The competency crisis, volume I.

My wife has been on a major antiquing kick lately, hitting up estate sales. Some of the stuff is good, but mostly it’s just flower pots, old dressers, and old Ball jars filled with buttons. Pretty standard antique fair, and nothing that I really gave a second thought to. For the most part, the companies that facilitate the sales have been easy to work with, and I enjoy the pickups because I can catch up on the two podcasts I listen to.

A storm on the horizon

The last couple of times, though, there have been things that either made me scratch my head, or were just plain wrong.

Now, I am not here to dox the company so I won’t mention any names, but the first thing that really surprised me was at a pickup a couple of weeks ago.

For a little background, I am a firearms collector. I think they are cool, I like to shoot, and classic firearms tend to hold their value and increase in value extremely well. So, when Wifey sent me some listings of a few vintage rifles they were selling at an estate sale, I was all over it. Ultimately, I ended up winning a vintage 1943 British Enfield MkIII main battle rifle.

I’ve wanted an Enfield for years and won mine for a really good price, so I was stoked. The listing said you must be 21 and present ID to pick up the firearm, which is the least I would expect, but when I got there, she just handed me the rifle in the case.

I was walking away, and it was bugging me, so I wheeled around and said “Hey, how are you selling firearms without any license? I’m not a cop, just curious.” The poor girl working the desk, who is probably 20 or so, got eyes as big as saucers and just stared at me. I said it was no big deal and headed home, but in my mind, I was just thinking about how much liability they were opening themselves up to.

I personally do not know the rules, but I do know that they are a third party transferring a firearm, and I am pretty sure you need to have an FFL for that. But the point is, that’s not on me, that’s on them, and the clerk clearly had no idea. They had multiple firearms for sale from this one auction, so it is something they do with some regularity.

#competencycrisis

More problems

I didn’t really give this much thought, until Friday. Wifey sent me to pick up a flower pot, and it was the same company. No problem. I’ve done lots of pickups from them in the past.

So, I head into town which is about 25 minutes away from the homestead…and the address takes me to a house that is clearly empty. No cars, no traffic, no activity. I’ve done enough of these to know that there are always 14 elderly antiquers picking up their goods in their Buicks. I don’t make the rules.

I text Wifey to confirm the address. Turns out they wrote it wrong in their confirmation email; the email said it was on X Ave when it was actually on X Square.

Here’s the thing: these things happen. Mistakes will always happen. But this seems to be the case everywhere, all the time. There is a little Mexican restaurant in our town of 1,200 that we have spent thousands of dollars at over the years, but we quit going there a few months ago. Why? They couldn’t get a single order correct. 100% of the time, I would have to go back in to get something fixed.

They used an online ordering system that worked pretty well, but they let it lapse, so now the only choice was to call in an order or walk in. Those both yielded even worse mistakes, and we had enough. It’s their loss, and it sucks because the food is really good, but I hate having to go fix someone else’s errors. And it was always the same error, over and over again.

Not a gripe sesh

These are just a few of the more recent examples. It’s gotten to a place where good service is a surprise. Are people getting dumber? I think you can be the judge of that, but I don’t think the answer is no.

But this isn’t meant to be a black pill. If you are reading this, it should be your white pill. You are reading this because you probably want to do better in your life.

Well, here’s the really, really good news: the bar to success hasn’t been this low in a long time, if ever. If you show up consistently, do good work, and have any problem-solving ability at all, congratulations! You are already in the top 3-5%. Heck, maybe the top 1%.

You don’t need all the answers yet. You don’t need to have a crisp, perfectly worded battle plan. People are desperate for help, and the chasm between skilled people and complete idiots is only going to get wider.

Get out there now, seize the day, and make some money. Oh, and if you are into selling firearms, make sure you know the rules. Otherwise, it’s a felony 😉

-John

P.s.-if you have an idea and want some help fleshing it, let’s get on a consultation and see if we can get you some traction.