The Pitts

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Let’s say your Dad, Husband, brother, best friend etc was killed…. How soon could I joke about it?

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That all depends. Do we or do we not still have a First Amendment? If we do, then go for it.

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Going to totally depend on what side the joke is about.

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Well, I guess it's on us. E.G., the rifle...Germans.

I've come to a few cynically humorous observations surrounding recent events in Utah, and I am turning to the Voice of Reason that is the O-T to ask when it might be appropriate to share without being subjected to online stalking by some self-righteous TD hacker, or getting cancelled / fired / invited to Sonic, etc.

I can't afford to lose my late night gig, man.

What say the O-T...??

Is this one of those coded messages, where you first go to a certain sentence, and then to a letter within that sentence, in order reveal a hidden message?

1 : 26
2 : 42
3 : 31

I think the Magic started a couple of weeks before, when LSU went into Kyle Field in College Station and gave #3 ranked Texas A&M all they wanted in route to an eventual 33-17 Tigers loss.

After all the Hallman years, to see a team come out and fight like that was a strong statement. As I recall we hung in there pretty good until the fourth quarter, when the heat and the A&M depth got the best of us.

It was hot as balls that day, and people were dropping like flies. You know it's hot when you can't even drink. Had to down straight Diet Coke all game, and never once had to pee. Everything just sweated out. I think it was like 120 degrees on the field. Unbearable.

But even then, everybody was pretty fired-up, because we knew we had a coach, and the core of a good team.

Yikes...

The truck was about $100K before taxes and fees?
With 6,000 (hard salesman demo) miles?
at 10.6% interest, which means your credit is shite (no judgment, just saying).

The classic rule, "never borrow money to buy a depreciating asset", is good, but not always practical.

If you must borrow, then the 2025-era rule should be, "buy within your means, and only if you already have good credit so you can get a lower rate, and then, even if you have to do without, pay off the note with all possible speed".

IF this is real, it is a recipe for disaster. But I'm thinking it's BS just to get people worked up. No one would actually do this, right?

Remember the words of Nick Saban, "There are two types of pain, the paid of discipline, and the pain of regret."

Guys, live small and save your money. You're going to need it.
Live below your means, do without, live simply, consume less.
I cannot say it enough.

Invest wisely, and resist the temptation to dip into your fund every 5 minutes (expensive car / truck / boat / house / camp / stereo gear, whatever).

Marry a girl who loves you for you, shares your values, and won't spend money like it's water.

Keep it up, and you can retire at 50 with lots of money.

And one other thing, 50 will be here before you know it. Trust me on that one.

I grow bell peppers, banana peppers, Jalopeno peppers, poblano peppers, and Tabasco peppers. Most I just freeze and use conventionally to add to flavor. I will pickle some of the Jalopenos and banana peppers. The Poblano's and Jalopeno's get stuffed.

I put up the Tabasco peppers with garlic, salt, sugar, and vinegar, and set them in a dark cabinet for a year or so. They are incredible in any kind of soup, sauce piquant or gumbo. And it doesn't take much either...

I don't get into the super-hot peppers. It's not a contest with me. More about overall flavor. YMMV.

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Hate to break this to you but Katrina wasn’t that bad if the levees don’t fail… I’d say IDA was worse as far as power.

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Not for Louisiana anyway. Mississippi Gulf coast got hammered. The surge in Waveland was over 30 feet. Had the storm not jogged east in the last few hours and that 30' wall of water had hit NOLA, there'd be nothing left.

Ida was bad across the board, because it came inland and then just sat for a day, grinding up everything between Houma-Grand Isle to Hammond. It jogged east at the end as well. Had Ida hit Baton Rouge, it would have been very, very bad.

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Trump cuts funding to NWS and a clear map peak season.

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For all we know, there could be a Cat 5 storm churning in the Gulf right now, and El Trumpo has commanded the NHS to send out a clear map just so we'll feel better about things...

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Doesn’t matter how old a man is, his mom will always be seen as the mom he had when he was a child. Thankful I still have mine.

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And you will always be her little boy. I lost my mom in 2020, at 90, and that's how it still was. Don't ever take her for granted, not for a second. One day she'll be gone, and the inconceivable will become reality.

Condolences to Coach and his family...

A few random pointers from a 45-year career:

All customers have problems, so learn their business thoroughly, and help them solve their problems. You'll be a star.

Know your own product and your own company inside and out, top to bottom, start to finish, so you can help identify problems, and create opportunities to be useful and help solve them. Study everything until you know it cold. This won't happen overnight.

Don't be a pest, but stay in regular contact, and ALWAYS be there for them when they need you. When making a call, be on time and never overstay your welcome.

That said, the three most important things in sales are: follow-up, follow-up, and follow-up.

Customer service is everything. It will separate you from mediocre salespeople. So go the extra mile, and over-deliver.

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR WORD..!!

IF YOU EARN YOUR CUSTOMERS' TRUST, YOU WILL EARN THEIR RESPECT, AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES WILL FOLLOW.

NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER LOOK GOOD.

Never, ever, lie or otherwise be dishonest. Don't make promises you cannot keep.

Never cover up. Own your mistakes.

ALWAYS treat anything your customer tells you as confidential. No exceptions.

Charge a fair price, but never gouge. Know your numbers thoroughly so you can give competitive pricing while maintaining your margin. Also so you will know when someone is being unreasonable when they beat you down on price. Respect is a two-way street.

Always be a professional. Be well groomed, nicely and appropriately dressed, and as fit as possible. Use no gratuitous profanity or any disrespectful or pejorative terms. Speak clearly using proper English and simple declarative sentences with no jargon or buzzwords. Wear nice shoes. If you must wear a fragrance, apply the minimum amount possible, using only your left hand. There is nothing worse than transferring bad cologne when shaking hands. Your car should be clean and well maintained. An older vehicle in perfectly maintained condition says more about you than the latest thing that you just went out and wrote a check for. Keep the 911 in the garage until the weekend.

As soon as you can afford it, buy a few custom shirts. A properly fitted collar, with a properly tied tie, is the picture frame for the face. The correct sleeve length, and a jacket (even an inexpensive one) that has been fitted, works wonders.

Never wear a flashy $20,000 wristwatch or gaudy jewelry. If you want to wear a Rolex, get a stainless Datejust, Explorer or Submariner depending if you are small, medium or large, and get the Oyster band and not the Jubilee. It's more substantial. And don't wear anything new; get one with some patina. You don't want to look like you just splurged with your last commission check, and the older watch will create the impression that you have been successful for a while. A Patek Aquanaut is $50K and no one will know what it is, unless they know, which can be very cool.

When taking your customer to lunch or dinner, drink strictly in moderation and only when you already have something in your stomach. Be unfailingly courteous to the wait staff, order modestly, and tip well but not excessively.

Treat your own staff with the same respect and courtesy. You will need them so you aren't wasting time in the office when you could be out talking to customers. Besides, it's the right thing to do. Regularly bringing a couple of dozen hot donuts or other treats to the office staff never hurts. Be equally kind to your client's office staff, and keep your eyes to yourself.

Never act inappropriately when entertaining a customer or client. The waitress you are hitting-on may be his neighbor's daughter. You never know. Even if not, it's bad form. And for God's sake, stay away from casinos, strip clubs, and anything after 10PM.

Have fun, all you want, but never do anything with a client he won't be able to tell everyone about (including his wife) the next day. Plus which, you never want to have anything held over your head in exchange for having to lower your price.

When entertaining, never talk business unless necessary, or planned. Get to know your customer, let them talk about their family, their history, their interests. Ask questions that get them talking about themselves. ONLY at the END of the lunch, dinner or event, do you bring up the follow-up, along the lines of, "Jim, it was great getting to know you. Thanks for such a nice time, and I'll call you on Monday about that thing".

You don't want it to be a chore for your customer to be around you, so above all, remember the golden rule.

You want to be conservative, dependable, solid, and authoritative. When people think of someone who embodies the best representation of your particular business or industry, you want them to think of you. This is the recipe for long-term success in any field.

Remember, it's the little things that tell you the big things about people, so pay attention to the little things, both across the table and on your side. This is not some boomer's take on what works in sales -- it's 100,000 years of human evolution in action. People can sniff-out a phony, a weasel, or a liar a mile away.

So, if you haven't figured out by now, sales isn't just about products and services, it's mainly about interpersonal relationships and creating a dynamic where people want to deal with you, and seek you out, because you are both pleasant to work with, and can help solve their problems and make their own lives easier and more profitable.

I hope this is helpful.

My wife (no pics) was doing the flowers for my sister's (also no pics) wedding. During a consult with sis and my future BIL, sis calls him a "stupid MF" and an "arsehole". Wife just backs out of the room waiting on the inevitable explosion, thinking the wedding is off. But no, nebbish BIL goes through with the wedding. Sister over time reveals herself to be the batshite crazy count we always knew her to be. Two messed-up kids later, they are still married but live apart.

In her spare time, she invents shite to start with the rest of the family.

Needless to say, I limit my exposure.

Korean War K-Rations. Circa 1980.

Not bad, of course, I'd probably throw up now...

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And that’s a different thing than just straight line speed.

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E.G., Slip Watkins...

Organized a posse to look for his ball...?