2023, Fantasy, Food, Gatherings, work

Cheering Throngs

41 Comments

My warehouse projects are this Friday and Saturday.  Part of the warehouse “experience” is having cheering throngs when the winners arrive at the warehouse.  For one of the very first warehouse programs (about 15 years ago), somebody had the idea to invite the Vikings cheerleaders to welcome the winners; as cheesy at it sounds, the participants ate it up.  Unfortunately it didn’t often work out (time-wise or budget-wise) to keep bringing “professionals” in to cheer.  That’s when we started recruiting regular employees to take a break from their desks to come root the winners on as they get off the bus.  Didn’t take long before we added noisemakers and clappers for the ultimate event.

For my very first warehouse run, my winners were veterinarian pharmaceutical sales folks and I found out early on that there were four subsets of them… and they didn’t like each other.  I never did figure out exactly how they were competitors but the bottom line was the client didn’t want the four groups in the warehouse at the same time.  Instead of one run with about 45 winners, we had to have four runs in one day, with 8-12 winners each.  That wasn’t a problem for anybody except for me.  It was the first week of December and I was really worried that I wouldn’t get people out to cheer four times in one day, especially a cold day. 

That’s when I thought up the hot chocolate.  I ordered four big containers of hot chocolate along with cups, set up a table outside the warehouse (where folks congregate to cheer) and then four times that day poured out cup after cup of hot cocoa.  It was a big hit and several folks came out repeatedly that day, one even mentioning to me that he came for the hot drink.  We’ve been supplying hot chocolate at cold weather warehouse runs ever since and have added lemonade for hot weather runs.  I’ve always felt proud that this was my idea.

Fast forward to this week.  Since pandemic, Mondays and Fridays are work-at-home days; normally the buildings are all but empty.  There haven’t been many Friday warehouse programs since the travel industry got back on its feet but there have been just enough folks who are either already on campus or willing to drive in to cheer.  But Saturdays are a whole `nother matter   Not only is Saturday in itself a problem — the group is big enough that we have to do a morning run and an afternoon run. We even advised the client that we couldn’t guarantee the cheering.  With management’s blessing, we have an incentive set up to get folks to come in to cheer.  In addition, I’ve ordered doughnuts for the Friday and Saturday morning cheerers and cookies for the Saturday afternoon cheerers.  Hopefully between the company incentive and the goodies, we’ll get enough to make it exciting for the winners.  Fingers crossed.

What would it take to get you to come out and cheer on a weekend?

41 thoughts on “Cheering Throngs”

    1. Well, I promise I won’t be asking you to come out this weekend, unless you can’t figure out a better way to get a glazed doughnut!!

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    1. All kinds of stuff – this is our working warehouse as a big piece of the company’s business is recognition items. The warehouse run is just like those old grocery store tv shows. Everybody gets a clipboard with a warehouse map and 15 minutes to look through the warehouse. Winner names are drawn randomly; the winner has a big cart on wheels and the norm is a 60-second run. If you can get it into your cart in 60 seconds, it’s yours!

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  4. So, I’m guessing that means a warehouse full of ordinary manufactured consumer goods.
    It’s probably just me but the event sounds like an orgy of greedy unhinged consumerism, or it would be if the run lasted longer than 60 seconds. Hard to cheer for that.

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    1. Yes, ordinary manufactured consumer goods. I don’t see it as an orgy – any more than my regular programs with high end meals, fancy dancy hotels, entertainment and room gifts are an orgy. 60 second goes by pretty quickly when you’re pushing the cart and putting items in it. The number I hear bandied about is $5K for the average winner. Less than your average travel program for a couple.

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      1. With the 60 second limit, the reward is more akin to what could be chosen from a catalog, but with the atmosphere of a game show. That must be appealing to some of the participants but it seems to me like a hurdle placed by the company between their employees and their apparently earned bonus.

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        1. The typical warehouse run winner is a completely different demographic from the typical incentive winner. They are usually folks from call centers and warehouses. One of the reasons I love the warehouse programs is this demographic. Incredibly happy to come to Minneapolis for one night, sometimes in very cold weather, to do this run. Grateful for the opportunity and no entitlement anywhere on the horizon! And these are usually short-term rewards, based on a quarter or a half year but rarely on annual performance,

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        1. I’ve only heard it said (repeatedly) that studies show that cash is not as good an incentive as travel/goods, etc. Since I’ve only heard this from the lips of an incentive company, there might be a touch of bias there.

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        3. I do have anecdotal evidence that the overwhelming majority of trip winners do not abandon those trips, even when they know there is a cash equivalent….

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        4. My company where I work seasonally gives incentives for people who sign up to work weekends. Last year they gave what they call “spotlights”, which are credits that can be redeemed for gift cards to major retailers. This year they just gave bonuses instead. The value was similar, but several people on my team talked about how much they missed the spotlights. One woman rhapsodized about how last year her spotlights paid for her new air conditioner. It’s kind of puzzling to me, because it’s not like you can’t pay cash for an air conditioner if that’s what you want. But if you have utility bills and homeowners’ insurance, they’re not likely to take your gift cards.

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        5. There are all kinds of studies that show cash is not a good long-term motivator. Perhaps it’s because cash so readily gets used to pay utility bills or other financial obligations rather than as a treat to the person who has earned it. If you had a windfall of, say, $5,000.00, chances are you’d pay off bills you had already incurred rather than spend it on a trip to Paris. Just a thought.

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    1. Or an old one?

      Sweets, including glazed donuts, would not get me anywhere near the event. Bagel’s with cream cheese and lox? Now we’re talking. Or different kinds of salsa with really good corn chips, and I’d be game.

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      1. I’ve never had anyone ask to have someone run for them due to age, but I suppose you could claim the issues that come with age and get a substitute runner.

        Two years ago I had a woman who was 8 months pregnant. I got permission from her company for her to run and they did offer to let her husband come but she said no, not necessary. I always have an EMT on hand (the occasional twisted knee or ankle) but I let them know ahead that we had this pregnant gal. Everything went swimmingly and in fact, the staff at the hotel told me that our pregnant gal was late to breakfast because she had been at the hotel gym working out that morning!

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    2. Sometimes a VIP will run for someone who can’t. Or the winner can ask another winner if they are willing. This Saturday the winners are bringing guests (also unusual) and my one gal who had foot surgery recently and is in a boot has been allowed to have her husband run for her!

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        1. Most programs have a few hosts/VIPs. Heads of divisions. Folks who are there to support but don’t run the warehouse.

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  7. Rise and Cheer Me On, Baboons,

    I cheered wildly for potty training years ago, since my son would only try after he knew he could do it perfectly. Then I had to sweeten the deal with He-Man underwear. That has been a pattern. He will not do anything new until he knows he has it mastered. That is a conundrum. That is the last cheering I remember. I don’t know that I could do it, even for you VS.

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    1. Puppy is adjusting well. We find she has energy spurts in the morning when we let her out of the kennel area and in the evening before bedtime. Last night she found my knitting which is now a knotty mess. I put out the outdoor plants this morning for their own safety and survival. She reminds me of the baby goats in videos. She jumps up and yips, runs around, then collapses into sleep. We are trying to puppy proof everything.

      Bootsy is getting more curious, sniffing the dog bed area and kennel, and insisting on walks outside with Phoebe. No hostility, but she is making sure her Alpha Dog position is honored.

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  8. The purpose of advertising is to make you dissatisfied with the way things are. Since I am stuck watching HGTV for 3-5 hours a day I think of it as a station to make people dissatisfied with their home. Every home today according to them has to have a bonus room for the kids and one for the adults or a man cave, each child has to have her/his own bathroom, each parent has to have a spacious office, the master suite has to have a grand bathroom and two walk-in closets, and their should be a screened in porch or movie room.
    Excess excess excess.
    Clyde.

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    3. I was once in a store that sells and displays those high end California Closet systems, with all the woodtone drawers and neatly arranged shelving and such. They had a large poster of a young couple in their massive California Closet surrounded by their clothes and shoes (all perfectly pressed and appealingly displayed), and they were sitting in chairs, facing each other, smiling and holding glasses of wine. In their CLOSET.

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  9. Today we are cheering at my work at a baby shower for a coworker who is 30 weeks along in a very high risk pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia. She lost her first child a year ago at 24 weeks for the same problem. This time it is far more hopeful and she could go into labor at anytime due to rising blood pressure, but at this point things look good for a very viable baby. Her hope was to get to 34 weeks.

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