A longtime fantasy of mine is to run away. Disappear. Go. Vanish. Witness protection seemed like a dream come true. Get a fresh start with a home and a job in a new place where nobody knew me. I’d be unencumbered by the past and have limitless options for the future. After every vacation we…
Author: Steve Ainslie
The Problems Of Scale
The last 10 years of my sales management career were focused on transforming sales team to operate “like a machine”. We did this by standardizing processes for recruiting, hiring, training, selling, managing and disciplining sales reps and managers. We calculated how many leads we needed to produce how much revenue. We measured phone calls, customer…
Inguinal Hernia Repair Surgery & Recovery
Note: This post is going to detail my inguinal hernia repair surgery and my post-op experience. It is going to be specific, clinical and likely to be of interest only to other athletic men who are considering the surgery. For everyone else, I recommend skipping it.
I Just Had Inguinal Hernia Surgery And I Am Not A Happy Camper
Due to a cancellation, I had my inguinal hernia repair surgery three days ago. I’ll write a separate post detailing the surgical procedure in case other men who have this condition are looking for details. I’ll spare everyone else the details. Suffice it to say, I am on the other side of the surgery. There…
Get Ready For A Pandemic of Excuses
Sometime in the late 1990’s, as call centers were outsourced, monopolies grew and customer service became equated with “spend as little as possible”, I began hearing this whenever I called a company for support: “Due to increased call volumes, hold times may be longer…” For 30 years, it’s been the standard greeting for every business,…
American Reject
I wish I had questioned my beliefs and rejected more of what I’d been told earlier in my life. I would have saved decades of wasted time and effort.
Jar Of Olives – A Love Story
She was on food stamps. I was unemployed. We were in love. When I was helping unload the groceries, she said “I have a surprise for you.” She handed me a jar of green olives. Because on one of our early dates, I told her I loved green olives. It was one of the sweetest…
Patience Is Not My Middle Name
I hate waiting for anything. So you can imagine how much I like hospitals. I spent the past thirty years in waiting rooms as my poor wife had appointments, treatments, surgeries and tests. And finally those agonizing last days and weeks waiting for her to die. At first, I sat in waiting rooms and worried…
Pandemic Musical Chairs
Social distancing at the car dealership, in the hospital and at the doctor’s office have much in common. Masks are worn. Two thirds of the waiting room chairs have been removed. There is tape and stickers on the floor to mark appropriate spots to stand 6 feet away from other people. Counter-productively, in order to…
Exercise in Madness
Before going in for surgery I wrote my entire exercise regime. That way, if I forget my routines over the next several weeks and months as I slowly recover from hernia surgery, I’ll have a record so that I can eventually get back to my full routines. It took 7 pages.