What Do You Value?

What do you value?  One of my most prized possessions is a dictionary.  Of course, it is not just any dictionary.  The dictionary was printed in 1912, the same year that my father was born.  My father valued books and whenever he acquired a book, he would sign it and put the year done.  He passed that practice down to his children.  I have very fond memories of this dictionary.  I would sit on my father's knee in his big green reclining chair while he did the crossword puzzle.  I would "help".  When I wouldn't know a word, which was all the time because we started this when I was 4.  We used to look up  words together in this dictionary.  We continued to do crosswords together even when I was too big to sit on his lap.  After my father had passed, we went through all of his books.  He had given instructions on his special books who they should be given to.  I was lucky enough to get the dictionary that is fragile and held together by masking tape and scotch tape.  I proudly display it in my living room and is the one thing that I don't allow my grandson to touch.  It is worth nothing, but it is priceless to me because it brings back so many happy memories.

People who do marketing for a living tell us that value is determined by percentage of disposable income and emotional attachment.  What this means is that when I spend $500 on a purse, it is a great deal of money for my disposable income.  When a rich person spends $2700 on a purse, it is just pocket change for them.  So, my purse is really valuable to me and I take good care of it.  For the rich person, it is no big deal.  Similarly, when you are choosing a day care provider, you are really choosy.  You have an enormous emotional attachment to your children, so you want to get the best provider regardless of the cost. 

I value you many things.  I value good customer service and I am willing to pay extra to get it.  I value people in my community and I am willing to support them.  I value my family.  I value handbags.  I also value coffee. 

That may be a silly thing to value, but I value it.  There is nothing that gives me more peace than to wake up at 5:30 am on the weekend and have a cup of coffee on my deck.  It is only me and the birds and it just centers me.  It is my thinking time and I plan my week ahead and review the week behind.  Also, I have had some of my best conversations over a cup of coffee.  My first boss was the best boss ever.  We started each working day with a mandatory coffee break.  That is when I started drinking coffee.  As a staff, it was a team building exercise, sharing both personal and professional stories. 

I also used to believe Tim Horton's marketing.  They used to tell me that "every cup tells a story".  I believed them.  I used to be a regular customer ordering a double double and waiting in line for 20 minutes in the drive-thru. 

Then, a few years ago, it changed.  I was meeting three friends for coffee.  The three friends went in one line and I went in the other.  They already had their orders and I was still waiting in line.  The cashier was flirting with her male customer.  I smiled because the guy was way out of this girl's league but he did chat with her for a long time as an ego boost before he left.  The cashier was a little miffed as I stepped up and ordered my large double double and a glazed cinnamon bun.  She slammed the coffee down on the counter and handed me the bag with my cinnamon bun.  I looked in the bag to confirm what I saw and told her that I had been given a  frosted cinnamon bun by mistake.  She looked at her cash register and said that it said frosted.  I said regardless of what it said, I had ordered a glazed cinnamon bun.  She looked at her cash register again and confirmed that it said frosted and then she said, "NEXT". 

I walked away from this poor customer experience with my cup of coffee that now told a different type of story for me.  Then, I started looking into the company and I didn't like what I was finding out.  The first thing was that Tim's was no longer a Canadian company.  Yet, they still play on the emotion of our Canadian pride in all of their marketing.  I find that disingenuous.  For that, and many other reasons, I now support local coffee shops. 

On Friday, the co-founder of Tim Horton's died at 88.  Ron Joyce was a larger than life billionaire.  He had very humble beginnings and served in the navy and was a police officer when he met Tim Horton and the rest is history.  Some people say he never forgot his humble beginnings.  There is also some history to suggest that he may have.strayed from his humble beginnings.  Either way, he donated a great deal to charity.  He donated 7.5 million to support  a hospital in Burlington's redevelopment and expansion.  Most of us will never have the resources to donate even a percentage of that amount.  However, even if only has one billion dollars (he has more), this would be less than 1% of his worth donated to charity.  I typically donate at least 4% of my income each year to causes that I believe in and I feel bad that I don't donate more. 

It is an interesting exercise.  What do you value?