Page 79 - Issue 45

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Loyalty from a company or a boss is getting Here, though, I try to remain loyal to companies
harder to fi nd and apparently tougher for I can trust who work to invest in their local
business to implement. My parent’s generation communities around the United States.
could almost always count on fi nding a long-
term job right outside of high school, a short What you support
training program or the military. I can remember
taking a part-time job at a movie theater in says almost as much
the mid-1990s where the manager, during the
interview, kept referring to the employment about you as what
as an at-will position where I can leave at any
time. It took me a while to understand it also you are loyal to.
meant I could be fi red at any time, too. This was
liberating and a little scary. I loved the job and
stayed for over a year before other life/work What about brand loyalty to your favorite car
obligations got too busy to continue. I put in my company? In turn, what does a car company
two weeks and was done. I got a fi rm handshake owe their loyal supporters? With the ridiculous
on my way out. amount of recalls spinning through the new
About ten years ago, one investor bought headlines each week, one thing is clear to
several car dealerships in Minnesota and drove me: these companies are in business to make
them into the ground when it turned out he money. I guess this is as it should be, though,
was laundering the funds to support an ultra- as they owe it to their loyal shareholders to take
luxurious lifestyle. One of these dealerships was the necessary steps to remain profi table. Their
the town next to where I grew up. A lot of good loyalty to their owners comes fi rst no matter
people lost their livelihood overnight. Employees what their advertising says.
of these dealerships had been loyal to their What you support says almost as much about
company and turned down other positions at you as what you are loyal to. Everyone makes
other dealerships for years (some for decades), a decision with their money, their vote, their
and what did they get in return? A handwritten time, their whatever. Being loyal to someone or
sign on the locked front door one morning something is different from supporting them.
saying they were out of a job. It’s one thing Support seems to me to be more temporary.
if a company buys-out an employee or offers Loyalty is forever. Forever may be a strong
early retirement packages, but being informed word here, but I think that is what loyalty is. You
that you were no longer going to have a regular can support one cause over another and even
paycheck from no fault of your own rubs me the change what cause you support over time, but
wrong way. your loyalty...that’s a big deal to me, and it should
Loyalty is the strongest version of support. be to you.
I like to support my local retailers, to a certain For me, I am loyal to the brands I grew up
point. If I can save only a few bucks by making a with and those that have satisfi ed me through
purchase online, I would rather have that money the years since. I grew up riding in Ford cars and
circulate locally where it can help those around Chevy trucks. Would I give up a chance to go for
me instead of a shareholder conglomerate from a cruise in a classic Chevelle? No, nevertheless,
another state or country. I have ordered my my heart wouldn’t be in it as much compared to
share of mail-order parts through the years. a cruise in a Fairlane instead.

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