Attitude

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference"

                                                 ~Winston Churchill

As a sport management major, I've already learned quite a bit of the business side of sport. I guess that's really what sport management is in a way. One big part of not only being a good manager but being successful in business altogether is having a good attitude towards your clients, customers, and fellow employees. This is something that the Entry Department at the NC State Fair seems to have trouble with. I had to go there and pick up my photo today and I was not at all pleased with the attitude of the person who helped me. I will say that almost everyone who works in the Entry Department is over the age of 50 and everyone I've come in contact with the past couple of years has this attitude problem. Now, I don't think this is the reason behind the attitude problem but I do think it's wrong for them to have this type of attitude everytime.

Here's what I'm talking about. I walked in to the Entry Department and told the person that I needed to pick up my photo. I said my name and she asked if I had my claim ticket. I said I didn't because I actually turned in my photo before the turn in dates to the office of the competiton manager (I was in Nashville at that time). She then asked if I knew the exhibit number and, once again, I told her I didn't. This next part is what I had a problem with. The person got pretty upset and almost acted like it was my fault that this happened. I immediately said to her in an equal tone that it wasn't my fault and went on to say the competition head ok'd it for me to do this in the first place. After that incident, I went to the front office next door and, just as they were paging the competition head, that same person from the Entry Department came over with my picture. She said they had looked up my name and found it.

Now see? How hard was that? Instead of creating a problem she could've simply looked up my information and find the picture. All of the attitude and such was not necessary. I'm writing this to offer advice to those of you who are thinking about getting into business: always try to keep a good attitude yourself and make sure you employees do the same. This is, in my opinion, not only a key to managing a successful business but it's also a key to living a good, wholesome life.