Company Blog

Working for You

by Adam Zack — January 4, 2023

Why do I work for you?

I was thinking the other day about the workforce in the world. How we all work for someone (even if it’s yourself) and the thought of “This person works for me.” or “I work for this person.” entered my brain. Even though the words are exactly the same – I work for you – I realized that it can have two totally different meanings when you think about it. Most of the people working in the world today fall into the first category, one I think of as “a job”. I work for you. I am your employee. I perform the functions of my job description and as a result I get a paycheck and earn a living. The second, and I feel rarer meaning, is I work for you. I have your best interests in mind all the time. I want what’s best for you and our business because you treat me like I am of great value to you. You care about me. You care about my family. You appreciate me and communicate that every day. Yes, I earn a paycheck, but am not simply your employee. I am a vital part of your company’s success. And how do I know that? Why do I work for you? Because you show me why every day that I see you, and I take pride in taking care of your company when you’re not there. I care about ...

by Adam Zack — December 28, 2022

Trying is one step from failing.

Did you get everything that you vowed to do in 2022 done? I’m not one for resolutions, but am one for making a goal and to-do lists and love to be able to look at the list and cross off items as I get them done. I made at least 100 lists in 2022. Did I get them all crossed off? Hell no. Sometimes I’d look at it for days, before tossing it and starting a new list. 2022 had a way of throwing unexpected surprises at us, or at least me, (who am I to speak for you?) that made items on my current list less of a priority. A new list was then created and old items either were scrapped altogether or demoted down the list. I’m starting 2023 with a list of main goals and pinning it up. I’ll share it with anyone it affects directly and other than that, keep it to myself. I don’t resolve to do it, I’ll just do it. Like Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” I can try and be a better person, but either I am going to be a better person, or I’m not. Trying is one step from failing, and if it’s only something I am only going try and do, it shouldn’t be on my list. I’m looking at my list from yesterday right now, and I’ll get it done today. Then I’ll think of what is most i...

by Adam Zack — December 21, 2022

You get what you need…

You can’t always get what you want

But if you try sometime you find

You get what you need

– Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones

Christmas time is loaded with lists. What gifts to get who. Who’s coming for dinner? What do you need to shop for? What’s on the menu? Who to send cards to. Who not to send cards to. Who’s naughty. Who’s nice? As a kid we always made lists of what we wanted Santa (and a bit later, say 8 years old or so) for our parents to get us for Christmas. We started by looking at the Sears catalog in September. Marking pages, reading it over and over. Adding and subtracting to the list as fall marched towards Christmas. Not putting anything on the list that’s too far out of reach, but still with hopeful, lofty goals.

Grandparents wanted to know what was on the list. And since I had three sets of grandparents, the list got fulfilled a bit more. It’s a very exciting time of year for list makers. Because I have ...

by Adam Zack — December 14, 2022

People learn when you show them, teach them, talk to them.

This morning I was at a breakfast and the guest speaker was Captain Brien Dixon, Commanding Office of Naval Base Point Loma (San Diego). It’s a huge responsibility, and he oversees Naval stations throughout the Western United States. (Yes, there are Naval bases in states where there is no ocean). He talked about plans and projects that look not just at the next decade, but at the next 100 years! He is incredibly smart, practical and inspires patriotism. He’s commanded four different submarines all over the world, has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a great family man. Besides all the interesting projects our country is working on (Drone ships that look and appear to be battleships, but are really catamarans), threats to our country (China), and preservation and restoration of beaches from erosion, there was one thing that really stood out to me. He talked about the mistakes others have made, and how we are supposed to learn from them, but in truth that really doesn’t happen. Maybe the smartest people on the planet, of which I am not one of, learn from and study the mistakes of others, but the vast majority of us only learn from our own ...

by Adam Zack — December 7, 2022

We provide great customer service, but that’s our job.

You know that most times you won’t get what you want unless you verbalize it? I was thinking about that the other day and how important it is to actually say the things that you are thinking that affect other people. It’s so much easier not to say anything, until you start actually saying the things you think and want, then you realize “Why haven’t I done this before? What took me so long?” In my store in San Diego there is a very good customer I see often. She’s the mom of two little kids that seem like a handful, as toddlers usually are. She always has a calm patience about her and constantly expresses appreciation for the grocery shopping experience we provide for her. It’s like we are doing her a huge favor by being here, instead of us showing her our appreciation for her loyalty and kindness. Don’t get me wrong, we do provide great customer service, but that’s our job. So the other day I saw her shopping with the kids and I decided to say something. I told her that I had been meaning to tell her for some time how I felt she was just one of the nicest, kindest customers we have ever had and how I could just tell that she was an amazing mother ...

by Adam Zack — November 30, 2022

Winners remain calm under pressure, even when the pressure is intense.

I think I can speak for the group of us when I say that we all love being in a state of calmness. There’s no emergencies going on. We’re relaxed, focused and content. Calm is organized, aware and productive. It’s not distracted or interrupted. Calm comes after a good night’s sleep and isn’t easily distracted. Winners remain calm under pressure, even when the pressure is intense. We all want to remain calm, and want others around us to do the same. I have learned, however, that staying calm is not a piece of advice that can be easily given. Telling someone to “Just stay calm” or “Calm down” usually has the opposite effect. Something along the lines of “Don’t you tell me to calm down! I am calm! YOU calm down!!!!” Calm doesn’t have exclamation points. Ever. So next time you find someone on your team or your family in an obvious non-calm state, the way to get them to calm the F down is by how you behave in the situation. Leaders stay chill under pressure, and the team follows.

Save Some

by Adam Zack — November 16, 2022

Remember who you love the most, and who loves you the most.

Every night when I get home from work – about 6:40 – my wife and I have what we call our Daily Debriefing. It may or may not include a little sip of bourbon, but it is also our dedicated time to catch up on what went on that day for each of us and any other topics of importance. It lasts about 10-15 minutes usually, and we sit out back, overlooking the small airport, riverbed and hills behind our home. Last night she was telling me about this 5-½ hour online personality test, training and workshop that she was required to do for her job. While it sounded mostly very boring and overly broad to me, she did get one nugget out of it that I really liked. It was something like: “Everyday, save some of your best for the ones you love most.” It made me think that especially over the last couple years, and during the holidays in the grocery business, we go home both physically and mentally exhausted, having expended all our best during the busy day and getting home with no gas left in the tank, so to speak. Every day brings some kind of stress, be it financial, operational, supply related or customer service challenges. It’s hard. (I guess that’s why it’s call...

by Adam Zack — November 9, 2022

Bring value to the table.

Adam’s on vacation this week, so his life-long friend Scott offered up a guest blog.

Hi, this is Adam’s friend Scott. Haven’t filled in for a while but thought I might help him out as he seems to always be helping others out. I am presently living on a small island in Northwest Washington State and my choices for groceries are limited. I usually shop at a chain store at my other home in Reno, Nevada and they usually have 5 or 6 different choices for each item, so when I show up to a smaller market here, my first thoughts are to drive off the island to head to a chain store. Honestly, I’ve done it before but recently I’ve had a different outlook on my local market. In my spoiled attitude of being able to choose 8 different brands of penne pasta in Supermarketland, I wasn’t noticing that the items I was choosing were of a greater quality, and when I shop at our local market, my choice is usually the highest quality item. My interpretation of this comes down to the fact that someone is actually deciding what brand is better and keeping it stocked for me. We’ve become a selfish community and want many choices at very cheap prices, but my local marke...

by Adam Zack — November 2, 2022

Forgiveness is a great personal character trait.

“So word on the street is that ur a really good writer, and I was hoping u could take a look at my world literature essay and proofread it? It’s due tmrw, but it’s only two pages long 😅”. I got this text from my ninth grade nephew this past Sunday afternoon. I wondered what street he had been hanging out on to hear “the word”? Nerd street? Dork alley? He’s definitely not the type to be hanging on the streets looking for hookers and blow, so that was out. And I wondered, and asked him, “Does it have a lot of abbreviations like ur txt?!”. He assured me that it didn’t. “Lmao no wayyyyy 😂😂😂”

Of course I was happy to help him. I sincerely care about my nephews and nieces. Family is important to me. The essay I read was a very well written analysis of Alan Paton’s novel Cry the Beloved Country, and was titled ‘Forgiveness…Amen!” It went on to examine the relationship between two main characters in the book and explained how forgiveness, of both others and themselves, made them grow...