342. Power outage, asking for GM referrals part of life is the volatility.

Caught in the chaos of a Twin Cities thunderstorm, I found myself juggling unexpected challenges—from tornado sirens to an unprepared GM unsure of how to react. It's a story that highlights the importance of solid crisis management and the gaps that can appear when leadership isn't proactive. Join me as I share the frustrations and insights that come from navigating such turbulent moments at work, while reflecting on my personal journey through the book of Psalms. These daily readings have become a source of strength and fresh perspectives, bridging the demands of both professional and spiritual growth.

When citywide power outages knock everyone off course, staying connected becomes a strategic game. I've uncovered some surprising places to find reliable Wi-Fi, even when the lights go out. From the sturdy infrastructures of libraries to the less crowded sanctuaries of car dealerships and shopping malls, these spots ensure that the digital world remains at your fingertips. Whether it's rearranging appointments or sticking to a plan amidst chaos, there are always ways to keep things moving. This episode is a blend of real-world solutions and personal reflections, offering valuable insights for anyone looking to tackle life's unpredictable hurdles with optimism and resolve.

Chapters

• 0:32 Navigating Challenges and Seeking Inspiration
• 8:04 Finding Wi-Fi During Power Outage

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:32

Good morning, good morning. Well, I'm going to slightly vent for a minute here, so just bear with me, and then I'll get spiritual for a minute. So if you don't like spiritual Christian-y talk, then feel free to skip. You don't have to listen if you don't like that stuff. But yesterday in the Twin Cities we had a big storm like thunderstorm. People were saying we're going to get softball-sized hail and people were leaving whatever they were doing early so that they could get out of wherever, take shelter, get home and stuff. And so I'm at my house and the sky is that pukey green color and everything is just windy, like really strong wind and gust and just rain, and it's just, it's thunderstorm time. It's like bunker down the hatches, we're not doing stuff today, kind of thing. And I, my gm, calls me. I'm like oh, maybe, like he needs help or something. So I kid you not, this is how it goes.

Speaker 1: 1:33

We use a training platform called Trainual. It basically has like here's what to do for jobs, descriptions, like that's our training manual, and it's just digital and stuff. So he calls me and our last class of the day starts at 6.30, goes till 7.15. He calls me and literally it goes just like this. Hey, nathan, so the tornado sirens are going off right now. I looked up in train you all, and there's not a procedure on what to do when there's a tornado in the area. What do you want me to do? And he's just so flat when he says it. So I'm like bro, like, if there's tornado sirens and there's brush going all over the place, get everyone to the bathrooms, stop class, get people to safety, away from the glass and windows. Like safety over finishing class.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Like I was just like perplexed, like I was confused. I was just like perplexed, like, for I'm, I was confused, like I didn't. I didn't. I couldn't tell if he was being joking or if he was just needing some input or some validation that he was making the right decision. But I was just surprised. Like there are tornado sirens going off. What do you want me to do? Like you should probably make sure you don't die from a tornado would be a good first step. Um, I was just I couldn't believe like is this real? Is this really happening right now? Like it was just threw me off. So, um, that was yesterday, that was, uh, what was that? Tuesday, that was monday.

Speaker 1: 3:12

Monday evening, um, and then monday morning, I was just having our weekly team meeting and I told the staff like my gm hopped off early because he had a lead to go to and some folks gave some candid feedback about some stuff the gm is just not doing. Like, hey, I know he's probably overwhelmed and overworked, but hey, nathan, can this be part of his responsibility? Like he prints off the class plans for the week so that the instructors don't have to print them off at home and bring them in? Can the gm just print them off at the studio? It's like, well, yeah, absolutely, is that not happening? Like no, people are usually scrambling because the gm is is not doing that.

Speaker 1: 3:53

And so I told the staff hey, if people have referrals or whatever, with their recent wave of hiring and interviews, I was hoping for instructors level one or level two to be interested in a more management, legit management type role. It's been a struggle for current GM and I'd like to have more options available. I've talked with them, worked with them. They realize it's been a tough fit. I was hoping there'd be more actual management type people stepping up or interviewing or applying, and so there's kind of like this oh okay, and I never told him like, hey, I'm replacing my GM. I did not ever say that my GM and I know like, hey, this is the studio is not embracing the GM, it's been pushed back. It's been like pulling teeth and that the GM and I have already talked about like a transition and what the studio needs. And so he knows that it's an interim role and it's not a multi-year thing that we're in.

Speaker 1: 5:01

And so the rest of the squad figured out or I think they're realizing that, okay, nathan is entertaining more permanent options, entertaining more permanent options because it's it's been like trying to what's the term? Putting a square peg into a round hole, something like that? Um, and so they said, hey, we have some like people that could be a fit Like, do you want referrals? How do you want to do this? Yeah, absolutely, I will. If you have a referral, someone that you think can do this, I will absolutely have a conversation and I will, I will embrace opportunities like that. And so it's, it's just tough.

Speaker 1: 5:43

And so yesterday, when, like, hey, there's a tornado and there are sirens going off, what should I do? What if my phone wasn't working? What should I do? What if my phone wasn't working? Would he have still, like, had class like normal and allowed, like a, an unsafe customer experience to occur? I hope not. What if I wasn't available and I was on vacation? Like, do I call him while he's on vacation? No, like, why is he calling me when there's a safety concern? I hope, I hope he's able to run with it and realize it's a safety concern. We got to do something. So, anyhow, that was all that. And then what else? What else? What else? I think that's about it for now.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Oh, finally, on the spiritual stuff. So my church is going through the book of Psalms and we're just reading Psalms, like three or four Psalms a day, maybe five. And it was surprising to be reminded that in Psalms the guy that wrote Psalms is King, king david. You know the king david in jewish history, super famous guy, and people always think, oh, he defeated goliath, he did this great thing, he did this really bad thing. And people think that, like, life is pretty stable. But from one one psalm to the next, it's like again one song. It'll literally be like dear god, you're amazing, you're wonderful, I will praise you. And then literally the next one's like dear god, oh, my god, where are you? Ah, life is terrible, I'm being pursued, crush my enemies and like the end is near. And then the next one's like dear god, you're amazing how solid of a rock you are, and like just reading it back to back. It's like my goodness, this guy's life is volatile, it's not consistent, but that was a refreshing reminder that life is not always flat and consistent for me either. And so when it feels like I'm the only one who's having these ups and downs, good days, bad days, even like midday good day, bad day that it's not just me, that it's across human history, that you feel like you're on top of the world, you feel like you're at the bottom of the pile. So that was a refreshing reminder.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Today power is out throughout the Twin Cities, so I will be looking for power businesses with power just bumming on their wi-fi. My three go-to spots are car dealership here we go, uh. Car dealerships. Libraries oh, there's one more and shopping malls. Everyone goes to a coffee shop. It's kind of boring. Shopping malls, car dealerships and libraries. Libraries are government, so they have decent reliability for utilities. Car dealerships are commercial. They cannot be down for long, so they are usually pretty good. And shopping malls are massive and they have solid battery backup systems. So those are my three Wi-Fi go-to spots that are usually not so crowded, and I'll be checking those out today. So that's the game plan. That's what we're doing. Um, I have to shuffle some appointments around, but I mean, at the end of the day we'll be just fine, life will carry on. That's where it, that's where we're going. Let's rock and roll.