You’ve seen them, the people in the middle of the walkways of local mall, taking a survey or promoting a product who desperately attempt to get a few minutes of your time to explain what they have to sell. Never thought that’d be me, but Saturday, I was. The Hagerstown area Chamber of Commerce gave business the opportunity to have tables setup at the Hagerstown Mall to promote their businesses, so there I was representing Cape Air for five hours on a Saturday. Another one of those, “I never thought I’d be doing this”. It was an interesting day, with plenty of time for observations.
Technically, I wasn’t selling anything, just raising the profile of our company and the existence of our service out of Hagerstown. My table was mainly a table of free stuff. Free mints, t-shirts, coffee mugs, measuring tapes and a sign-up for a free round trip. In spite of all that, the common person was afraid to make eye contact or come within 10 feet of the table, all the tables, for fear of being obligated to hear a sales pitch or some other requirement.
If I were Stacy and Clinton of What Not to Wear Fame, I’m not sure I could live with myself. Maybe I’m spoiled from growing up in a country where you dressed to impress when you went to the mall, but we are a very sloppily dressed people.
A child’s fascination with airplanes is almost universal.
Mankind’s fascination with dogs IS universal. The Humane Society table was next to Cape Air’s, so everyone was stopping to check out the animals. A couple of dog fights broke out which I thought was a little ironic.
I’ve done a lot of things over the past year for Cape Air that I never imagined I’d do, things that have been out of my normal comfort zone and things that aren’t necessarily highly regarded by the general public. That got me thinking. If I’m that committed for this airline that I’m a part of, how willing have I been to go out of my comfort zone and take a stand for my core belief?
