Timely feedback
Dave Scott
When I was 15 my brother Peter and I worked on an apricot orchard in our home town during the school holidays.
One day when picking fruit and just before the smoko break I could not find any boxes to empty the picking apron into. So carefully I emptied the fruit under a tree thinking I would gather them up again after the break.
A voice called out "what the **** do you think you are doing?"
Even now I have to agree that I had not thought my strategy through, and while the language may have been better chosen the immediacy of the owner giving me feedback has stayed with me to this day.
I kept that summer job for two more years, at a time when extra money was very helpful in our family. The lesson on timely feedback was also valuable and still brings a smile.