{"id":16639,"date":"2011-09-13T09:17:19","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T13:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=16639"},"modified":"2011-09-13T11:19:41","modified_gmt":"2011-09-13T15:19:41","slug":"richard-romandetti-at-bayside-publix-just-enriched-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/richard-romandetti-at-bayside-publix-just-enriched-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Romandetti at Bayside Publix just enriched my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I went into Publix Bayside this morning to buy some apples and realized I didn’t research them first. I know you use different ones for baking than for hand eating, but I didn’t know why. \u00a0I don’t eat enough apples to remember which is which. \u00a0I saw Richard Romandetti in the produce section and asked if Publix had one of those charts that show apples from tart to sweet. \u00a0He had something even better. \u00a0He knew everything about the apples, he answered all my questions and told me stuff I didn’t know. \u00a0I thought <\/em>no wonder they have him here, he knows his stuff. “How do you know all this<\/em>?” I asked him. \u00a0“They send us to school for it<\/em>,” he said, “they teach us all about it<\/em>.” \u00a0Wow. \u00a0I had no idea. \u00a0I figure whenever I walk into a grocery store, whoever is stocking the aisles is just a worker who knows how to put things neatly on a shelf. \u00a0Not so. \u00a0I told Richard my aunt was baking a pie and I wondered which apples would be best. \u00a0He began to tell me the difference and it was great, it was like an\u00a0Alton Brown<\/a> segment.<\/p>\n

“Too much?<\/em>” he asked. \u00a0No, I was eating it up. \u00a0It was info I could use and it was fun that he was passionate about the topic. \u00a0 In my mind’s eye, I got a flash. “Did your family have a restaurant business?” \u00a0He laughed, “My wife’s family did.” \u00a0It was all over him. \u00a0He shined like a beacon when he told what he knew. \u00a0I thought what a testament to Publix<\/a> that they train their staff in the little details of the job they do. \u00a0And the training pays off —\u00a0I went in to buy one apple, any kind and bought a dozen mixed, knowing what they were for, plus other items.<\/p>\n

Richard’s suggestions and his enthusiasm for the work he was doing combined to ignite me about the possibilities of apples. \u00a0Richard is like so many of us. \u00a0We may think our job is to stack apples on a table, or push a pencil in an office, but the real job is to enrich the lives of those we come in contact with. \u00a0Give everyone just a little more than they ask for, and give it freely and sincerely and with passion. \u00a0Show them, in a non-invasive way, that you love what you do; show them you’re happy in your surroundings and they’ll want to be there, too. \u00a0This is also how to build your business: love what you do so much that it oozes out of you, and soon everyone around you will want a part of it. \u00a0It’s good for business and it’s good for friendships.<\/p>\n

Want some inspiration? Go find Richard Romandetti at Bayside Publix\u00a0and ask him about apples. \u00a0How many lives can you enrich today?<\/p>\n

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