by Sunil Bali, 07-06-15

Myra and Herbert Fisher were married for almost 87 years.

Although they passed away a few years ago at the ages of 105 and 103, their answers to the question, "What’s your secret to being married so long?" have surfaced on social media this week and triggered a debate which has gone viral.

Here are six of the best pearls of wisdom ….. it strikes me that this advice also applies to business relationships:

  1. We’ve had our ups and downs but we lived in a time when if something was broken we didn’t immediately throw it away. We tried to fix it. In these days of disposable cutlery and disposable cameras it seems that relationships are disposable too.
  2. Our relationship hasn’t been a contest. We’ve never kept score because both of us are on the same team and want each other to win.
  3. At times we’ve disagreed, but have stay focused on what really matters and learned to bend so that the relationship doesn’t break.
  4. There’s no secret to our relationship. We’ve just tried to provide what each other needed.
  5. We’ve always shown our love and appreciation for each other. Even after so many years of being together, you can never feel over appreciated.
  6. We’ve always said that if people behaved throughout a relationship as they did at the beginning, then the relationship wouldn’t end.

Whilst I don’t disagree with any of these laudable sentiments, there comes a time when you have to decide whether the other person in the relationship is an
engine that drives you forward, or is an anchor that weighs you down.

A ship is designed to take you places, so if your friendship, partnership, or relationship isn’t taking you anywhere, then its time to abandon ship!

Humour

BANNED

Dear Mrs. Jones,

Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban him from the store.

Our complaints against your husband Mr. Jones, include, but are not limited to, the list below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:

  1. January 5: Set all the alarm clocks in Homewares to go off at 5- minute intervals.
  2. February 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people’s carts when they weren’t looking.
  3. March 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the toilets.
  4. April 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, "Code 3 in Homewares. Get on it right away". This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor.
  5. May 4: Went to the Customer Service Desk and tried to reserve a pack of biscuits.
  6. June 14: Moved a "Caution – Wet Floor" sign to a carpeted area, which resulted in a customer slipping and falling over.
  7. August 15: Sat in a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers they could come in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department – to which twenty children obliged.
  8. September 3: Darted around the whole store suspiciously while loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.
  9. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled "Pick me! Pick me!"
  10. November 23: Took a box of condoms to the checkout clerk and asked where the fitting room was.
  11. December 2: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, and then yelled very loudly, "Hey! There’s no toilet paper in here."
  12. December 7: Parked his car in the trolley shelter:

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Neil Clark, Store Manager

 

Have a great week.

Sunil

www.sunilbali.com