I’m preparing my acceptance speech for the father of the year award. I’m sure that this is not too presumptuous on my part though it may come as a surprise to the youngest Lipton!
I am ALWAYS on time. When The Lipton’s meet for dinner at seven I’m there at 6:50: which makes me 10 minutes late in the eyes of my parents and sister who call the police at 6:55!
I’m worse on travel days. My fiancée and daughter don’t like travel days with me because I drive them hard to be on time, and on time to me is at the airport 2-3 hours before flight time. Love being wonderful and all, my fiancée accepts me like this. My daughter is less forgiving.
The drama comes when we get to the gate. My daughter rolls her eyes as if to say “you SEE you stubborn, old, balding and annoying man? Now we have to WAIT an HOUR! I could have stayed home in my pajamas and INSTAGRAM’D for an hour longer and STILL have been on time!”
My explanation is always the same: "it went fine this time, and so we wait. But I leave early for the time that all does NOT go fine!" It always struck me as reasonable explanation for why I'm so annoying on travel days.
This morning at 1 AM my daughter called me from the airport in Barcelona. She was crying hysterically. I think you know where this is going!
Turns out that airlines in Europe post the departure time of a flight and then strangely enough....depart! So when she got to the gate 4 minutes (probably an hour!) later than that, she was shocked to find the plane gone and her weekend ruined. Cue the tears and the call to "daddy" (who is dad, Padj and old man all other times other than 1AM emergencies).
Here’s where the father of the year committee picked up on my nomination. This was the greatest opportunity at “I TOLD YOU” ever in history. She certainly had it coming. I can't count the number of times she's heard me say (or yell) "GET MOVING, we NEED to be at the airport TWO hours before the flight!"
If you ask her (I won't risk that) even she would probably say she had it coming and that my restraint was impressive and worthy of award.
Here’s the thing: I don’t like to say what doesn’t need saying and clearly Air Portugal has taught her a lesson that 21 years of my parenting had failed to teach her! The horse was dead, no point in continuing the beating. The magnanimity I showed on that 1 AM phone call leads to this nomination. I’d like to thank the academy!
If all I said were things that were known, how long would you read this column? So I try hard to shed new light and speak new words.
I believe podcasting gives me a great opportunity to do that! And so....
The link at the bottom of this blog post will take you to my first ever podcast. Not just MY first podcast, but YOUR first podcast too! This is the first podcast produced exclusively for the independent paint retailer! The first episode is nothing to get excited about other than the accomplishment of having done it. It’s not an overly interesting episode: just me, talking about me: why I do this and what I hope to accomplish. It’s a start and I’m really excited about it. There is much more to come.
Not long after I drop this first episode (I love using all my new podcaster lingo) I really get the conversation going. Episodes two and three are with Dan a Calkins, the CEO of Benjamin Moore. That taping is all done and I’ve listened to every word many times. I’m very comfortable saying: Dan came to share! We run the gamut of topics and Dan shares a perspective with us all that’s both honest and relevant! He gives independent paint retailers a rare glimpse into a company that matters (a lot) to all of us.
If you’re wondering about the topics we chose to discuss, I’m going to leave that as a surprise except for the little tease at the end of this episode. I challenge Dan with topics that are on all of our minds. I also give him a chance to educated us on important issues we don't hear much about.
If you’re an independent paint retailer, a Benjamin Moore dealer or employee this is a must listen. Since this is my first podcast, please forgive some changes in the sound that may be noticed in a few spots. I'm still learning and by episode 2 I will have that all figured out.
So click the link and hit the start arrow and enjoy the first episode of “Mark, My Words!” It'll work on any device with a speaker, no downloads necessary.
In two weeks or so, I’ll post episode 2, and you can all get to know Dan Calkins. As always, thank you for reading and now, for listening!
Mark
https://www.markliptonpaint.com/podcasts