But so far I've glued my mouth shut. Journey, I've started to write firm emails to her—with the “to” line left blank. But I've just deleted them. I know I can teach her a more efficient way to use her time. It's just like when I helped teach Casey how to ride her bike when we were kids. I watched her wipe-out and let her know when I was learning to ride I had knees and elbows covered with scabs, too. It's hard to watch a sister you held when she was only 3 hours old fall down and get frustrated and kick her bike and then just wait for her to saddle up and try again through the tears. But the best coaches are on the sidelines and not out there on the field.

It's the same with all the staff. I microscoped in on all their faults as I sat there stewing. Joni needs to learn to make just a few phrases of small talk when she answers the phone. It drives me crazy that she can't at least ask a client if everything is OK with their home or if they've got any new goings-on with their family. Almost all our clients have family; next to being a homeowner, it's the single biggest commonality among them.

Plus, especially with Joni, she reads all the WriteBack postcard surveys each year and adds up the results. I know that steel-trap memory of hers catalogs each client's answers even as she tallies them up. When she's on the phone she could easily mention one little tidbit about how their window treatments are holding up. But no, she robotically answers the phone with all the personality of an automated touchtone-response machine and then merely transfers them or takes a message.

And Dana needs to be just a bit faster on the uptake. I now she's new enough that all my little quirks aren't second-nature to her and she can't anticipate them yet, but she still needs to find a way to react much quicker to my suggestions. She creates very good, solid solutions for her clients, but her range is just too limited. It seems her problem is the opposite of Shelly's—too little imagination on any particular project.

Memo to self: call up Mattie before I give them all a staff infection of negativity.

I think the real problem with my attitude is that I still can't scrounge up a solid marketing idea for Brentwood . No luck in thinking of a guardian angel to speak with either. I'd like to think I could just bring the problem up to the Bloom Team and they'd tackle it, but after last Tuesday's meeting I think the real problem is more fundamental.

We need an evaluation of our marketing, not just an attack strategy on a new neighborhood. I hate to take the time, but we need to score how well our marketing is lining up with our mission.

Ended Saturday night with a long run, Journey. Cleared the work-goblins out of my head, at least for a while.

Goodnight, Journey.

Read February 23rd entry.

Read February 28th entry.