Thanks

While talking to your supervisors and teams remember to thank them for their efforts, especially if it has been particularly busy, or cold and wet. Above all, remember to be considerate. I once worked as a paid car park supervisor on a commercial three-day event. The weather was atrocious – cold, with constant driving rain. Several staff failed to report on day two and even more failed to show on day three. The rest of us had to work harder in the horrible weather, but on the last day there was a rumour of a small consideration for those of us who had stayed with it. As the last cars left on the last day, a manager drove round to tell us to report to the event manager’s office. We all walked half a mile in the driving rain, and gathered outside the manager’s office.

We stood in the rain until he graced us with his presence ten minutes later ‘to thank us for staying to the end’. Guess who practised his Anglo-Saxon insults and never went back there again? And guess which event manager just can’t get any staff to work for him and can’t understand why?