Our Island of Misfit Toys

My husband and I own a small flooring business in Austin , Texas . It’ll probably be a frequent topic on this blog.

Being a small business owner brings out the best and worst in me; however, it’s our employees who do my heart the most good and also make me want to spit nickels on a daily basis. We fondly refer to them as our “ Island of Misfit Toys ”. Everyone knows these characters from the popular stop motion animation Christmas special, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. (Because I love Christmas so much, I actually own the entire set.). These characters (much like our employees) are very lovable, but also defective.

In the movie, most of the misfit toys are unable to do what most toys of their type are built to do. For example, there’s a train (“Trainer”) who can’t move because the wheels on his caboose are square. We can apply the same misfit principle to our employees. We have inventory controllers who can’t count, we have sales people who can’t solve problems, and we have managers that can’t say no.

In addition to not always being able to complete the tasks they were hired to do; some of them make the most dunder-headed decisions possible. Please allow me to give you an example. One very fine day, some of our installers were at a job site. At this particular job site all of the toilets were ripped out in order to install tile flooring (can you see where this is going?). Well, one of the installers had to use the restroom and there was no toilet available; however, there was a bucket. So, he pooped in the bucket and left it at the job site. You can probably imagine the wonderful phone call that we received the next day.

I have many stories like this one. Sometimes I feel more like I’m managing a daycare than running a business. I’m sure the heroic tales of our Island of Misfit Toys will be a staple of this blog.

Our employees are not unlike most people - genuinely good, but hopelessly flawed. I think I just notice all their flaws more in a small business than I would in the corporate world because we are in such close quarters. The good news is that I also notice and appreciate all their strengths too. I think they appreciate me, flaws and all, too. I love our little Island of Misfit Toys , and as much as none one else would have them; I wouldn’t want any of them to go anywhere.