more money. Um, and there's, you know, an opportunity, but it's the same thing like going to the movies. You know, I went to a movie with my wife two weeks ago. The movie didn't even start for 30 minutes until after showtime. I don't mind seeing movie previews, but the first 10 minutes were actual commercials, like for products. Not before the printed showtime, but after the showtime, right? People in the theater were talking. The food wasn't good. It was expensive. Right? Or at home, I can like pause if I want to go to the bathroom, eat what I want, be on my couch. You know what I mean? It's like—  

[00:24:33] Susan Barry: Tell the people around you to shut up.

[00:24:35] Scott Greenberg: That's right, that's right. Or be told to shut up. Um, I can talk if I want without feeling guilty. You know, I have more control over the experience. And I think that movie theaters like a lot of restaurants just haven't prioritized that. And um, I fear that a lot of them are going to disappear because they just can't replicate what can now look, it's even much cheaper now to buy a really nice TV than it once was. So the theaters and restaurants, a lot of places have a way to go to create the kind of experience that people, uh, you know, want to travel to. 

[00:25:05] Susan Barry: Definitely. Again, another business opportunity in there. I am sure. Well, Scott, we have reached the fortune telling portion of the show. Now you are going to peek into your crystal ball and predict the future so that I can tell you that you were wrong in a year — No, just kidding. What is a prediction that you have about the future of labor unions? 

[00:25:30] Scott Greenberg: That's a good question. I'm not exactly sure. So I'm going to look here into my crystal ball. What I see is this, I see more labor unions emerging in places where maybe they weren't there before. We've seen them, you know, manufacturing other places, but now it's starting to happen quite a bit in quick service restaurants and fast food.

[00:25:48] Right. And I live here in California where um, you know, the current trend is to sort of like really look after not only workers, but restaurant workers, that sort of thing. And so there are unions that are organizing. We see it in Starbucks. We see it in a lot of other places. I think that there'll be a lot more of that. And, uh, this is good in many ways, you know, minimum wage, buying power has not kept up. With everything else, right? And so that's a problem. 

[00:26:12] Susan Barry: It’s outrageous. Yeah. 

[00:26:14] Scott Greenberg: Because of this, again, this Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. So I love the idea of somebody advocating for people. The question is ultimately, will the things that the unions are fighting for, will they help? I am speaking to a, uh, company. I won't tell you who next week. Um, and they have, uh, just had their biggest year yet in terms of profits because they've raised prices. Because they had to rate prices because, you know, labor, that kind of thing. So they're doing the highest gross sales, but that can't sustain itself.

[00:26:43] So prices for things will go up as wages necessarily go up. And so eventually we have to find that balance. And so I hope that the labor unions will, will advocate for employees, but we'll also work with employers to sustain, you know, to create business models that can be sustained because having been an employer who really cared about workers and think they should be paid well, you know, that um, one of the reasons I got out is because when I saw what the minimum wage was going to in Los Angeles, I looked at our business model. I was not able to control pricing and I, for me, it was just a bit about basic math. I thought this doesn't pencil out and so I left. Morally I understood it, but business wise, it didn't make sense. So we have to find that balance. And uh, as unions continue to grow and gain power, I hope they'll use it to not just advocate for employees, but for business in general.

[00:27:32] Susan Barry: That's interesting. That business model question is a tough one. And you almost have to wonder like, particularly on the hotel and restaurant side, how sustainable the model is, if it's built on not paying people a living wage, ya know? 

[00:27:50] Scott Greenberg: Yeah, well, what's interesting too is that we see, um, you know, sometimes good old supply and demand does the trick when, you know, outside intervention doesn't like if employees now have other alternatives, they can drive for DoorDash. That's what my son stopped working fast food. He realized he could make more money delivering it 

[00:28:07] Susan Barry: And pick his own schedule and do what he wants and…  

[00:28:10] Scott Greenberg: Listen to music in the car and like, like all that. And so I just think that the marketplace ultimately may take care of itself in that regard. And we'll have to see what happens.

[00:28:19] Susan Barry: If you could wave a magic wand and create the perfect speaking engagement, what would it entail?  

[00:28:27] Scott Greenberg: The perfect speak engagement, I would say be an 11 a. m. slot after a good coffee break, um, in a room where people are seated, um, in a slightly rounded theater style setting. 

[00:28:39] Susan Barry: Wow, that's detailed. 

[00:28:40] Scott Greenberg: Well, you asked the question.

[00:28:21] Susan Barry: I wanna know!

[00:28:42] Scott Greenberg: Don't judge me. An audience that's like eager to learn that they've already pre-purchased books for everyone, which is awesome. Um, and there's also a long break afterwards when I can interact with people and answer questions and kind of have that one on one that, and every now and then I get, you know, versions of that situation and it's fantastic.

[00:29:00] Susan Barry: Any particular type of audience or is it just an audience that's engaged? 

[00:29:06] Scott Greenberg: I like an audience that likes to laugh, that enjoys storytelling, that sees the connection between hard skills and soft skills, and is willing to go to that place. As opposed to just what are the three steps for growing my business, but also, hey, what are three ways that I can be better at what I do because I'm the biggest asset or liability of my business?

[00:29:25] Like people are willing to kind of go there and they're open to that. And again, you know, I'm not just a motivational speaker. I'm also a business person. I borrowed money. I've like been in the weeds. And so I like that cross section of hard skills and soft skills. So audiences that are open to that, um, that's my jam.

[00:29:40] Susan Barry: Interesting. Okay, folks, before we tell Scott goodbye, we are going to head down to the loading dock where all of the best stories get told.

(Elevator sound plays. Elevator voice announces, “Going down.”)

[00:29:53] Susan Barry: Scott, what is a story you would only tell on the loading dock? 

[00:29:58] Scott Greenberg: Okay, Susan, I'm going to tell you about my mentor, Pete. This was when I was working at a, um, a new resort, um, in San Diego, California. I won't tell you where I was a bellman and I was a teenager and he was much older. He was in his mid twenties. He was wise. Okay. Tell outrageous stories like his last job where he got fired. The way he handled that is he sent a gift to his employer, it was a homemade gift. When I say homemade, I think he made it in the bathroom. Oh my gosh. He was so cool. That was my perception. It was outrageous. And so he trained me in hospitality at hotel.

[00:30:35] What we need to do to get tips. So after you take the luggage, you say, would you like me to fill the ice bucket so that they have time to pull out some money? He said, never bring their dry cleaning up to the room unless you know they're there and then call to say you're coming. So they have time to prepare the tip.

[00:30:49] Susan Barry: Wow.

[00:30:50] Scott Greenberg: He used to tell me to take the remotes out of hotel rooms. So people have to call down for us to bring up a remote so we could get tips.

[00:30:57] Susan Barry: You're kidding.

[00:30:59] Scott Greenberg: So listen to this. So Pete eventually got fired because, uh, they didn't appreciate his outside business endeavors at work, where I would see him sometimes accept money and reach into his pocket and pull out a baggie with something green and leafy must've been, must've been tea.

[00:31:14] Scott Greenberg: So he got fired and I wasn't there the day after I got fired. But what I was told is that when the bell staff came in, right outside the door of the hotel in the big ashtray filled with sand was another one of his gifts standing upright like the Washington Monument. It was his mark of Zorro. And I don't know how they know for sure that it was his or that it was something that he produced, but I choose to believe it. He inspires me to this day, Susan. 

[00:31:39] Susan Barry: Oh, wow. That is really something. And hopefully the, uh, bell attendants listening to this are not getting any tips from you. Scott Greenberg, thank you so much for being here. I know that our listeners got some great perspective on working with their hourly teams and we'll rush right out to buy Stop the Shift Show so that they can continue to learn. Thank you so much for riding up to the top floor. 

[00:32:10] Scott Greenberg: Susan, you helped so many people. This has been fun. Thanks. 

[00:32:14] Susan Barry: Thank you for listening. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/138. Jonathan Albano is our editor, producer, and all around genius. He even wrote and performed our theme song with vocals by Cameron Albano. You can subscribe to Top Floor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever. Ever you like to listen and your rating or review will go a long way in helping us give you more of what you like. 

[00:32:50] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Top Floor podcast at www.topfloorpodcast.com. Have a hospitality marketing question? Reach us at 850-404-9630 to be featured in a future episode.